Has anyone else discovered the Red-Eye preamp?

[open-road-matt]

The UPS truck showed up this afternoon with a Red-Eye Twin. The idea of getting the twin is so I can easily switch back and forth between my guitar and my ukulele without taking up two channels and using separate preamps for each instrument.

The guitar is a Collings DS1HA with a Sunrise magnetic sound hole pickup. The ukulele is a Collings UC1K with a K&K Twin Spot Internal.

I didn't have a ton of time or a great spot to do my testing but I wanted to get a quick sense of whether or not the Red-Eye was worth at least taking out to my shows this weekend.

I set up my Bose L1 Model 2 w/T1 in the garage and got everything hooked up. I tried the guitar first and went back and forth between the Red-Eye and my usual preamp, a Summit Audio TD-100 Tube DI.

The Red-Eye handled the guitar very well. The Summit has a smoother, rounder, more mellow tone while the Sunrise through the Red-Eye seems crisper and more defined. Both preamps sounded great to me and in my short round of testing I didn't feel like I'd be giving up much, if anything, tone-wise using the Red-Eye.

The ukulele was a bigger challenge. I've really been enjoying the tone I've been getting using my K&K Pure XLR preamp and as I started to compare the ukulele through the Red-Eye vs. the K&K my first thought was that the Red-Eye was not going to work with my ukulele. With the Red-Eye, I was hearing a lot more low end that was coming through the Bose B1s (subs) as a sort of thudding sound while the low end with the K&K Pure XLR was very tight and well controlled.

After making some adjustments to the gain of the Red-Eye, and hearing how boomy my vocal mic was in the garage, I got rid of one of the Bose B1s and cut 3db from the low end of the ukulele/guitar channel on the Bose T1. That totally cured the thudding and now I had some great tone coming from the ukulele through the Red-Eye. I went back to the K&K Pure XLR preamp and the K&K sounded very muffled compared to the Red-Eye!

The K&K is tight on the low end but now I could hear how much tighter and less open the tone is all around coming through the K&K. So it seems that what is keeping the low end in check with the K&K is hampering the tone throughout the other frequencies too. It sounds constricted compared to the Red-Eye.

I went back and forth several more times and the more I did, the more I liked the wide open, more transparent tone of the Red-Eye.

So that concludes round one of my testing. I'm going to take it out to my shows this weekend. I play twice Saturday and twice Sunday and the four shows couldn't be more different so by the time the weekend is over I should have a good sense of how the Red-Eye Twin performs in different situations.

Thanks for turning me on to this preamp!

Enjoy the day!
Matt

[TwinandTwang]

Cheers! Good sound. I just ordered a twin to use my guitar and bouzouki/octave mando at the next gig. This should make switching easy.

[Crazyquilt]

Fascinating.

I've been curious to find ways to my flat tops & resos at the same time. Having a loop into which I can place my Boomerang is also extremely provocative.

[El Conquistador]

Originally Posted by open-road-matt

So that concludes round one of my testing. I'm going to take it out to my shows this weekend. I play twice Saturday and twice Sunday and the four shows couldn't be more different so by the time the weekend is over I should have a good sense of how the Red-Eye Twin performs in different situations.

Enjoy the day!
Matt

So, what's the verdict?
LC

[open-road-matt]

Originally Posted by El Conquistador

So, what's the verdict?
LC

Hey LC!
I know I'm delinquent with a follow up report. The short version is that I am thrilled with the sound and performance of the Red-Eye!

I'm on the way out the door (with the Red-Eye) to get set up for a back to school/welcome picnic/party in a big, outdoor courtyard at a technical college today over the lunch hour. I'll do a detailed report on everything either this afternoon or tomorrow.

Matt

[open-road-matt]

I've now used the Red-Eye at 6 different shows. I've sold the K&K Pure XLR preamp that I was using for my ukulele and my Summit Audio TD-100 is stilling in my office/studio at home while I'm on the road for the week.

I sort of threw a wrench into the testing of the Red-Eye. I've been trying out different nylon string guitars for a little while and finally settled on a Yamaha NTX700 as a good intro into the nylon world. I love the guitar and it sounds great plugged in. I bought that Saturday night before my show and I've been using that at all of my gigs since, switching between the nylon string and the ukulele.

That means that I have not been playing my Collings with the Sunrise with the exception of my first show with the Red-Eye last Saturday morning. I have been running the Yamaha through the Red-Eye and even though it is an active pickup system I swear it sounds a little more open and a little clearer through the Red-Eye and the treble adjustment allows me to get the perfect amount of sparkle. But being new to using a nylon string live, I don't know that I'm able to do as good a job judging the Red-Eye as I would be had I used my Collings at all of the gigs.

With that said, I'm thrilled with every aspect of the Red-Eye! Clearly the portability is a plus as is the set up and tear down. It certainly has all the routing functions one could ask for. I got the optional mute switch that I plug into the effects loop. I have the twin so I can switch back and forth between a guitar and an ukulele. I am not using two 1/4" cables like I am supposed to. I just mute the Red-Eye and move the 1/4" from instrument jack A to instrument jack B. It takes just a second to make that switch and I don't have to have 2 1/4" cables on stage.

