Avedis Audio Electronics MA5 500 Series Microphone Preamp

When looking at additional mic preamps that had "color" and "character" to them for our guitar centric studio, we were blown away by how many options there were. We tried MANY over the years and always felt that most were lacking in response, were too colored or too distorted, were too dark, etc. (some of these preamps were at the top of the food chain as well). We hit up the guys at VK and they recommended the Avedis MA5. Well, it delivered everything that we were looking for. Not as colored as our BAE or Heritage, and much faster to respond. The 28K switch is AMAZING and really brings everything to life. We are beyond happy with this unit and can't wait to try the other Avedis pre's and EQ's!

When it comes to nuance, dynamic range, smoothness across the spectrum, and that unmistakable but impossible to describe x-factor, the MA5 is IT. It’s just gorgeous-sounding - silky-yet-firm, warm-yet-precise, subtle-yet-sweet. These babies are the real deal - the kind of unit that will make people ask you what gear you use to get “that” sound.

My journey for the LA2 sound has been fairly arduous. I came across the IGS One LA while looking at other units. I’ve tried the Manley ELOP, Audioscape Opto, and both the Warm and Klark offerings. The Manley is clean and nice- but doesn’t have the color I was looking for. The Audioscape has color, but I felt the gain staging was strange and I couldn’t get a good preamp to compressor relationship going. The Warm and Klark have nice color but sounded cheap next to the IGS. I really like the One LA. It pairs nicely with my Avedis MA5 and even makes my Apogee preamps sound great! I would highly recommend.

completely silent— blown away

Teh Aveids MA5 is the go to preamp in our studio. This is the 10th pre we've put into our 500 series rack. These are used on sources ranging from drums to delicate strings and they always give us great tone. Big low end without being too slow on transients and a really nice, smooth, open top end, especially when we engage the 28K button

I recently picked up a second 500 series rack and a couple modules Ive had my eye on for awhile. I had a little left over in my budget so I decided to roll the dice on a preamp Ive never heard before and was on sale at VK.com. I read up a bit on the MA5 and found a lot of people use it for a variety of instruments, it tends to be pretty transparent sounding so really good for something that doesnt need any extra color. I do a lot of piano recording at my studio on my Baldwin Baby Grand, I typically use two mics inside the piano and one microphone close to the rear of the piano as a room mic. I ran the room mic through the MA5 the first session I had it hooked up, right off the bat it had more clarity and presence in the higher frequencies than any of my other preamps. I was so impressed how it sounded on the room mic I ended up buying another one to use for the two inside microphones. The MA5 had the same effect on the inside piano mics as well, I was thrilled with the tone I ended up buying a third MA5 and wont be looking back anytime soon for any other preamps on my Piano.