Has anyone else discovered the Red-Eye preamp?

[firelakekid2]

I have the Red-Eye and like it. I have a K&K on my Martin 000-42. Admittedly, my live sound experience is pretty minimal--so I am no expert. But in regards to EQ, when we played out with our system, I just made some minor adjusts on my mixer and everything was fine. Nice clear, close to natural guitar sound. It keeps things simple for me too.

[MaurysMusic]

Originally Posted by brucesinger

I recently purchased a Red-eye preamp with the boost, and did not have the need for a any additional eq.(running straight to board/PA).
That being said, I only have one show under my belt with it.
I also purchased a Radial PZ Deluxe, as I was blown away by the sound at NAMM.
I will be doing a shoot out between these to see which sounds the best with my Takamine 341SC...

Red Eye and PZ Deluxe are both PRO pieces of gear, and miles ahead of the semi-pro Fishman and Baggs boxes IMHO. I use the PZ with my Trance Audio Amulet M and its gorgeous. When playing K&Ks, the Red Eye makes it sound so open and alive.

[brucesinger]

Originally Posted by MaurysMusic

Red Eye and PZ Deluxe are both PRO pieces of gear, and miles ahead of the semi-pro Fishman and Baggs boxes IMHO. I use the PZ with my Trance Audio Amulet M and its gorgeous. When playing K&Ks, the Red Eye makes it sound so open and alive.

Thanks for making me feel good about the choices! I just hope I can get the PZ dialed in well enough to get a good sense on what will work for me. (direct to PA, house systems and engineers)

[alnico5]

I have the Red Eye but have not used it at a gig yet, only in my living room. It is very well made. I like the simplicity.

Update 6/2014. I have now used the Red-Eye at lots of gigs and am well pleased with the tone as I hear recorded from the audience.

[gratay]

I'm interested in the red-eye.. Currently using the K&K XLR and while it works ok I find the phase switch invaluable. The guitar is unusable with the phase switch in the out position..

Just wondering whether phase is an issue with what the Red-eye being essentially a DI?

[wcap]

Originally Posted by gratay

I'm interested in the red-eye.. Currently using the K&K XLR and while it works ok I find the phase switch invaluable. The guitar is unusable with the phase switch in the out position..

Just wondering whether phase is an issue with what the Red-eye being essentially a DI?

I realize this is now an old post, but....

I was just talking with my luthier (a well known highly respected repair guy), who is installing a K&K system into one of my guitars, and he HIGHLY recommended I get a RedEye.

I don't know much about all of this stuff (and I don't know what DI means above), but he brought up the phase issue, and said that the RedEye does automatic phase correction.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by wcap

Ibut he brought up the phase issue, and said that the RedEye does automatic phase correction.

What could that mean? With an amplified guitar, phase issues generally just have to do with interaction between the amplified sound and the movement of the top. Being in phase will tend to increase the odds of feedback. Being out of phase, may reduce it. But you can change the phase relationship just by moving a foot or so. There's no really "correct" or "incorrect" phase in this case, and with a single pickup there's nothing electrical to be in or out of phase with, other than the guitar/amp combination, so I can't imagine what a preamp could automatically adjust.

Maybe someone with a red-eye knows what this is about?

[El Conquistador]

Originally Posted by wcap

above), but he brought up the phase issue, and said that the RedEye does automatic phase correction.

I have no idea what " the phase issue" is, but, I use a k&K to RedEye to SA220 and am VERY happy with it. I do all my EQing on my SA220. Hope this helps.

Steve

[wcap]

Originally Posted by Doug Young

What could that mean? With an amplified guitar, phase issues generally just have to do with interaction between the amplified sound and the movement of the top. Being in phase will tend to increase the odds of feedback. Being out of phase, may reduce it. But you can change the phase relationship just by moving a foot or so. There's no really "correct" or "incorrect" phase in this case, so I can't imagine what a preamp could automatically adjust.

Maybe someone with a red-eye knows what this is about?

