______________________________________________________________________
Moving Earth & Heaven

Maximus Valve & Solid State preamp

PROS :Great valve/ solid state preamp : Flexible colour choices : Variable roll off :
Healthy amount of gain :Exceptional value-for-money
CONS :No VU or peak LED’s

So I opened the express post parcel sent from Sebatron’s factory to find a very Neve
like finish on the front panel of this 2 RU mic preamp. Sort of a green/grey Pulteccome-
Altec sort of thing happenin’. Plenty of unused space for a 2 rack unit but I hear
this is a very special baby due to the Valve/ Solid state conscience deep within it’s
soul.The controls are ...
· Input gain for Valve mode
· Input gain for Solid State mode
· Valve/ Solid State switch
· Phantom switch
· Phase switch
· Low cut
· Variable low cut pot
· On/off power with red power light
· DI Input
· XLR Balanced in/out
· TRS output or AUX
Frankly I’m a bit dubious of hybrid units attempting to be valve & solid state. You
remember the promises of “Tube Sound” controls on the Focusrite Platinum series …
and their have been other disasters over the years. So lets see what it sounds like.

Acoustic Guitar
For quite a bit of this review I set up a Neumann M49 > Maximus > Pro Tools HD. I
needed to get a feel for the Dynamic range of the maximus and the sound differential
of the Valve/Solid State switching. I placed the M49 about a foot from my Maton
Acoustics’ sound hole with a little 6K EQ with the Maximus in the solid-state setting.
(input 55db, output 2 O’clock). I recorded a take on ‘Sweet Child’ (a 70’s sort of rock
thing from my new album Brotherhood... out soon. Don’t worry about me just a
gratuitous plug... go to gtamusic.com!). It sounded clear and tracked fast with a good
round clarity and plenty of weight. I would compare this to Neves 1073 or even a
Crane Song Flamingo in the Fat & Iron mode.
To see how it sounded, and if it worked on the track, I recorded a second acoustic
guitar with the same Mahogany backed Maton. This time I set the Maximus in the
valve position (input 70db, output 2 O’clock) and place the M49 closer to the bridge
(finding just the spot where it was a touch brighter but not too thin to compliment the
sound hole take). The guitar strings came alive with a great open valve sound. This
has some similarities to the Sebatron vmp preamp but I think is a little less opulent
sounding. The two acoustic guitars track actually blended together quite well,
particularly due to the fact that the valve track had a very musical quality (often lost
with some valve gear).
mmm. Valve setting is coloured but not as much as the vmp series Sebatrons. Solid
State setting is a real magic-dust part of this module.
STRONG IN WILL

Vocals - BV’s
I decided to jump into vocals. I needed to lay some bv’s on, you guessed it, Sweet
Child. We’ll re-track some hopelessly out of tune backing vocal takes I recently
recorded (with some almost in tune ones). I switched the Maximus to the solid-state
position with similar i/o gain to the acoustic guitars. I got up a bit closed on the M49
(particularly for the couple of falsetto takes). If your’re like me, new gear that sounds
wonderful helps my singing... and Lord do I need help! The vocals tracked nice and
fast and smooth in the solid state mode with surprisingly clear reproduction through
the Maximus. I had previously recorded these bv’s through a D.W Fearn … the sound
of the Maximus was similar when placed in a nicely panned and verbed space.
mmm. Solid State with a touch of colour. Remember the Maximus has input and
output gain... you can ride this colour from clean-with-character to big-n-throbbing’.

Next we’ll try some drums.
I set up my Mapex kit in the wooden room, which is about, 25’ x 13 x 14-12(sloping
ceiling).I setup the kit mics as follows:
Kick - Shure Beta52 & tried Shure Beta 91
Snare Top - SM57
Snare Bottom – SM81
Toms 1 & 2 - Sennheiser 421
Floor Tom - Sennheiser 421
Overhead - U87
Note: On each track with the Maximus I strapped on the Urei 1176. The song is a
rock track by Blue Oyster Cult call Dominance and Submission (from Secret
Treaties).
Here’s a brief summary of what I thought on Drums:
Kick - Shure Beta52 - I liked the speed in SS mode, bit like an API. Similarly
outstanding in SS with the SM91
Snare Top - SM57 was round and clear with a nice crispness. I’ll be using the
Maximus regularly on top snare (both Valve & SS mode where effective)
Snare Bottom - SM81 sharp & snappy in valve mode but probably better with
different mic. However, the Shure SM81 sounded nicer in SS mode under the snare.
Toms 1 & 2 - Sennheiser 421- great
Floor Tom - Sennheiser 421- great
Overhead - U87. I actually didn’t get a great result with the Maximus as an Overheard
in valve mode but the SS mode was very similar to my favourite O/head mic pre, the
Crane Song Flamingo. The Maximus was world class for this application!
SEEK AND YOU WILL DISCOVER SOME GREAT SETTINGS

OK let’s try Bass
Plugged my old Ibanez (Fender Precision is with a friend unfortunately) into the DI
input of the Maximus. Just enough gain to push the bass guitar without an external DI.
The result compared favourably to my Neve line Amp DI’s (from one of the original
Neve 10852 desks (custom build by Brook Audio and as used by Silverchair’s bass
rig). Probably not as amazing as the Neve in Solid State mode but very close and also
worth the investment for this test alone. I would probably go through a clean DI
before the Maximus however.
And Finally - Lead Vocal
I tried the U87 - for a change. The chain in full was U87 > Maximus > Urei 1176
(Urei was Input 10 O’clock Output 2 O’clock Ratio 4:1. Slowish attack, Fast release).
The track was a punk/ pop thing called Greatness. A bit of a P.J. Harvey feel (again
another gratuitous plug for my Brotherhood album). Particularly when tracking lead
vocals I do like to see the peaks on some sot of meter, which I would love to see on
the Maximus. Although many preamps do, the Maximus sounded particularly good
together with the 1176. Again I compare the vocal quality with that of the magic of a
D.W. Fearn VT-1/2 mic preamp. The Maximus has a similar character in this area.
Also, the valve setting suited the verses in this track and the solid state took a liking to
the choruses. This truly is a great feature of this unit. No repatched and worrying
about a different preamp for the valve/ discrete options... it’s all in the ONE box.
THIS THING WILL NOT GIVE IN ... IT’S ROCK SOLID, DURABLE AND
UNRELENTING

In Summary
The Sebatron Maximus is extremely easy to use and flexible. Pondering on the
“economy of scale” factor for a second... “Sensational preamp for not much money!”
A stronger contender, I have not seen for ages, which can confidently stand in the
Neve, API, Manley, D.W. Fearn and Crane Song league. (Note: the mix of valve &
solid state units here.)
Just as Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote in 1842 “Strong in will, to seek, to find and not to
yield” ... maybe Tennyson was predicting some strange audio recording device in the
future called the Maximus!

Wayne Gardner 2006