AER Dual Mix vs. Redeye preamp??

[austro1]

Hi. I play fingerstyle (Tommy E, Chet style stuff), and country, bluegrass. I'm looking at these two preamps but I don't have the chance to try either live.

I already have a AER compact 60 so I know what the Dual Mix will probably sound like. I'm certain that the Dual Mix will sound great for the fingerstyle stuff.....

But, I was interested in the Redeye also cause it's less expensive, runs phantom or 9v battery (no extra power source), fits on my board without having to change the size and it has a boost that would work good with taking country solos.

I play a Maton808 TE. Some of us Maton players love the Maton-AER combination.

Only thing I'm not sure is if Redeye would sound so great through my Maton AP mic system. I always hear guys praise the K&K- redeye combination.

I know what the Maton+ AER sounds like and it's great.....but what about the redeye?

Do you think you can get that same wamth. AER just takes the edge off a bit when plugged into a PA. I wonder if the Redeye, with that treble adjustment could get that similar warm tone as well? Any ideas?

[erniecaster]

Hi,

I never understood the Redeye. Without EQ, you are not able to taylor your sound to the P.A. and the venue. What is it good for?

cu

erniecaster

[austro1]

Originally Posted by erniecaster

Hi,

I never understood the Redeye. Without EQ, you are not able to taylor your sound to the P.A. and the venue. What is it good for?

cu

erniecaster

Thanks. By what I've read I guess the thing sounds good enough to where you don't have to do a lot of tweaking.
The Dual Mix has bass,treb but not mids as well, right?

[ACOUSTICDEWD]

The RedEye is great but lacks basic EQ. I recently started using a Headway EDM-1 which is great with the k&k and gets me close enough. If you need more control than that, try the Source Audio Programmable EQ.

One trick for home studio folks is using the EQ plugin FabFilter, which shows your guitar frequencies in real time. It's been a huge ear-opener for knowing exactly what your trouble frequencies are.

.

[RCGuitar]

I use the Redeye twin by itself and with a pedalboard. The sound is warm and quite clean. If you have an EQ on your pedal board then run that through the effects loop. Don’t be persuaded by nay sayers because it doesn’t have the bells and whistles. It works very well. Call up and talk to Darin the inventor /engineer who designed this. He is quite accessible. Lots of Austin Texas players using this too. I modded mine to drill a small hole to use a 9 volt clip to my voodoo labs power supply but I believe they will mod this for you now if you need a power cable vs phantom or 9 volt. Been using my twin for at least 7 years now. Always consistent sound. My sounguy loves it although he never heard of it prior.

[Monsum]

If you plug your guitar straight into the AER 60, you don't need a preamp. Your guitar has already one.
I had the Red-Eye preamp and all it does is some clean boost of the signal, there is nothing extra special in its design to make your pickup sound better if it doesn't by itself.

If you want to add something to colour your tone, add warmth I would suggest a LR Baggs Session DI preamp. It also runs of a phantom power or a battery but it has saturation and multi band compression features which can give extra spark to your sound.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by austro1

Thanks. By what I've read I guess the thing sounds good enough to where you don't have to do a lot of tweaking.
The Dual Mix has bass,treb but not mids as well, right?

Hi a1

If every room is perfect and 'average' they work fine. When you need that extra control, the REDeye is dead in the water.

They are like a point-n-shoot camera, with no brain to try to adjust it to the PA or amp.

[dcopper]

To me, the Redeye smooths out the sound of the pickup. That is not technical, I know, but that is what I hear. It improves the tone. I agree that if you need more, then use something with eq. I have a Headway EB2 that is excellent.
I would not discount the Redeye though- if you have good eq on your amp or board already.
Some players, often me, like "point and shoot" if the situation calls for it and the venue allows it. I don't like to get bogged down in trying to find the nirvana tone for every gig as admirable as that can be. That said, I find the RedEye works in many if not most situations. The treble control gives me what I need to get a more articulate or less articulate sound. Everyone wants to sound their best and play their best and I have found that after using it for about 5 years, it works so that I can get any eq I need from the amp or board. I always carry one and I have the single version and the Twin.
If you like to really tweak though, look at the Felix, Alex or more affordable Headway preamps. Too many like that on the market to even mention and that is good for all of us.

