Broodwich's War of the Preamps

[NickL]

Ok... a much smarter man than I gave me permission to share this with you all. You're going to learn that you like things you didn't know you like and hopefully you wont want to shoot me by the time this ordeal's over!

I've got five preamps here. The price ranges for these preamps vary from dirt cheap to uber expensive. I'm going to post acoustic guitar, male vocals, female vocals, and snare drum and let you guys argue over with one tickles the little part of your brain that made you migrate to this forum in the first place. I'll tell you which preamp is which when I think everybody's had a chance to make up their minds.

But hmmm what's the catch? Well it's not pretty. All of the recordings are of CHRISTIAN MUSIC BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA although the acoustic guitar and snare drum cant really have a preferred religious denomenation...

*cough* so OK let's start this thing.

note: preamp 1 for acoustic guitar is not necessarily the same as preamp 1 on male vocals, snare, etc.

Acoustic Guitar
Neumann KM-84 at the twelfth fret and Audio Technica AT4033 on the sound hole
preamp 1
preamp 2
preamp 3
preamp 4
preamp 5

Male Vocals
AKG C414B
preamp 1
preamp 2
preamp 3
preamp 4
preamp 5

Snare Drum
Shure SM57
preamp 1
preamp 2
preamp 3
preamp 4
preamp 5

Female Vocals
Manley Reference Tube Microphone
Preamp 1
Preamp 2
Preamp 3
Preamp 4
Preamp 5

Special thanks to Gavin for the free web hosting




Answers: Do yourself a favor and don't read these until you've heard the clips. Let's try to keep a controlled experiment here.

The five preamps are a Neve 1081 ($8,000.00) a DW Fearn VT-2 ($3,500) A Massenberg 8300 ($2,670) a Presonus MP20 ($649.00) and a Mackie preamp that's built into a VLZ mixer (parts worth about $95)

Acoustic Guitar
1. Neve
2. DW
3. Massenberg
4. Presonus
5. Mackie

Male Vocals
1. DW
2. Massenberg
3. Presonus
4. Mackie
5. Neve

Snare Drum
1. Massenberg
2. Presonus
3. Mackie
4. Neve
5. DW

Female Vocals
1. Mackie
2. Neve
3. DW
4. Massenberg
5. Presonus

My personal opinion, I liked the DW the best with the Massenberg in a close second and I liked the Presonus the least. However, I would consider all of these to be very usable.

 

[KeithRT99]

it was hard to hear a huge difference between them. The biggest difference i could hear was preamp 1 against the others. i think the 3rd or 1st sounded the best.

 

[GuitarHack]

^ Pretty much agree.

Preamp#1 seemed to give a fuller sound to my ears after a quick listen which seemed more evident on the second riff starting at 21 seconds.

 

[NickL]

added male vocals singing some kind of refuge nonsense

 

[GuitarHack]

Now that's some scary stuff there (the vocal part). Sorry can't get past sample 1, I'm scared. Nice quality recording though.

 

[NickL]

Now that's some scary stuff there (the vocal part). Sorry can't get past sample 1, I'm scared. Nice quality recording though.

LMFAO I FEEL YA

 

[s34nsm411]

i like both clip 4's

 

[prititing]

I just found out i'm deaf, because they all sound as the same gear but with different playing...

 

[Thrasher666]

I like Acoustic Guitar preamp 5, Male Vocals preamp 3. Tested on computer speakers only. Looking forward to see what they are!

 

[Radd]

They all sound very good and very much the same to me.
How can a dirt cheap pre be on the same level as an uber expensive pre?
I'm baffled.
Bring on the female and snare.

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

Bring on the female

Amen

Steve

 

[Radd]

lmao

 

[JeffTD]

Damn... the differences are way subtle!

On the acoustic, I like number 1 best... can't decide on the male vocals.

 

[TheDude]

Proves that a microphone is more important than the preamp

 

[NickL]

Added snare and female vocals finally. I'll post the models of the preamps tomorrow night or the night after

 

[ReliXKeepeR]

Thank you very much for this. The difference in the snare is most obvious and to me the last preamp on the snare sounds best.
The second and the third are too mid rangy.

Thanks again!

 

[NickL]

Thank you very much for this. The difference in the snare is most obvious and to me the last preamp on the snare sounds best.
The second and the third are too mid rangy.

Thanks again!

glad to help out

 

[Radd]

Are you F-ing with us?

 

[fistula]

in Ac Guitar I like 1
male vox 5
SD 5
Female vox 4

but they sound almost the same - so it would be just an joke - because everyone will say that somethinbg is better and then Broodwich will say that this is the same pre

and 1 more thing - the pre job will be really clear when its in a mix!
with effects added and played withother instruments/compressed etc

 

[NickL]

yes i'm extremely devious, but i'm not being so right now. these are 5 different makes and models of preamps.