In this short series ‘Old and New’ some of the team are going to share an old, reliable piece of gear that we use all the time and something that has come into our lives in the past year. Next up is James Richmond:

Old - Groove Tubes ViPre Valve Preamp

It has to be the Groove Tubes ViPre valve preamp. I love everything about this preamp.

I mean… just look at it.

I’ve owned it since the mid 00’s after seeing one in the studio I was working from in Basel, Switzerland. It is 3 rack units in size, deep and heavy for its size too at 12kg. 

If anything qualifies for the term ‘old school engineering’ it is this. A class-A valve preamp with variable input impedance and slew rate control with ceramic switches that make a very satisfying ‘clunk’ when you operate them. But it is modern too, microphone, line and instrument level all ably catered for, with 75dB of gain on the microphone input, 46dB on instrument input and input noise of -129dB.

It was a lot of money, around £2000, and more than I had paid for any piece of outboard at that point in my career but I have zero regrets. It is a hugely flexible preamp that sounds great on everything but especially male vocals, snare, electric guitar and bass. 

I’ve been looking for another one but clearly I am not the only one to think so as they are now more expensive used than they were new, for a preamp that very few people bought from a company that no longer makes outboard (Groove Tubes were bought by Fender in 2008). I really should have bought two.

Despite being a valve preamp it has been surprisingly hardy, having survived five international moves and being carted from studio to studio. It still has the original tubes and sounds as good as the day I got it, and with fairly minimal maintenance.

New: Fractal FM9 Turbo

I was an early adopter of modelling devices, reviewing the first Line 6 Pod when it was released in Australia in the 1990’s. The convenience of modelling amps meant that even though they didn’t sound as good as a well recorded tube amplifier, you were able to work quickly and into the small hours without annoying the neighbours. 

The Fractal FM9 Turbo is the newest iteration of the Fractal Amp modeller/FX unit family. The companies flagship unit, the Axe FX III, has been adopted by many studios and professional players right down to hobby players and for good reason. It sounds great and has an excellent interface.

The only drawback is, as a rack device, you need to bring a separate controller such as the FC6 or FC12 to switch scenes and presets.

The FM9 is essentially the Axe FX III in a floorboard format. It doesn’t have as much processing power as the AXE FX III, it has about half of its big brother, but more than enough for most people. 

I’ve been able to create complex guitar rigs with all the effects I need, in a very portable format. I now take a guitar, the FM9 and an EV stage monitor with me to rehearsals and gigs. My setup time is much reduced and I find myself fiddling less with presets and just… playing.

In the studio it is also excellent, unlike the Axe FX III the fan almost never needs to spin up. One of my issues with the Axe FX III is the fan noise, which is enough so that currently it is housed in the machine room. The FM9 is more portable and sounds just as good and I can easily switch between sounds without having to set up and configure a controller, as a self contained ‘all in one’ device it is unbeatable.