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Are you looking for a preamp, or a channel strip?
For straight pres all the brands you mentioned are good.
I'd also throw the trusty UA 610 onto the list.
For channel strips, it's hard to beat the UA6176, or the Avalon VT-737. I own both, and love them both for different reasons.
As far as two channel straight preamps go (which is pretty far), I'd heard some OK things about the Presonus ADL 600, and actually was reasonably impressed when I demo'd one, but...to my ears, it didn't sound as good as my 610s, or the pre on my VT-737. I'd certainly never choose it over my UA 2-610, which is similar dough (actually the Presonus is 99 bux more at Sweetwater).
And yes, I AM rather skeptical of Presonus gear, much like I'd be skeptical of a Crate amp that "was said to be" as good as a Matchless. Even if it sounded really good, I'd certainly rather have the Matchless, especially for the same money.
That said, hats off to Presonus for attempting to enter the high end pre market.
Time will tell whether they're here to stay.
With UA, Neve, and others, time HAS told, as have 1000's of hit records over the last several decades.
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EJ,
Im surpised that you would take the 737 over the Presonus. I also own both and the 737 is a very usefull preamp but also not very exciting, very neutral sounding. I mostly do vocals so this where my experience comes from with the 737.
The UA is probably a closer comparison being that is bigger sounding then the 737. With the ADL600 there is some sweet compression going on with this preamp and the harmonic sweetness coming from this preamp is why I would recommend it to anyone. The VIBE/MOJO in the sound is like damn, I cant pinpoint it but its a special sound that the others lack.
Again these are all tools and any of them can get the job done but picking which one for each task is the hard part.
I too was skeptical, and yes we will see if they can lift the prosumer label or rep and get this preamp the credit it deserves. Not too sure that will happen but Im not a skeptic anymore..this is definately a highend preamp without a doubt.
Eddie