Things have been waaaaaaaaaaaaay too quiet around here...I need a show of hands, a footstomping, whatever, to chow who is still alive and kicking.

And yes...I am BACK...

Hey, what's with the foot stomping? I was having a nice nap here...

Pulse but no real brain activity not involving malice aforethought, the fruit of the poison tree, or fee simple determinables. (That means I'm taking the bar in a month.)

Bear

Interesting...I took a month in a bar once...

And good luck...hope you aren't Irish - I never met an Irishman who can pass any bar...

Oh crap . . .

Greetings from the Great White North -- Chrikey it's summertime up here and bloody hot.

News: my Line Audio 2 channel mic preamp arrived from Sweden -- it's not bad; loads of gain. It's forced me to learn the technicalities of CuBase LE and that TC Electronic computer interface. I've done the unthinkable -- printed out 200 pages of pdf files of CuBase and the Konnekt interface, read about 40 or 50 pages -- this digital stuff isn't too bad...I've been able to get decent signal levels so I don't blow it to kingdom come. I'm almost converted.

Theodore:

Tell us more about the Line Audio.

Here's a quick non-technical review of the Line Audio, totally subjective since I'm not comparing it to the 'big iron' or Great River jobs.

• The unit is powered by a 120 volt to 15 volt wall wart -- this is a minor problem but it means that a European designed product can be shipped into Canada or the States without a CSA or UL sticker.
• The US or Canadian consumer has to buy an adapter at the Shack or DigiKey -- no problem
• I've only tested mine with dynamic mikes. The unit has loads of gain for these; and I believe Roger Jonsson (Mr Line Audio) when he says there's enough clean power to use it on ribbon mikes. If we were using guitar amp numbers, my dynamic mikes are set at 3-4 out of 10
• There is a two stage preamp circuit -- the idea is to use the volume control only in the second stage -- this means it's feasible to use what appear to be 'ordinary' knobs -- rather than the fancy-pants 20 step attenuator. I did't hear any problem as I twiddled the knobs.
• There is a PAD on each channel that will reduce the loudness of the stage one amplifier.
• Quality -- the unit looks good. I don't think that it has a Science fair look to it -- if definitely looks about as good as a Manly or an AEA Ribbon Mic Pre. It's functional -- is there a problem with that?

Obviously to order one of these is not as quick as picking up something in a music store. You have to arrange for a wire transfer, and your postal service may hit you for a little bit of customs duty. I don' know what suppliers of mike preamps we have in Canada (possibly it protects Bryson's hifi factory.

Here are my costs: $400 to Sweden including $15 wire transfer fee, $20 duty, $60 for provincial and federal sales tax, about $22 to Digikey for a legal 120 volt adapter.


Subjective: not a bad deal in terms of fitting the idea of a basic two track system, reasonable quality with the potential to grow or expand into fancier microphones -- such as Line Audio's nice stereo mike with easy to use XY config (only 3400 SEK).

Tell the Line Audio guy about this place. I've wanted to do a review about them but apparently I've not registered on his radar. FWIW, I don't want to review everything.

yep, still have a pulse... but man, things have been crazy busy for me North of the border.... between mixing bands live and recording albums etc... it's been hectic.

here's a YouTube clip from my Canada day weekend gig/festivities... it's Wintersleep !

enjoy,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Rr_sIQCeY