I remember the first time I heard a proper preamp in a proper studio. It was an epiphany for me, especially when I heard a cheap mic like the sm57 through a John Hardy pre. It changed everything for me, I became very interested in proper gear. The adage "it's not the car, it's the driver" became completely ridiculous. In my mind, the car is the most important thing. I mean, if Andretti is driving a Jetta and I am driving a Ferrari then I'm going to win. Give me a break.

When I heard the Langevin for the first time, it was another epiphany for me. Discrete, transformer-based circuits are the most musical, massive, and delicious. There is a damn good reason Neve, API, Helios, Quad Eight, Electrodyne, Langevin, etc. all command a hefty price, but I hadn't experienced the Langevin before.

A mic signal traveling through this thing gets to enjoy the effect of an input transformer, output transformer X2, if used as designed. That is, choose one of the 4 output buses. I wired an unbalanced direct output after the mic pre and EQ section of 3 channels so I have 7 outputs currently.

The EQ is so fantastic it's not fair. Non inductor, no ringing, just a few frequencies to choose from, but MAN, the quality is superb. You can add low end to kick, snare, toms, whatever and it is VERY satisfying. Adding 1khz and another upper frequency is not recommended in the manual. In fact, the manual states very clearly to only use EQ in very small amounts.

I have fantastic results doing the opposite of what the manual suggests.

The truth is that it sounds massive without any EQ. I think the most fun I've had with this so far is live mixing with a tube limiter after it just recording stereo into Logic. I experienced a huge depth of field, just big deep and wide.

I would love to use this with the Studer 1/2" 4 track and track a jazz combo.