This might be a narrow question, but here goes. I have a solo 610 preamp. Is it a good choice for acoustic and classical guitar? I generally want to use it to microphone acoustic instruments. I’ve been trying to find more information about it and what recordings it has been used on in the past.
Any general discussion on preamps ini this thread is welcome. I’m still learning more about them.
We need more information here. What are you doing? Recording major studio albums? Dinking around in your basement? Playing live in bars?
The solo is a pretty good preamp/DI. It will serve you fine for almost any needs you might have, unless you are looking to record DG quality major releases.
That aside, the music biz is particularly susceptible to FUD and hype – musicians are flaky and usually not very technical. They also are like golfers, in that they are suckers for trying to buy quality and always looking for that magical purchase that makes a huge difference. (Like “jazz” and “rock” optimized cables.)
Short course in preamps:
Amplifiers take a weak signal and make it louder. This is called gain. Amplifiers differ in the amount of gain they can provide and in the level of distortion they add to the signal as they make it louder. Audiophiles want amplifiers that are as clean as possible, with almost no distortion. Musicians like distortion. Playing a guitar or singing through a home theater amp sounds like crap, because it sounds exactly like what’s going into the amp. Musical amps add distortion, either “tube warmth” or clipping the waveform, etc etc; sometimes you can adjust the amount. (Tubes are inherently, mathematically, by the power of the laws of physics, less clean than solid state amps.)
A preamp takes a weak signal and adds gain to bring it up to line level, which is the “standard” signal strength for recording. It also adds distortion, and in the solo’s case, tube distortion, making the sound a little warmer. Lots of people find it more pleasing.
So, if you want to record acoustic guitars, it’s fine to run them through the solo. As for if it’s the best thing, that’s a question that can’t be answered. At this point, the only difference is how it sounds to you. It’s not going to blow up your recording equipment or PA, and it will transmit the sound of your guitar. Other than that, it’s solely a matter of taste. (Aside from things like static or line hum, but that shouldn’t be an issue with proper setup.) But remember that the preamp is one tiny step in a really long chain of devices that all add their own little touches to the sound. Moving the mic a quarter of an inch can drastically change the sound. Your recording equipment will color the sound. You will mix the sound to make it sound better (or worse). Getting the sound you want is 1 part technical and 1 part luck and 3 parts voodoo.
I imagine if you are having to ask on here, you’re probably not at a level where the differences between individual mid-to-high-end preamps are your biggest concern.