The Logic Off Topic list

>--- In logic-ot@yahoogroups.com, teddybut <kumpkin@e...> wrote:
>>  I have a Joe Meek VC2 and it is truly great. They do make quite a few
>>  models, maybe John was talking about their low end stuff.
>
>I was. Can't remember the model, and didn't have musch time to put it
>through its paces, but the Symetrix wiped the floor with it.
>
>The low-end tube pres I've seen all seem to use a 12AX7 tube running
>at what I guess is fairly low voltage (otherwise the power supply
>would be a lot bigger & heavier, as would the case). That's basically
>a recipe for a guitar stomp-box, not a mic pre. If my Sovtek Big Muff
>had balanced i/o and a bit less drive, would that make it a mic pre?
>(Hmmmm, he thinks....)

Not that having a tube or not is the determining factor in what makes 
a decent mic pre but, if the discussion is about tube mic pres AFAIK 
low end Joe Meeks don't qualify because none of them have tubes.  The 
only Joe Meek device I know of that does is the VC2 and its tube is 
in the *output* stage.  Joe Meek's naming strategy was weird.  The 
VC1 was their best bang per buck device but not the top of their 
line.  The VC2 was the top and the VC3 was the bottom.  I have a VC2 
and had a VC3.  The VC3 was far and away the worst mic pre I ever 
owned.