Universal Audio SOLO/610

A lunchbox-sized piece of the Putnam 610 console line. No EQ, no line input, but the tube preamp tone is all there.

Overview

The SOLO/610 strips one of Universal Audio's best-known circuits down to the basics and sells it at a project-studio price. Universal Audio's own advertising called it the "Classic Putnam 610" mic pre and DI in a portable, "Go-Anywhere" chassis, hand-built in the USA. The pitch was aimed at engineers who wanted some of the 610 heritage without paying for the full rackmounted channel strip. The 610 console itself was one of the first recording consoles ever made, and Universal Audio had spent years selling reissue packages of it. The SOLO/610 was the most affordable way into that lineage.

The front panel is pared back on purpose. Two oversize knobs handle gain and level, ridged in the style of the original 610 console. Small flip switches cover phantom power, polarity reversal, and a 100 Hz highpass filter. More switches select mic or DI input and choose between low and high input impedance - 500Ω or 2 kΩ on the mic input, 47 kΩ or 2.2 MΩ on the DI. Around the back there is a ¼-inch input with a Thru jack, a ground-lift switch, and a switch that sets the XLR output jack to mic or line level, which makes the unit easy to use as a direct interface. Compared with the rackmounted 610 variations, the SOLO/610 gives up the high- and low-shelving EQ (the low-cut filter replaces it here), the line input, and the stepped gain control, which is variable instead.

Mix (August 2006, p.108) put it plainly. The reviewer expected a watered-down version of the 610 preamps he already knew, but apart from the missing EQ, he found it held its own next to its more expensive counterparts. On electric guitar through the DI, the review said the SOLO/610 sounded very similar to the 610 half of a Universal Audio 6176. The 6176 had a slightly smoother low midrange, but only slightly. Against the solid-state Solo/110, the SOLO/610 offered a touch more depth plus a faint sense of compression that made strummed and picked guitar sit better. On bass the verdict was stronger: nearly identical to the 6176, and with significantly better low end than the Solo/110. The impedance switch is useful there. The low setting gives a fat, round sound, the high setting a more modern, bright tone, and both are usable depending on taste.

One quirk: the tricolor signal-level LED is hard to push into the orange with passive instruments plugged straight in. The reviewer never got it there with any of his basses or guitars, and needed a simple boost box to reach the harmonic distortion available when the gain is driven. The Solo/110, by contrast, saturates much more readily, which tracks, since it specs out 20 dB hotter for instrument input gain. For gritty, saturated DI tone, the 610 wants a hotter source or a pedal in front of it.

As a straight mic pre, the unit's reputation rests on the 610 circuit's open, airy, clear-yet-warm signature. The review found it handled everything from French horn to rock vocals and U 87s to SM57s without disappointing. The reviewer's favorite use was electric guitar. Through a Royer R-121, a Sennheiser 421, or any common guitar mic, the results came back full, thick, and present. Value was rated 4 out of 5, with the note that while it isn't the cheapest preamp/DI on the market, the quality in the box makes it hard to find a better value.

The SOLO/610 is the entry rung of the 610 family. Its compromises - no EQ, no line input, variable rather than stepped gain - are what the price buys. For tracking guitars, or for a portable tube front end with genuine impedance switching, that's a fair trade. Anyone who needs the full channel-strip flexibility should look at the rackmounted 610 variants.

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Universal Audio SOLO/610

Overview

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