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M-Audio TAMPA Pro Microphone Preamp and Compressor with SPDIF Output

Single channel microphone/instrument preamp of uncompromised quality.

Overall User Ratings

Overall:
           9 out of 10
Features:
           9 out of 10
Quality:
           8 out of 10
Value:
           9 out of 10
I Want It:
           8 out of 10
Sound:
           9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
           10 out of 10
Support:
           8 out of 10
 
 

"Finally, a budget mic preamp/compressor that sounds good!"

Overall:
          9 out of 10
Features:
          10 out of 10
Quality:
          9 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          9 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
User: a customer from signsvcs.com
Submitted: 3/29/2004
Style of Music: Hard Rock
Location: Nashville TN

 

 
Feature:
Everthing you need is included (except for cables of course)

Quality:
Housing, knobs, and switches are all good for a unit in this price range

Value:
nothing touches this unit in this price range.

Sound:
I have never owned an expensive compressor or mic preamp, because they have been out of my price range. I usually rent them when I do final tracking. I was pleasantly suprised upon pluggin this thing in. No more renting Avalons or UA preamps for me. The compressor is great, and the preamp has plenty of gain. This is by far the best deal for $400, and I highly recommend for the musician on a budget. I use it as a direct box for bass, and for vocals. I use a Studio Projects C1 mic and they work great together. Recording media is Sonar with a Delta 1010 sound card, Event 20/20 monitors. As far as vocals, my style is hard rock, and go though many dynamic changes on songs. MY VOICE CAN GET LOUD. Budget line preamp/compressors squashed my vocals and were not loud enough for the softer parts. This unit solved my problem. This is the best thing for the budget minded home musician who still insists on quality.

Support:
I have not had to use support, but my support on other maudio products has been supurb. They back up their products

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"It's Got The Sound..."

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          7 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          8 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Support:
          5 out of 10
User: a customer from verizon.net
Submitted: 8/19/2003
Style of Music: Various
Location: SoCal

 

 
Feature:
Although the mic pre is very transparent and clean sounding, I bought this piece to have variable impedance for some of our mics, which works great - offering a variety of sonic signatures from the same mic. Another impressive feature is the compressor (easily worth the price of this unit alone!), which rates up there with sme of the finest I have used - transparent with no pumping when set properly.

Quality:
Very solidly built, nothing appears cheap. Connectors are all top-shelf. This piece should be kept safely in a studio rack, but I would be tempted to run it live onstage as a bass DI! Only owned it for a few months, so can't speak of long-term reliability yet. M-Audio is a great company though, and should take care of you if any problems arise.

Value:
In the under $1000 range, you would be hard-pressed to find a better value in a mic pre/comp combination (IMO).

Desirability:
Not as sexy as an Avalon - but I think it sounds better! Sexiest part about the Tampa is what's inside - the internal design of this piece really makes it sound great! (No, I don't work for them!)

Sound:
I come from a background of using Avalon's, Neve, and other great pre's. Picked this up because I was curious about the "Temporal Harmonic" feature - it's not an "effect," but rather a way of processing the signal. Anyway, it is fantastic! The sound is very pleasing to the ears, and easy to listen to.

Support:
Haven't had to use any yet.

Overall:
Actually, I'n thinking of buying another one to run stereo sources through!

1 of 1 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?    
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"THE best pre out there !"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          10 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
          10 out of 10
Support:
          10 out of 10
Submitted: 12/21/2006

 

 
Feature:
Perfect, all it's missing is an insert for external compressor... I know, it has an internal compressor...

Quality:
Top quality.

Value:
Best pre out there for the money.

Desirability:
Yes, and I have it.

Sound:
Great sound. I own a pro studio with many pre-amps, some high end stuff(Avalon), some low end (Beringer). Since I got my Tampa, I always go back to it for vocals, guitars, bass and snare. Seems like everything sounds perfect with this. SM57 dosen't sound good with it, but all condensers sounds great, espicailly AKG 414 ULS and some cheaper mics like the MXL 2001. The sound is pure, clean, and that "harmonic realignement" thing seems to actually do a lot : sounds like analogue tape. This pre is a little bass heavy, but once you've figured that out, it's easy to correct in the mix. Don't waste your money on over rated gear... this Tampa is actually just as good, and sometimes better.

Ease of Use:
Presets in the booklet are actually pretty good! Super easy...

Support:
Seems good.

Overall:
Very satisfied!

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"This thing is great !"

Overall:
          10 out of 10
Features:
          9 out of 10
Quality:
          10 out of 10
Value:
          10 out of 10
I Want It:
          9 out of 10
Sound:
          10 out of 10
Support:
          5 out of 10
User: a customer from yahoo.com
Submitted: 7/22/2005
Style of Music: mostly rock
Musical Experience: hobby musician / home studio engineer
Location: clearwater florida

 

 
Feature:
It has a + 20 db gain switch and a -20 db output switch, so you can run the gain up real hot and lower your output. this gives you an almost tube like sound, but it sounds clear like solid state, it's cool. It also has a microphone impdence switch. And of course the compressor is great.

Quality:
It's made well, but I wouldn't transport it without a rack case.

Value:
It's worth the money!

Sound:
This pre amp can be truley transparent, or you can color your sound with it. It sounds alot more professional than some pre amps I have used. The compressor is very smooth, you won't here any pump from this compressor.

Support:
I have not had to call m-audio about this unit. But I had a question about my soundcard one time and I was on hold for about 30 mins.

Overall:
I have made several recordings with the TAMPA and I have been very happy with it.

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