Red-Eye Preamp

Mking · #1 06-16-2016, 03:04 PM

I have K&K pickups in my Gibson and Martin acoustic guitars. I have the K&K Pure XLR preamp but I've read great things about the Red Eye. Do any of you have both; one or the other of the two and would please give me your opinions and assessment? I would appreciate it.

Br1ck · #2 06-16-2016, 03:12 PM

The Redeye might be my best gear purchase ever. I should have gotten the twin though because of multiple instrument use.

Mking · #3 06-16-2016, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Br1ck

The Redeye might be my best gear purchase ever. I should have gotten the twin though because of multiple instrument use.

Are you using the Red Eye with K&K pups?

Vancebo · #4 06-16-2016, 04:03 PM

I play a Dazzo through a Red Eye. The Red Eye is a good piece of gear. Seems to make everything you send through it sound better. It lacks features that I need though. I wish it had basic EQ, and mute switch. Tonally it beats my Baggs Venue and Session DI.

earri · #5 06-16-2016, 04:11 PM

Vancebo:

You like the sonic qualities of the Redeye better than the Session DI? Can you expound on that? I run my K&Ks through the Session, and love the tone I get, but i've never tried the Redeye.

I have often thought of getting one; in fact I sold my K&K XLR to get the Session, but it was a toss up between it and the Redeye. Chose the Session for it's greater control.

ComradeGarrett · #6 06-16-2016, 04:50 PM

I wrote Daren at Fire-Eye today and he said that he could add phantom power to a preamp on a custom order. That got me really excited as most of my guitars have dual mic/SBT systems.

Has anyone used one with this modification?

Methos1979 · #7 06-16-2016, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mking

I have K&K pickups in my Gibson and Martin acoustic guitars. I have the K&K Pure XLR preamp but I've read great things about the Red Eye. Do any of you have both; one or the other of the two and would please give me your opinions and assessment? I would appreciate it.

I have both that I use with my K&K pickup equipped guitars. The Red Eye is super simple, plug and play and just makes for a great tone. There's an effects loop, boost button with volume knob and a treble knob. Since I play fingerstyle with the meat of my fingers I tend to dial up a lot of treble on both the Red Eye and the amp itself. I use the amps phantom power to power the Red Eye so I don't have to deal with batteries.

The K&K Pure pre-amp is a very nice, very small pre-amp that I use for open mics. This allows me to dial in some of my preferred tone (highs boosted, mids cut, bass set to the room) plus it has a volume knob so I can control the volume - great for turning down to tune. Both work well so I guess it depends mostly on what you need or want to do. What is your set up/signal path? Are you playing at home? Amp? PA? Gigs? If you like the ability to dial in some EQ on the pre-amp then stick with the K&K Pure. If you have the ability to dial it in on an amp or mixer or have a sound man to do it for you, the Red Eye is pretty much bullet proof.

bozz_2006 · #8 06-16-2016, 08:07 PM

I have had both. Recently sold my k&k preamps and kept my red eyes. I almost always play through my amp then balanced out to the PA. Red Eye is dead easy, and I do my eq through my amp and the PA, no need for a redundant third EQ to dial in. And the red eye really does sound cleaner than you thought possible.

Mking · #9 06-17-2016, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Methos1979

I have both that I use with my K&K pickup equipped guitars. The Red Eye is super simple, plug and play and just makes for a great tone. There's an effects loop, boost button with volume knob and a treble knob. Since I play fingerstyle with the meat of my fingers I tend to dial up a lot of treble on both the Red Eye and the amp itself. I use the amps phantom power to power the Red Eye so I don't have to deal with batteries.

The K&K Pure pre-amp is a very nice, very small pre-amp that I use for open mics. This allows me to dial in some of my preferred tone (highs boosted, mids cut, bass set to the room) plus it has a volume knob so I can control the volume - great for turning down to tune. Both work well so I guess it depends mostly on what you need or want to do. What is your set up/signal path? Are you playing at home? Amp? PA? Gigs? If you like the ability to dial in some EQ on the pre-amp then stick with the K&K Pure. If you have the ability to dial it in on an amp or mixer or have a sound man to do it for you, the Red Eye is pretty much bullet proof.

Regarding the Red Eye, the volume knob is to set the amount of boost? There isn't a volume control to adjust the guitar volume up or down as on the K&K Pure XLR?

