The SC-1 to me sounded warmer, fuller and in general more musical than others. The guy who runs the lab was pretty blown away that 4 channels of that quality only cost $700 (plus build time) and was definitly interested in a prebuilt unit.
Here's a testimonial for the SC-1 preamps. I took the unit out to our local Junior Colleges' recording lab (where I am the resident piano technician) at the request of the instructor after I was telling him about the kit. We hooked it up through their Sxxx board, put some AT 4060 mics (I think) on a Yamaha G-1 piano and A/B/Ced them into Pro Tools HD with Tannoy monitors while another instructor played piano. We compared them to Dxxxxxxx and Fxxxxxxx Rxx pres and a Sxxx onboard pre . The Sxxx pre wasn't even close, thin and cardboardy in comparison. The Dxxxxxx and Fxxxxxxxx are both tube pres and had a slightly different sound-more hollow mids. Being an acoustic bass player, I characterized it as somewhat woody in comparison to the SC-1 which to me sounded warmer, fuller and in general more musical than either. The guy who runs the lab was pretty blown away that 4 channels of that quality only cost $700 (plus build time) and was definitly interested in a prebuilt unit. I couldn't be happier with the results and it was fun to put together. I got some good bonding time with my dad. I'm looking forward to more projects in the future - whatever you're working on just sign me up cause I know it'll be great - R. Carter, USA
What if you could take the best features from different preamps, and combine them into one Super-Frankenstein Hybrid preamp? And that's exactly what I did. Welcome my new X-72mk500 Mic Preamp!
This is our new Mic Preamp in the API-500 Series card format. We're bringing all the quality of the original SC-1 and some more, plus new additional features in this new form factor.
This is my own version of a classic preamp, popular in the 70s and still popular today. It's not a clone since I'm using a totally different signal path and design, and different input and output transformers. But the sound nevertheless is awesome. Big and beefy with lots of transformer mojo goodness.
The SC-1 Mic Preamp is a clean, clear, low-noise, high-gain pream. It sounds very transparent, offering a flat response, smooth highs and well-defined mids.
It's here! Save time and energy building a case for your SC-1 Preamp. This is a 1u Rack Case designed to mount (4) SC-1 Preamp Kits! Very professional looking! Standard 19" wide, 11" deep (plenty of space).