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moosers
Published on 02/25/09 at 19:20
The Avalon M5 is a single channel solid state microphone preamp. It has XLR connections and it is not rackable. It also has a big meter that is easy to read and is helpful when setting your level.
UTILIZATION
The configuration and manipulation of the Avalon M5 is basic and easy to follow. You've got a knob to set your microphone level, and one to set the frequency for the filter. It also has a polarity reverse, a -20 dB pad and a filter in button. I've never seen the manual so I can't speak to how helpful it is.
SOUND QUALITY
The overall sound quality of the Avalon M5 is clean will reproduce the signal from your microphones accurately and faithfully. It has a full tone and is extremely easy to get a quick level from this. It won't color your sound and is overall an accurate portrayal of what the microphone sounds like. The filter is handy when I am trying to zero in on a certain tone or for simply cutting noise out of the signal. This works great for a number of different applications including vocals, bass guitar and horns of all kinds, especially on saxophone.
OVERALL OPINION
I've been using the Avalon M5 for about a year. Compared to the Avalon 737, this pre is much simpler to use and has a similar tone quality. I love using this pre to get a quick tone when I want to use something other than the preamps in my audio interface or board. The price is pretty expensive, but it is a high end pre and has a great tone to it. Avalon makes well built products with a great sound and the M5 is a prime example of the units they make. I definitley recommend this to those interested in a high quality single channel preamp.
UTILIZATION
The configuration and manipulation of the Avalon M5 is basic and easy to follow. You've got a knob to set your microphone level, and one to set the frequency for the filter. It also has a polarity reverse, a -20 dB pad and a filter in button. I've never seen the manual so I can't speak to how helpful it is.
SOUND QUALITY
The overall sound quality of the Avalon M5 is clean will reproduce the signal from your microphones accurately and faithfully. It has a full tone and is extremely easy to get a quick level from this. It won't color your sound and is overall an accurate portrayal of what the microphone sounds like. The filter is handy when I am trying to zero in on a certain tone or for simply cutting noise out of the signal. This works great for a number of different applications including vocals, bass guitar and horns of all kinds, especially on saxophone.
OVERALL OPINION
I've been using the Avalon M5 for about a year. Compared to the Avalon 737, this pre is much simpler to use and has a similar tone quality. I love using this pre to get a quick tone when I want to use something other than the preamps in my audio interface or board. The price is pretty expensive, but it is a high end pre and has a great tone to it. Avalon makes well built products with a great sound and the M5 is a prime example of the units they make. I definitley recommend this to those interested in a high quality single channel preamp.