[RCGuitar]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi a1

If every room is perfect and 'average' they work fine. When you need that extra control, the REDeye is dead in the water.

They are like a point-n-shoot camera, with no brain to try to adjust it to the PA or amp.

I have never been in a situation where the red eye is "dead in the water", in fact a "point and shoot camera" has no adjustments. Whereas the red eye can adjust gain, treble roll off and boost. If one were to do some research they would find a completely hand wired and hand soldered circuitry inside along with very high quality parts. It definitely helps a pickup sound its best via impedance matching.

[firelakekid2]

For my needs the Red eye has worked very well. I don't miss EQ as I have my Soundcraft EFX8 or Allen and Heath ZED 6fx mixer. I like the Red eye simplicity. Just a touch of EQ on the mixer and you're all set for any kind of room or outside gig.

[Vancebo]

Not familiar with the dual mix.
I have used the Red Eye for awhile. I have always enjoyed its simplicity. There are times I set the treble flat and times where I boost it all the way up. It is still very musical even boosted that way. Remember, as someone else already pointed out, you have EQ on your amp and on your guitar on the AP5. The Red Eye should sound great with that. It’s a good boost and a good DI, you don’t need anything more.

I do like lots of control, so I also have other tools in the bag if needed. My Sunnaudio DI, is simple and cleaner that the Red Eye. My Grace Alix is a bigger tool box if needed but I never really need it. My Baggs PADI does a very good surgical job too if I don’t have power handy. There is one particular big boxy stage in a rectangular reflective room that my Dazzo equipped dread through the Red Eye can get too bassy. That’s when I finally utilize a high pass filter or a notch filter on the Alix.

There are many ways to skin a cat. So much to learn from these folks here.

[austro1]

thanks everyone. I've noticed that not many know much or use the AER pocket tool products. There are hardly any reviews online or YT videos except for a few mostly in Korean or other languages.

Perhaps considering a Dual Mix when I already have an Aer compact 60 is wasteful. The idea was....I like the sound of my Compact 60 but it would be nice to have that sound without having to carry an amp around all the time; even though the amp isn't soo heavy.

The one negative about the Dual Mix is that it needs it's own power source, ie another plug in. I kinda wanted less cables hanging around.

I've heard soo much about the redeye, that I considered it as another option IF it could possiblly match the warmth of the AER + AP5 Maton pickups. Problem is I can't test any of these things before purchase.

[steelvibe]

I finally got to use the Red Eye for the first time at a gig a week ago. It worked great in it's simplicity plugging my Journey OF660 through it and into my Crate (it also sounds great in my practice room ahead of the Crate). The only issue was only because I have a 30W amp that just couldn't compete with the lead players Blackstar 50W. One of the guys said my guitar sounded "great" and wanted to play it. He was particularly interested in the Red Eye. If you need extra EQ options there are other Pre/DIs available that are praised here. I've tried a couple others outside the Red Eye and Red Eye wins to my ears. I also love that the Red Eye has an effects loop, so you can run an EQ pedal in the loop if you need one and bypass it in the venues that you don't.

If the Red Eye is point and shoot- it kills 2 birds with one stone. YMMV

[austro1]

Thanks!!

My idea for a pre/DI was to not have to use my amp at certain venues.

Therefore I'd only run through the DI , plus maybe a couple of other pedals (reverb, tuner, maybe xciter?) ie, my pedal board.

So would the REdeye still do the job and get that warmth only using my Maton AP5 system EQ? I also like the idea of less knobs..

I would still use my Compact 60 for smaller room venues where my amp is enough. But, for larger places w/ a PA system I'd rather just pull out my board with a DI on it and go straight into PA, no hassles, not a lot of wallwarts to plug in and not a lot of knobs to mess with.

[The Kid!]

Originally Posted by RCGuitar

I have never been in a situation where the red eye is "dead in the water", in fact a "point and shoot camera" has no adjustments. Whereas the red eye can adjust gain, treble roll off and boost. If one were to do some research they would find a completely hand wired and hand soldered circuitry inside along with very high quality parts. It definitely helps a pickup sound its best via impedance matching.

Agreed.

I have plenty of EQ on my board. The Red-Eye is a great pre.