Grammy winning Producer/Mixer/Bassist John Spiker gives his take on the APA Juggernaut Preamps.

John owns two APA Juggernaut Twins in his LA studio. John is the bassist for Tenacious D, and has been recording and producing for years, he's a Grammy award winning engineer and artist.

While on a nightly gear hunt years back I stumbled upon a mic pre I had never heard of before. Furthermore, a company I had never heard of before.

After a bit of research, it seemed like something I should check out - so I bought it sight unseen. I was immediately impressed with the Juggernaut before ever plugging it in. It felt simply indestructible. It felt like it was put together by someone who actually cared about what the hell they were doing.

In a studio full of vintage Neve and API preamps - the Juggernauts are still my first call pres for just about everything. Vocals with Jack Black and drum overheads with Brooks Wackerman using the iron transformers for Tenacious D (a recording which won a Grammy). Drum overheads with Ronnie Vannucci of the Killers for Robbie Williams. Vocals with Ozzy using the THD switch and nickel transformers (a recording which should have won a Grammy). Acoustic guitars with Beth Orton using a combination of both… the list goes on and on. They always serve as my DIs when tracking synths, and the fat switch is essential when I’m recording bass I have a pretty damn well outfitted studio here in LA, and those pre's are my number one for most everything.

I’m not usually one for gear with too many gimmicks or “features” - and at first glance, I thought this might be another one of those tweaky boxes that would take 20 minutes and a degree in astrophysics to get sound out of it. This is not that. Each knob and switch has the ability to turn the pre into something completely different - it’s a chameleon that can easily adapt to anything you throw its way.

-John Spiker

Producer/Mixer/Bassist

Tenacious D, Beck, John Carpenter, Lonely Island, Pete Yorn, Slash, Filter