Rob Heaney...
My Name is Rob Heaney and I'm the audio engineer for the Cirque
du Soleil recordings. I rented an 8 Channel A-RACK from a friend
of mine at Fogo Labs in Montreal for a DVD recording of the new Live
Show Corteo
for the Cirque. I had API's, Neve 1073 and a variety of other misc mic
preamps and of course the Buzz Audio. A-B-ing trouble sources with all
the pre's, I came to the conclusion that the Buzz truly smoked all of
them instantly and it wasn't subtle. My assistant and I freaked at the
sonic happening and I have to say it was instant envy and love of these
preamps.
I've been engineering for 22 years and it's the first time in the last
10 years that I've been truly impressed with a new piece of gear. I'm
an analog pig and I have a vast collection of tube and Class A gear.
Finally I can put a preamp on drums and it sounds like drums in the
room, without any additional EQ. The mid presence is truly outrageous,
the bass player couldn't believe the sound of his P-Bass and Ampeg B15.
With double headed 1950's kick with massive punch, this pre does not
fold down when it sees a transient and the harder you push it the fatter
it gets (where did you hide the tubes?).
And last but not least,
it makes a SM58 sound like a condenser mic. I surrender, I have found
the Holy Grail of preamps, I'm sorry Neve but you are now #2. This is
truly no hipe, no bullshit, just serious headroom and truth. Finally
somebody got it in a big way and you can quote me on that. My hat's
off to you, I hope I'll purchase one someday soon. Congrats!
Slightly edited for readability. Submitted October 2005.