motu ultralite preamps

baanes · Post by **baanes** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 2:37 pm

I've been following the discussions here of the new ultralite. It looks like a nice piece, however its a little unclear as to what the actual gain range on the preamps is. MOTU states 60db range through use of a 3way pad and 24db adjustable. So it looks like the pres go from -36 to +24. Can someone confirm this? +24 max seems pretty lame to me (and most people have no use for -36), especially considering that competing units from presonus, m-audio, etc go to at least +40-50 or higher (but don't have the same sound quality presumabely).

emgcarra · Post by **emgcarra** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 6:10 pm

Hi everyone. I am new on this formun and would like to see any help about this question from baanes. I am in the same crossroad. Thanks in advance.
P.D. Mackie Onyx 400 looks like a better sounding pre device, but is now having some issues regarding OS Tiger.

Regards.

Sticky Fox · Post by **Sticky Fox** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 7:15 pm

I have an Onyx 1220 and an UltraLite. The UL has some fairly ordinary single-chip preamps, while the Mackie has their typical discrete preamps. I expect that the Mackie will perform better. I have been meaning to do a comparison, just haven't gotten around to it. I would be happy to plug in a mic and give it a shot if anyone can suggest a good test. I may be able to borrow a very expensive tube mic, if not I have a 4033 I can use.

I do not know for sure, but I am fairly certain the 400 has the same preamps as Mackie's mixers.

baanes · Post by **baanes** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:49 pm

I'm sure the onyx pres sound much better than what is in the ultralite (although if you had time to do a quick comparison any feedback would be appreciated by plenty of people). However what I am wondering is if the pres on the ultralite are only able to provide +24db of gain, which doesn't seem like much at all.

Sticky Fox · Post by **Sticky Fox** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 4:52 am

Two inputs on the UltraLite (the XLRs) can be trimmed from unity to +60dB. They have +24dB of adjustment, plus a pad that can be set to 0dB, +18dB, or +36dB.

The remaining inputs (the TRSs) can be trimmed unity to +18dB. They don't have enough gain for a condenser mic using a TRS cable.

BTLG · Post by **BTLG** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:12 am

i'm not so sure it'd be a hot idea to plug a mic directly into the TRS analog ins ( 3 - 8 ) anyway.....

you'd probably want to go through a mic pre first, no ?

Jidis · Post by **Jidis** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:58 am

That one needs phantom power too.

MOTUnation.com

motu ultralite preamps

motu ultralite preamps

Good question