Sonically, it is hard for me to judge a preamp without comparing it to other preamps. With the Red-Eye, the only chance I've had to do any comparing is when I was switching between it and my Summit Audio TD-100 for my Collings guitar and my K&K Pure XLR for my ukulele. I think it sounds as good, just different from the Summit with my guitar and head and shoulders above the K&K for my ukulele! Like I said in my first post, the ukulele sounded much more open and much less constricted through the Red-Eye.

I am by no means an acoustic guitar purist. It just isn't practical for me, nor is it necessary. I'm a songwriter, a performer, a singer and a guitarist (and now ukulele player) in that order. No one, and I mean NO ONE is showing up to my shows because of my skills as an instrumentalist! But I do like good tone and I think I'm fairly capable of hearing and judging good tone.

My goal is what I call usable tone. I try to strike a balance between natural tone that is problem free and comes in a package that is portable and easy to set up and tear down. That goal is what led me from a triple source (Sunrise, K&K PWM, Schertler Dyn-G) through a Pendulum SPS-1 to just a Sunrise through the Summit Audio TD-100 and now to the Red-Eye. And from what I can tell so far, the Red-Eye is definitely getting the job done.

The tone I'm hearing is clear, it's nice and open and I think it is as good as I can get using my favorite single source pickup (the Sunrise) in a guitar that is perfectly suited for what I do live (my Collings DS1HA) and since I love the sound of my new Yamaha and my ukulele through it too, I'm sold! It's also great to know that if I have any questions or need any help, Daren (the creator of the Red-Eye) answers the phone when you call and so far has answered any and all questions I have asked! Another plus is that it essentially expands my Bose T1 by one more channel.

So I hope that helps a little bit for folks curious about the Red-Eye.

Enjoy the day!
Matt

[El Conquistador]

Since very few members are reading my review of Red Eye in another post, I thought I should post it here.

I A/Bed it with the K&K XLR, and for my rig and venue, the Red Eye simply improved my sound to the level I wanted while the K&K XLR did not. I don't pretend to understand why, it just did. I am sold on it.
LC

[open-road-matt]

Hey LC!
I did read your Red-Eye review. I'm glad you are enjoying it. I've been using mine all weekend and I'll use it again this afternoon. I think it's just great!

When comparing it to the K&K Pure XLR with my ukulele, I felt like the Red-Eye opened up the tone of the instrument. Like you, I can't explain it in technical terms but it sure makes a difference.

Enjoy the day!
Matt

[35' Sunburst]

Geez ...after reading this thread I think I'm going to reconsider getting the Para DI. The Red Eye seems to have had great reviews among many of you - and if nothing else at least better than the Para DI.
Thanks for the heads up!

[Neal]

**************

[TwinandTwang]

I started this thread. I am still using my Red Eyes. I played
over 50 gigs in the past year. I used it happily for every one.

[Neal]

Just got a Red-Eye. My uke sounds like a uke for the first time thru the SoloAmp. I use a National 12 with a mag as well, and that sounds spectacular. I've set the Soloamp at neutral.

Unlike many of you, I have no idea what I'm doing, electically. I have a Baggs ParaDi, as well as the Baggs GigPro. There are many knobs on those. You have the option to turn them or not. If one does, one should know why, and I(for the most part) do not. The Red-Eye has one knob to turn, and that's easy enough, it sounds great, and I am pleased to have discovered the K.I.S.S principle works well in this situation.

[Carbonius]

I went to http://www.fire-eye.com/ and read through the "Tech Questions" area. It makes A LOT of sense. I would like to try one of these. If I understood things right, it should solve the dreaded piezo quack. If you needed some tone shaping, you could run a simple eq pedal through the effects loop as the effects loop DOES change the XLR signal.

I think for this to be most effective, the pu has to run direct to the Red-Eye as an onboard preamp is probably what causes the QUACK due to it's limited headroom.

I once spent big coin on the newest multi-effects pedal in my electric guitar days. It had loads of different patches, distortions, reverbs, blah, blah, blah. It also had 3 band parametric eq. I thought surely somewhere in all of this I will find a good tone. Well I didn't, it wasn't there. It was digital this and that and just didn't have good transparent tone no matter what I did. I took it back.

Sometimes all the bells and whistles are just an attempt to distract you from one simple fact... there is no tone to be found.

[donh]

Originally Posted by Carbonius

I think for this to be most effective, the pu has to run direct to the Red-Eye as an onboard preamp is probably what causes the QUACK due to it's limited headroom.

This is correct. The Red-Eye functions best as the first thing in the signal chain.

It's so much fun having gear that just lets you play, rather than enticing you to fiddle it's knobs!

[pshambroom]

Has anyone tried the RedEye Twin to blend a dual source PU? I wonder if Darren could modify the A channel to take both channels with a S
stereo plug?