Q: Can you describe how these preamps sound, and the difference between the two?

A:  The best way I can describe these preamps is musical, while still maintaining outstanding signal integrity. Both the HJFP2 and HVTP2 micpres have roughly 6Hz to 40KHz bandwidth, <0.5dB gain flatness, plenty of gain for ribbons mics (HVTP2 66dB, HJFP2 70dB), extremely low noise (due to low noise regulators, and a thick steel chassis), and fast transient response. Both units are completely transformer balanced in/out, and have a pad, phase, and +48 on each channel. Sonically, these micpres are designed to accurately reproduce normal level signals, while exploiting the natural compression characteristics of Tubes/JFETs when driven hard. The result is a better average to peak ratio, meaning things generally sound louder and with more presence. At the same time the designs are transparent in a sense that you can stack 10-20 tracks using the same micpre and not have a noticeable "color" or "footprint". Overall, they are clean, forgiving, and musical.

Sonically both are quite similar, largely due to the fact that the transformers are quite similar, and the design topology of the two is near identical. Tubes by nature will generally handle larger transients, which is ideal for things like kick and snare. JFETs on the other hand are very fast in the top end, which I tend to gravitate toward on acoustic guitar, piano, dobro…. The tube circuit when overdriven hard produces a subtle compression and increase in harmonic content, but for the most part doesn’t "sound" like distortion. The JFET circuit under extreme signal levels will produce a rich distortion, which is quite musical. I sometimes will jumper one channel into the second, and exploit this on vocals, where if the singer is soft, it sound pretty normal, but as soon as they belt, it saturates hard. Again these comments pertain to extreme signal levels. Overall, the tube micpre will handle just about anything you stick into it, and comes out for the most part sounding tonally the same. The JFET micpre can range from crystal clear and "tingly" on the top, to nasty and fuzzy, depending on how you use it.  It should be noted the HJFP2 does not have as much headroom, so if you are going to be recording loud music, and you don't want much saturation to happen in the preamp, the HVTP2 would probably be a better choice.

Q: How would you compare the micpre kits in quality to the Silverbox preamps?

A:  The designs are directly stolen from the Silverbox that we built and sold for over a decade at $1000/channel.  The only real difference is that they are in kit form, and we are selling a lot more, so our cost of materials is dramatically lower, which we pass on. I would happily put either of these micpres up against anything on the planet, and am confident they will hold their ground.   In no way did I design these as a "consumer version" of our highend products, only a very cost effective way to get these micpres in the hands of people who otherwise could not afford them.  SH.