Thermionic Culture Earlybird 2.0

I will probably regret letting this one go but time has come to part ways with this wonderful microphone preamplifier. Has a little rack rash, and one small nick in the faceplate that I didn’t notice until I looked at the photos, but in the rack is cosmetically virtually blem free. This was my 2nd piece from Thermionic culture, purchased here on Reverb from EC, one of the finest shops on the platform. It needed some new switches on arrival thanks to UPS, but in turn got to take a visit to the illustrious Dr. Bass Inc, one of the finest (if not the finest imo) recording repair shops in LA, where it received new original switches (you won‘t be able to tell which ones, repair came out perfect), and also got a normal check-up - in the words of Dr. Bass - tests ‘very flat’ across the frequency spectrum.

I am well versed in the many mic pre offerings that Thermionic has available. Interestingly, though not surprisingly, the different generations of Earlybird sound a little different. Damn me for admitting this while selling (I fear I may talk myself into keeping the unit), but I slightly prefer the sound of this 2.0 over the 2.3. The HPF section on the 2.0 is MUCH better than on the 2.3 - the later versions do not have as many roll-off options as you have here.

All in all this is wonderful mic amp and line EQ, and would be a welcome addition to any studio. I hate most of the words people use to describe sound, but in short, this amp is euphonic, incredibly musical, and perhaps the clearest, least hyped mic amp I have ever used. It doesn’t sound ‘tubey,’ it just sounds like things sound in real life, which if you have been in audio for long enough - you can appreciate how this is no small feat.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions! Free shipping to the lower 48, no communication off Reverb on behalf of your dad, no returns. Thanks for reading!