SPL Goldmike 9844 Reviews

SQUEEZE ME PLEASE ME

The classic spl gold mic 9844 has stood the test of time for many reasons some we will cover here, with this unit just try all kinds of mics until you find the right one YOU feel good about as many have different tastes and different ears. This unit delivers if you just squeeze it gently and dont push it too hard it gives great breath for vocals when you hit the flare button but as we say less is more and the qualilty of spl never lets you down , get to know it and experiment with it for acousitic guitars and vocals violins and even bass guitar.

the tubes as standerd are fine and enhance the circuits of this unit with finesse!

Very nice preamp

This is a very nice preamp that lends a clean, lovely focus to a signal. I got wonderful results with this preamp recording double bass with a Neumann TLM 103, also recorded some crisp, clean acoustic guitar with it.

Great product for the price.

Excellent

I'm very pleased with the SPL Goldmic for many reasons, not just the superb sound. The build quality is excellent. The slightly over sized dials on the front feel great and are easy to use. The pad button was very useful for use on drum overheads.

So far I've used it on drum overheads (using the recorderman set up), several amps, vocals and percussion instruments and it has performed fantastically well on every task.

The gain stage is crystal clear and there's very low noise. It's incredibly easy to set up straight out of the box and start making your recordings sound great.

I've so far used it with a pair of oktava mk 012 mics that I used on a drum tracking session and the sound was amazing, a great stereo image, lots of pristine highs that weren't harsh and a lovely bottom end that wasn't muddy. The vocal sound with a Rode NT2 was warm and needed very little EQ to fit it into a mix.

I would definitely recommend it and will soon be adding another into my studio.

One thing worth noticing is that there's no instrument input which if you are a home recording enthusiast you might want to consider but honestly this sounds so good I'd go for it anyway.

SPL Goldmike 9844

What do you expect from a pre-amp? This depends on what job you are doing. In my case it must be ABSOLUTELY bright and clear. I'm using it primarily for LIVE sound (not studio). The problem I've had (for nearly 16 years) is that everything tended to either fail to cut enough low frequency, or sounded too dark at the top end. I've only recently found a microphone that cuts enough low (to eliminate proximity effect with a gentle slope of 4dB per octave from 500Hz), unfortunately it also has to cut the level by 14dB because of limited options with the microphone. This is where the Goldmike comes in. I've found that the pointer knob setting at 33, just below 12 o'clock, boosts the signal up to line level, so I can back off the input channel gain without any noticeable valve distortion from the pre-amp. The "Flair" option gives an added presence boost which is most welcome. Wow! So far I've only had this set-up a few weeks, but it is the best and liveliest sparkling sound I've ever achieved!

Rich Tones Surprise and Delight

A richness of tone leaves this pre-amp head and shoulders above the competition. The FLAIR button does wonderful things for the timbre and nuances of the voice, and overdriven offers a considerable degree of warmth to the performance

Spl goldmike 9844

Good audio fidelity.. Warm and open sound.. Really worth every penny spent.. But I wish the meters could be bigger.. The flair switch is very handy.. Boost the presence range.. Love the gold colour.. Makes my rack look more interesting

SPL Goldmike: More versatile than you think

You shouldn't buy this unit because you have seen the word 'tube' on it. But you should buy it for plenty of other reasons.

Although it does have a single tube on each channel, this only contributes a small amount of fixed gain to the overall sound, so it doesn't really have that typical sound you would associate with all tube preamps.

It does have exceptional distortion and noise stats, giving a very pure and clean signal, with a whopping 72dB of gain availabale. I liked that.

VU meters are incredibly small, to the point of almost being un-useful.

The 'flair' switch is a very fun feature, which is quite well described by it's name..

I used this mainly for passing stereo mixes through rather than a mic preamp, or for make up gain on passive summing boxes/EQ, as it does have a very special quality, but there are other, better preamps available.

The price point is excellent however, and you would be hard pressed to find a better spec'd 2 channel preamp for this.