Hairball Audio Announces Lola – 500 Series Mic Pre

Hairball Audio is a company that produces their own components and kits for users who are into DIY audio gear. The latest addition to their kit line is the Lola 500-series mic pre. The Lola takes a different approach in its design by utilizing a fully differential topology using two op-amps. The stock Lola includes two excellent John Hardy 990C discrete op-amps.

Hairball Audio's Lola in all its glory.

In March 2012, the Lola will ship three different kits with pricing and availability to be announced soon. For those who enjoy incredibly detailed tech specs of our audio gear, hit the link to Lola’s page. For those of us who are into the musical side of our audio gear, continue reading for how the Lola handles in the field:

“How does it sound?

I think it sounds great, but I’m not someone who records music professionally. For that reason a had a small test group of professional producers, engineers and musicians give the Lola a work out in their studios. All were given the standard JH-990 Lola.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. The most common theme was that at medium gain the Lola was very clean, clear and balanced. This can be partially attributed to the clarity of the 990 op amp. However, when the gain was pushed the sound of the Neve style transformers came forward and introduced unique and musical distortion content. With the stock 990’s the Lola becomes a very flexible pre that can go from very clean to colored depending how hard you push the gain. However, the many plug and play op amp options give you wide pallet for customizing your Lola from clean to colored.”

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