Samson C-Valve Tube Preamp User Reviews at zZounds

"You Get What You Pay For!" submitted September 12, 2009

By a customer from hotmail.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Recording Engineer/Producer

Music Style: Funk/Soul/Gospel/Hip-Hop/Pop

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Sound: I've been testing a pair of C Valves here in my studio, since for whatever reason my church bought four of them, and hardly used them before putting them on the shelf. I got curious about why, but I think it's becoming clear...this is not even passable as pro gear, even though the 24/96 SPDIF out is a nice touch. The tube saturation is not bad sounding, but no matter how I set them I get this contrived "dry signal + tube grit", instead of a nice subtly colored sound. I've also had ground hum issues no matter what I do (ground lift, different circuits, etc). That's not acceptable in my studio! The limiter is a nice feature, and is fine if you want a hard-edged bulldozer of a limiter, but don't expect it to be subtle; It's not. Feature: Has everything a decent mic pre should have: 48v Phantom power, low cut (with selectable frequency), phase invert, even a limiter. The Digital output is nice. I wish it did other frequencies besides 48kHz and 96kHz, as I don't prefer to work in either one of those - 44.1 or 88.2 is my preference. The metering looks cool, but is not very useful. It doesn't seem to reflect what I'm seeing/hearing out of the board. Ease of Use: Simple and straightforward - seemingly. However, I've had difficulty finding settings that didn't give an air of "hey! I'm a cheap tube preamp!" The gain staging is a little tricky if your goal is to use the limiter, but not have it slammed the whole time. Quality: It's built very nice for the price, no doubt about that. It's good looking gear. I'm not too upset about having wall-wart power supplies. The connectors are decent quality, and the pots/knobs feel solid. In use is where the cheapness becomes apparent. Value: Solidly built, good looking, and the sound isn't bad - it just isn't good, and definitely not "pro" - but for the price who could really argue? Manufacturer Support: From what I hear, Samson support is pretty good. I haven't personally used them however. I couldn't imagine calling them up and saying "hey, this C-Valve sounds like a cheap generic piece of gear" and them saying anything besides, "well, you should have known that." The Wow Factor: Well, it looked like it would be more useful than it actually has turned out to be. I'd say a lot of these have been sold on price alone, since it's rock-bottom. Overall: It is what it is. If not for the ground issues (which maybe there's a remedy that I haven't tried yet), these would be great for any situation where you just needed mic preamps with phantom power - like a live 2-track recording or something. Don't expect super quality sound for this price - that's just asking too much. You get what you pay for, it's been proven time and time again.

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"Great for converting analog audio to digital spidf." submitted April 17, 2006

By a customer from yahoo.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Hobbie, church worship team.

Music Style: Latin, Jazz, Worship, rock & alternative.

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Sound: No fat broad sound or tube like boost, but clean loudness and signal path specially thru digital outs (s/pdif). I was hopping for a sweeter sound, but I can honestly say is the best one in this price range (I had own several brand names, this one is not bad, better than presonus). I think sometimes expect miracles out of a pre-amp, is just a signal booster and suppose to be transparent, it does that. There are better choices at higher price ranges. Feature: Great analog plus spdif outs, can be linked with another c valve to use stereo feat. and has side chain capabilities. Ease of Use: Yes. is just knobs that are label. no complicated science. Quality: Metal case, strong, rack mountable or stackable. Value: Unbeatable audio productg for the price give, 24bit 96kh spidf out, that alone well worth the price. Manufacturer Support: Have never used support. The Wow Factor: Good product, if I had the money I would have bought a focusrite channel strip. Overall: I hope it last, can't afford to buy another one.

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"Try this preamp and you wont regret." submitted September 13, 2008

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: recording engineer

Music Style: pop

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Sound: Perfect no nonsense tube sound. Feature: Enough for any recording format, digital or analog. Ease of Use: Easy as you see them. Quality: Well built and sounds like Avalon 90%, and rack mountable makes it more professional. Value: This price is the rock bottom. Manufacturer Support: Good email response from US. The Wow Factor: I got it. Overall: I have tried quite a couple of preamps from behringer to ART, this preamp is built like a true rack preamp like any other but the only drawback is external PSU, which a bit lumpy. Otherwise there is no reason not to try this one out.

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Samson C-Valve Tube Pre Customer Review submitted August 28, 2009

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Sound: Regardless of what parameters we change there is absolutely no perceptible difference to the sound of the mic whether it is live or recorded. "Subtle" is an under-statement! Ease of Use: Impossible Quality: Looks fantastic The Wow Factor: Who cares? Can it improve the sound quality of a microphone?

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Samson C-Valve Tube Microphone Preamp

User Ratings

"You Get What You Pay For!" submitted September 12, 2009

"Great for converting analog audio to digital spidf." submitted April 17, 2006

"Try this preamp and you wont regret." submitted September 13, 2008

Samson C-Valve Tube Pre Customer Review submitted August 28, 2009