Good questions. I wish I understood this better to be able to answer this. We (my repair guy and I) talked for quite a while today about amplification options, which I know virtually nothing about (I'm getting a K&K installed without yet having an amp or PA system!), and he talked a fair bit about the importance of having a preamp that is able to deal with phase issues. I gather than some preamps have a knob you can turn(?) to deal with this, but he said that the RedEye was self correcting. I don't fully understand what that means though!

I wonder whether it is able to detect situations where there is constructive interference developing, and then dynamically shift the phase to stop this from happening? I'm just guessing, based on just enough partial knowledge to get myself into trouble!

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by wcap

I wonder whether it is able to detect situations where there is constructive interference developing, and then dynamically shift the phase to stop this from happening? I'm just guessing, based on just enough partial knowledge to get myself into trouble!

Just curious here, and I've never seen a red-eye, so I have no idea, but for any electronics to automatically detect and correct phase problems, it would need two signals - phase is only a meaningful concept if you can talk about the phase of one signal relative to another. Since there's a mono input here, I don't see how one could even have a concept of phase. There is a thing called linear-phase EQ - the simplest ways to create an EQ filter introduces phase shifts between different frequencies - so may be he just means the treble boost is phase-linear? Just guessing.

[dcopper]

I am not sure it is so much a "phase" issue since you have a single source. I do know that it is a fact - search this forum and you will see - that many K&K users have preferred the RedEye to other preamps/DI boxes. I personally use it on the JJB sensors which are pretty much the same as the K&K with some difference in the exterior materials. The RedEye is an excellent preamp and works best with piezo systems, either soundboard transducers like the K&K as well as undersaddle piezo systems like my LR Baggs Element Active installed in one of my T5 guitars (making it a T6).

The RedEye does not have as drastic an effect on soundhole pickups. I have tried it with a Sunrise/LRBaggs M80/Fishman Rare Earth HB/Schertler magnetico pickups. It is more subtle and does work well but the "smoothing" effect it has is not as pronounced.

I believe it is more of an impedance issue rather than a phase issue. The RedEye works very well with the impedance output of the K&K as well as the JJB like mine. I also think the "treble" control is excellent in taking the edge off or adding a bit of bite to the treble frequencies.

davidc

[martingitdave]

Is it possible he/you are confusing "phase" and "impedance?"

[curbucci]

I am considering either getting the red eye or the K&K pure xlr preamp since recently getting a JJB 330 installed in my guitar. A phase switch seems to be handy when dealing with floor monitors with questionable sound systems. Anyone know if the Red-Eye will work without a phase switch?

I currently running a JJB 330 though a Boss Tu-2 (supposedly has 1mg to match the JJB) to a Padi. I have not gigged with JJB yet. Just recently went to SBT after using mag acoustic pickups for 20 years!

[Villamarzia]

Originally Posted by curbucci

I am considering either getting the red eye or the K&K pure xlr preamp since recently getting a JJB 330 installed in my guitar. A phase switch seems to be handy when dealing with floor monitors with questionable sound systems. Anyone know if the Red-Eye will work without a phase switch?

I currently running a JJB 330 though a Boss Tu-2 (supposedly has 1mg to match the JJB) to a Padi. I have not gigged with JJB yet. Just recently went to SBT after using mag acoustic pickups for 20 years!

Hi! How did you proceed? I am interested in understanding if JJB 330 combined with Red-eye is a good match. JJBs are indeed less hot than K&K and might react differently... Thank you
Marco

[Gypsyblue]

Originally Posted by ukejon

It does look quite tonally limited compared to my Venue. On the other hand, there are comments online, especially on some of the fiddler blogs, that say you've got to try it to believe it. Look forward to hearing some more comments from guitar players.....

I just got a Red Eye Twin to replace my single channel K&K Pure XLR PreAmp.

Loving it so far!

Regardless of how it might look on paper, or how the specs might appear, and even though the Red Eye only has a treble control and the K&K has more EQ adjustment, the Red Eye simply sounds better!

Have not tried the Venue and probably never will. But only because I'm so happy with what I've got.