Grace M103: a new contender for super-clean preamp

[bongomania]

http://www.gracedesign.com/products/m103/m103.htm ...Retails for about $1,500.

A lot of people like their M101 for a simple, relatively uncolored DI/preamp, so I imagine this will appeal to the "I want my pure bass sound" crowd.

[superbassman2000]

nice clean design--if i had the money i'd check it out

[naturalkinds]

I used the 101 for a while as a DI/preamp for my bass and Rhodes. Sort of the same vibe as the Apogee stuff, with a little more girth in the lower end. I disliked that in the Grace for vintage keyboards, but quality product nevertheless. This looks like a totally mint unit. I would love to hear the compressor and EQ. Does it seem like you can patch into the compressor directly, or do you need to go through the pre?

[bongomania]

There's an XLR "line in" on the back that bypasses the preamp stage and goes straight to the EQ and compressor. The EQ and comp have relay-based bypass switches.

[naturalkinds]

What is a relay-based bypass switch? Is it an input to the EQ/comp, where you can switch off one of the stages from a panel switch on the back or front? Sorry, just never heard that expression before. Very, very interested in this unit, though.

[T. Alan Smith]

Looking forward to hearing real world input on this as a bass guitar front-end.

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by naturalkinds

What is a relay-based bypass switch? Is it an input to the EQ/comp, where you can switch off one of the stages from a panel switch on the back or front?

A relay is a type of switching mechanism, and a well-designed relay is one of the best switching devices around: mechanically super reliable, transparent, no "pop" noise when switching, and it's "true bypass".

There are two switches, to engage/bypass each of the comp and the EQ, but "relay-based" just describes what's going on inside, not which controls there are.