Help me choose a good preamp

Razorjack

Razorjack

Bass Behemoth
Jun 13, 2004
1,991
0
36
Manchester, UK
www.pythiamusic.com
I'm looking to invest in a good (preferably) stereo preamp, any suggestions for a good preamp that will work well as an all-round input for a DAW? I've got my eye on the SPL Gold Mic which I can get for £299 but was wondering if there is anything elseout there I should check out.

Also, has anyone tried the Millenia TCL-2 stereo compressor-limiter? I can get one of them for £449 (retail of £2699).

Thanks,

Andy
 
UA 2610....I run it into my Apogee Rosetta 200>2408>to disc....Love it. Some folks do not prefer it because it colors the sound...and it does, but I think in "good" way. Vocals, acoustic gtrs, mic'd amps and direct outs from my PODXT Pro....fantastic!


....almost forgot....fantastic as a DI for bass....warm and fat.
 
I've heard nothing but good things about the UA 2610, but I don't know if I'd go with that as your only pre as it does add some color like JV mentioned. Having said that, I'd buy one in a second if I could afford it, though.

I own the FMR Really Nice Preamp and I quite like it. Very transparent and about 1/4 the price of the UA 2610. Also, it pairs up with the RNC quite nicely, of course.

I guess it depends on your budget. I think the RNP can't be beat for the money, but if you have a higher budget than I did, you can definitely do better.

From a lower budget perspective, maybe an RNP and a Groove Tubes Brick would give you some nice options. The Sytek pre is supposed to be another very good, reasonably priced unit. It's four channels, but you can get different pairs of op amps so you have more options there, too.
 
Shit, I'm not surprised. It took me about 6 months to get mine.

If you can afford it, you should definitely check out the Sytek unit:
http://www.sytek-audio-systems.com/products/preamps/mpx4/

James has said some good things about the Rane MS 1b in the past. Two of those might be a good lower budget option.

All in all, it'll be tough to beat the SPL for your price there. I don't know much about that unit, but after reading a few reviews, it's probably hard to go wrong with that...
 
I remember James saying the Rane pre was good, it's hard to get in the UK though.

Another Pre-amp/channel-strip is the Presonus Eureka. I can get it for £295, but with some haggling can probably get more off it (companies with 'price beat' promises are great).

One plus point for the SPL is that it is high gain, which would help when using an SM7 (another item on my shopping list).
 
Another preamp I can recommend is the Grace 101. Although it's a single channel. Very strong and adds no coloration at all. It has phantom power and DI input also. I still use it.

Other than that, when I was doing some research, the Foscurite line of pre's such as the TwinTrak Pro and others came highly recommended...Wish I could be more help.
Good luck man!
 
I'm currently looking for a new preamp also, and have been researching and testing out units for the past two months. I've budgeted about $1500 for it, and let me just say, I might just go for the RNP (Really Nice Preamp), which goes for $475. You'd really have to go over $1k to get a noticable increase in quality. I'm not certain, though; I still have to hear the Great River pre, but RNP is definitely among the top few in my search. I've tried out all the Presonus' and Focusrites in the $300-$1000 range; they barely beat the pre's on my mackie VLZ mixer. The built-in compressors and vocal-specific EQ's on those channel strips hype the sound a lot, but shut all the effects off, and you'll hear some pretty ugly pre's.
I haven't tried the SPL GoldMike, but that looks like a very good price considering it goes for about $900 here. A word of caution, though: I hear it's a real "character" box, and sometimes "warm" and "vintage" sounding pre's aren't the best for dense mixes, such as those in most types of metal. If you can demo the unit first, do it. And let me know if you do, because I tend to like "character" boxes for soft vocals, and might consider checking this out.
What type of mic are you pairing your pre with, btw? That makes a huge difference, as well as what you'll be using it for.
***(all prices in this post are US dollars, btw)***
 
the presonus stuff is good, i own a digimax and its not that bad. but they arent in the class of super good preamps, just like the cheaper focusrites or whatever. i mean they are super good value for the money for a home/ project studio. but they dont compare to really good mic pres. if you were to consider a one channel preamp i would highly reccomend checking out the vintech x73. i think you can get them for like 1200.00 usd. which seems like alot, but i think its cheap for super good preamps. its pretty damn sweet. ive used one at the studio i work at and it will hands down be the next preamp i buy for my project studio. but the "really nice preamp" sounds good too, and im gonna check it out for sure. i dont think you can have too many good preamps.
 
I don't know if this is in your price range, but the Great River MP2NV is f'ing awesome. It's my "go to" pre on just about everything.

Somewhat cheaper, and still awesome, is the Vintech Dual 72. I've had one for about five years now, and it's great.
If you need a pre with EQ, you could also try the Vintech X73i.

And, finally, if you want to save some cash and don't mind doing some digging, look up some old Ward Beck preamps. They're floating around all over the place, and are really, really cool. Ward Beck is a Canadian manufacturer of broadcast boards. All the mic pre's are class A, and they're often referred to as the "Canadian Neve." They're also dirt cheap.
For more info on the Ward Beck stuff, check this link out.
http://www.kuzub.com/WBSPS/inside.htm

-0z-
 
Ive been using the Summit TBA2 and the Joe Meek CV2. Both are discontinued but are worth tracking down. Summit do make the TPA200 which is a modern version. Both are really clean.
 
If you could tell us a specific budget, that'd be mighty helpful, as I could rattle off $1,000+ pre's all day long, but that may be over your limit. That said, the Gold Mike is awesome and the RNP is also great(cleaner than the Gold). As far as other pre's are concerned, I'll wait till I hear your budget.
 
Fyhed said:
The Preamps on Mackie mixers are great, the noise level is zero.

I have been told that they are actually equivilent to Neve Pre-amps.
Click to expand...

I don't often say that things are wrong, but this needs to be said: That is 90% wrong. The past and present Mackie pre's suck more than life itself, they're dimensionless, quite noisy, and thin sounding. Specifically, I'm speaking about the VLZ or whatever acronym pre's. Don't go there. As far as the other 10%, the Mackie Onyx pre's are actually quite usable, still well below the Neve's that you mentioned, but quite decent. The eq's and summing also happen to be pretty good too. But, if I were looking for a pair of quality pre's, I'd be on the lookout for something with a little more respect and name recognition in terms of quality if you're going to be working at all professionally, as well as the fact that there are other pre's in this price range that still beat the Onyx's.
 
Fyhed said:
I have been told that they are actually equivilent to Neve Pre-amps.
Click to expand...

In the same sense that a Radio Flyer is equivalent to a Rolls Royce? Sorry man, but you've been had.

BTW, I've got a bridge for sale if anyone's interested :tickled:

-0z-
 
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