I’m reviewing the ISA series all together because in my opinion they all sound the same and work the same.  I’ve said some very bad things about focusrite preamps before but I kinda like the ISA series.  I was assisting Gary Noble on Kevin Lyttle’s album and we used these preamps to cut a lot of the vocals, it wasn’t our first choice, but we needed a preamp.  It was there, we used it, it worked.  The album came out and sold a million copies.

    In addition to having a good preamp this box has great EQs.  I assisted some amazing engineers like Paul Logus during the Mary J. Blige “Love & Life” album, he used the ISA EQs on several occasions during that album.  The EQs on these boxes have a very unique sound, very solid.

PROS

-good preamps

-great EQs

-great for tracking and mixing

-low noise floor

CONS

-doesn’t sound amazing with every mic, you have to find a good combination, it definitely sounds great with a C800