$5 mic pre vs. $1500 mic pre... can you hear the difference?

[Exocaster]

I found this on ProSoundWeb and thought it might be of some interest on here. It's a simple mic and pre shootout, three pres- a $1.5k pre, a $200 pre, and a $5 homemade pre- and two mics.

The first article- the shootout, with clips:
http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=3062

The second- the results:
http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=3071

And the third- the $5 pre, with schematics:
http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=3080

So who's gonna be hitting up Radio Shack (or the UK/EU equivalent) later?

 

[-Gavin-]

I'll be fucking damned....

 

[GeertSamuel]

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT...whaha...
If I'd be any handy with this kind of stuff I would get on it tomorrow to test it out...

 

[~BURNY~]

Tbh, that's cool but this test is a bit irrelevant in my very humble opinion. You don't judge the actual quality of a preamp only by its "color". The dynamic range(s/n ratio and harmonic distortion ) comes first. Try to sum 48 compressed/equed tracks of crap pre and you'll instantly understand why there are such expensive preamps.
On a single source, It's probably easier to judge it with a very harmonically rich sound such as a distorded guitar or a percussive sound (if you wanna hear how the transients are translated).
Just my two cents.

 

[ffaudio]

Let's hear a mix that was tracked all through one preamp, then the next, then the next. Then see if you hear a difference.

 

[KeithRT99]

pretty cool, i may try to build one and do a test.

 

[Wolfeman]

One thing is for sure though- Behringer sounds like shit no matter what

 

[JBroll]

I'll get around to making a mix solely with that type of preamp, if you really want to hear it...

What you have to know about this '$5 dollar preamp' is that it's all revolving around one brilliant op-amp that was designed solely for this. It was made with fidelity and wide response in mind, you're going to get one of the most transparent sounds imaginable if you use this fucker right.

My favorite part of this is that you can get a sample of five of these little buggers for free, straight from TI - they gladly ship out samples, to anyone involved in audio, and you'll wind up spending more on the box you put it in than on the components of one of these preamps... give it a try.

Jeff

 

[Norris-wf]

Any chance they send them to Ireland?, I got a bunch of TL082's here

 

[JBroll]

Don't use TL082s. Just trust me on that one. They probably will, and if not they're dirt cheap.

Jeff

 

[Norris-wf]

cool, i'll try that out so, the 082's are for a project in college, they might have these ones though, you know the number offhand?

 

[JBroll]

INA217 - I'd doubt it, personally, unless they're going for serious audio work.

Jeff

 

[Norris-wf]

cheers, probably not, i'll check though but you'd be right, they wouldnt be doing any audio work as far as I know. I'm going to build this little preamp and test it out. It will probably beat what I have now, (preamps from a behringer mixing desk!!)

 

[JonWormwood]

I'll get around to making a mix solely with that type of preamp, if you really want to hear it...

What you have to know about this '$5 dollar preamp' is that it's all revolving around one brilliant op-amp that was designed solely for this. It was made with fidelity and wide response in mind, you're going to get one of the most transparent sounds imaginable if you use this fucker right.

My favorite part of this is that you can get a sample of five of these little buggers for free, straight from TI - they gladly ship out samples, to anyone involved in audio, and you'll wind up spending more on the box you put it in than on the components of one of these preamps... give it a try.

Jeff

So you're supporting the idea of building a bunch of these cheap pre-amps and sticking them in a box?



And would it be possible to power the pre amp via AC as opposed to DC?

 

[JBroll]

Why, yes I am. The more people we can get knowing about these things and other cheap-but-amazing circuits, the better - nothing better to drive prices down and quality up than a little competition, right?

You could do that... but it would be stupid. With batteries you have cleaner, quieter power regardless of where you are, and with 3V of room to spare with those two 9V batteries used in place of a 15V you have plenty of warning for dying batteries. You'd have to rip open something else or find a good transformer, and you'll be paying ten times as much for a good one as you would for the preamp and a lifetime supply of batteries.

Also... I'm considering building and modifying circuits for a bit of spending money in the near future, anyone interested shoot me a PM.

Jeff

 

[Norris-wf]

I'll look into an AC power source, there must be something out there, i'll ask my lecturer and see what he says. I know that they use toroidal ring transformers for audio apps as it gives a cleaner signal but I dont know about the availability of such transformers. I'll look into it though.

 

[JonWormwood]

Why, yes I am. The more people we can get knowing about these things and other cheap-but-amazing circuits, the better - nothing better to drive prices down and quality up than a little competition, right?

You could do that... but it would be stupid. With batteries you have cleaner, quieter power regardless of where you are, and with 3V of room to spare with those two 9V batteries used in place of a 15V you have plenty of warning for dying batteries. You'd have to rip open something else or find a good transformer, and you'll be paying ten times as much for a good one as you would for the preamp and a lifetime supply of batteries.

Also... I'm considering building and modifying circuits for a bit of spending money in the near future, anyone interested shoot me a PM.

Jeff

What's the est. battery life with one pre-amp hooked up to one dynamic mic?

 

[JBroll]

I don't know... I never had one battery stay in place long enough, honestly. I'm always swapping things around between preamps and test builds of pedals and guitars and this and that, so I haven't been able to figure that out.

I will say, however, that it'll take a while to drain the bastard. What's more, the 'grimey' sound pedals get with dying batteries due to lower voltage will take a while longer to kick in with this because the circuit, which requires 15V, is actually getting 18V from those two batteries (assuming ideal battery conditi... yeah, I know that doesn't happen, bite me) and they take a while to sink below 7.5V...

If you had a bit of time I'm sure you could devise an indicator for low battery power, I'm sure a good enough schematic is out there somewhere but I've a final in four hours, I haven't slept in four days, and I've got another four minutes of cooking this fucking goddamn porridge that just won't be nice so I'll have to check on that later.

Jeff

 

[JonWormwood]

I don't know... I never had one battery stay in place long enough, honestly. I'm always swapping things around between preamps and test builds of pedals and guitars and this and that, so I haven't been able to figure that out.

I will say, however, that it'll take a while to drain the bastard. What's more, the 'grimey' sound pedals get with dying batteries due to lower voltage will take a while longer to kick in with this because the circuit, which requires 15V, is actually getting 18V from those two batteries (assuming ideal battery conditi... yeah, I know that doesn't happen, bite me) and they take a while to sink below 7.5V...

If you had a bit of time I'm sure you could devise an indicator for low battery power, I'm sure a good enough schematic is out there somewhere but I've a final in four hours, I haven't slept in four days, and I've got another four minutes of cooking this fucking goddamn porridge that just won't be nice so I'll have to check on that later.

Jeff

Two more finals until the semester is over.

Anyways, I'd like to talk to you more about this as most are quite skeptical about the idea behind it and quite frankly, I love DIY shit. And I need a few more inputs until I can afford an OctoPre or something.

Without much confusion, would it be possible to incorporate a level control so there isn't a fixed gain of 50dB?

 

[JBroll]

Yeah, I've one to go myself.

R6 controls maximum gain, R7 controls minimum gain. The potentiometer in the circuit selects actual amplification.

Jeff