MaurysMusic · #10 06-17-2016, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mking

Regarding the Red Eye, the volume knob is to set the amount of boost? There isn't a volume control to adjust the guitar volume up or down as on the K&K Pure XLR?

Correct, the volume knob is to set the amount of boost. When the boost is disengaged, the volume knob is bypassed.

Vancebo · #11 06-17-2016, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earri

Vancebo:

You like the sonic qualities of the Redeye better than the Session DI? Can you expound on that? I run my K&Ks through the Session, and love the tone I get, but i've never tried the Redeye.

I have often thought of getting one; in fact I sold my K&K XLR to get the Session, but it was a toss up between it and the Redeye. Chose the Session for it's greater control.

The Red Eye seems cleaner and warmer than most preamps I have owned or tried. It seems to be in the same realm as the Radial products (Pz Pre, Pz Deluxe), and the Pendulum SPS 1, which seem to share the same warm, clean tonal qualities. The Red Eye just doesn't have some of the features I would like to have.

The Session is a totally different tool. I like it very much. It did a fantastic job on my Anthem or Lyric Equipped guitars. The High Pass filter does a great job if you have a pickup that has a lot of bass that you want to cut down to use in a band situation. I find that I don't need it on my main gigging guitar since it is so well balanced with my Dazzo. My beater guitar has a Dazzo that has a lot of bass (too much really) so I use the Session for its HPF. I don't seem to need or want the Saturation or Comp EQ effects with my Dazzo equipped guitars. Again, those effects worked wonders for the Anthem and Lyric. I will keep it to use with that one guitar.

Mandobart · #12 06-17-2016, 09:56 AM

I've used a few preamps. I like the K&K Pure for the belt mounting and EQ. I like the sound I get with my Redeye better, the fact that its phantom powered and the effects loop. Currently I just use a tuner in the loop for tuning and muting when I select a different instrument using my A-B-C pedal. I use JJB internal twin head pu's in my fiddles, octave fiddles, mandolin, mandola, octave mando, banjo, guitars and mandocellos. They all sound great when using the Redeye.

Mking · #13 06-17-2016, 10:17 AM

I use an Ultrasound CP-100 amplifier. I think the K&K preamp having the volume control is a huge advantage. I can set the bass and treble on the amp straight up at zero and fine tune the tone on the preamp. Same with the volume. I can set the channel volume and then make any adjustments using the preamp volume right there at my feet.
My main problem is that I am getting the impression the Red Eye is a better preamp tone wise. I have never heard one used before so I don't know.

Tuberoast · #14 06-17-2016, 11:52 AM

I use a K&K Pure Mini with a Red Eye. Love my sound!

ComradeGarrett · #15 06-17-2016, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mking

I use an Ultrasound CP-100 amplifier. I think the K&K preamp having the volume control is a huge advantage. I can set the bass and treble on the amp straight up at zero and fine tune the tone on the preamp. Same with the volume. I can set the channel volume and then make any adjustments using the preamp volume right there at my feet.
My main problem is that I am getting the impression the Red Eye is a better preamp tone wise. I have never heard one used before so I don't know.

It seems to me that the Red-Eye is a much simpler unit made of high quality components. I've never used one but I'm on the verge of ordering the Twin Channel version. As a musician who records little and plays live a lot, my beef with most preamps is that they often put too many bells and whistles into them. The Grace Designs Felix, for example, has it all but it's expensive and I truly think it's not worth the expense unless you are in a signal chain that goes Guitar>Felix>Power Amp>Speakers. Of course, that's just in a live context. For recording, high-quality preamps are terrific things.

I have the K&K Trinity Preamp and a Rane AP-13. Both of these are great but, in my opinion, they are more than you need. I don't need a full EQ on both channels. Really, all I need is gain, a buffer for the piezo and low-voltage phantom power for the mic. IF you add a boost, I'm in heaven.

No matter what, the signal is coming from your guitar, then going into a preamp, then going either to an amplifier or a mixer (sometimes an amp THEN a mixer as well). If your amplifier or mixer is of unsupportable quality, then your high quality signal is limited by that poor quality piece of gear. I think the Red-Eye folks have the right idea: build a simple, high-quality circuit with minimal controls that is attuned to bringing out the tonal qualities of the guitar.

All that said, I have never played a Red-Eye but I'm going to order one very soon and I'll keep you posted.