Pre Amp for Vocals.

I also dig the Avalon stuff, ridiculous gain whilst being quiet and clean, something quite difficult to come by when using lot of db for screaming>dynamic mic ...









m8
 
May be snagging an sm7 for a really good deal so If there is anything that works really well with one of them let me know.
 
I just did! Great river, used. The isa is an okayish pre amp, but kinda harsh sounding. Save a little more for something worth holdin on to.
 
Black lion Audio B12A. (API clone) I absolutely love mine for most things!
Usually it's vocals either sm7 or at4040 -> bla b12a -> distressor

Fucking excellent \m/
 
Melb_shredder said:
Black lion Audio B12A. (API clone) I absolutely love mine for most things!
Usually it's vocals either sm7 or at4040 -> bla b12a -> distressor

Fucking excellent m/
Click to expand...

hmm ive heard mixed reviews of that one, but none of the WA12. someone should do a shootout.

maybe you and me? :p
 
I love my Focusrite iSA 428 MKI pres with my SM7b. I never got the hype behind the SM7b until I got my ISA pres, I'd owned 3 before the one I have now and they all sounded so similar to an SM58 that I never used them. The ISA opened the mic up quite a bit, that mic needs a ton of gain to work correctly and the ISA has plenty to feed it. My AT4060 has always sounded good, through whatever pres I plug it into, though.

That being said, I just bought an SCA rack loaded with 6 A12b modules... Excited to try out some API flavor! Thinkin about throwin N72s in the other 2 slots and calling it a day! :D
 
This thread caught my eye as I've been looking to get a dedicated mic pre for a while. I currently use a UX2 (*shock horror*!!) and I'm well aware that the pre's are shite. I've recently discovered however that I can bypass the UX2's pre's and go straight into the line level inputs. This means that I could invest in a quality mic pre. I am currently looking at the GA PRE-73, primarily because it gets a lot of good press for the price.

Will a notice a big difference in my sound using the signal chain suggested above, compare to using the UX2 preamps?
 
schismatic said:
This thread caught my eye as I've been looking to get a dedicated mic pre for a while. I currently use a UX2 (*shock horror*!!) and I'm well aware that the pre's are shite. I've recently discovered however that I can bypass the UX2's pre's and go straight into the line level inputs. This means that I could invest in a quality mic pre. I am currently looking at the GA PRE-73, primarily because it gets a lot of good press for the price.

Will a notice a big difference in my sound using the signal chain suggested above, compare to using the UX2 preamps?
Click to expand...

This is my opinion, YMMV:

Many will say yes, I would say not much at all. Certainly nothing a slight twist of an eq knob won't fix.

If you are planning on doing a commercial release and layering many many many tracks together, you MAY start to hear a qualitative difference. If you are working on great sounding demos or songs to post on youtube and soundcloud, spend your money on room treatment, better monitors, new strings, etc.

Unless of course you have money to burn or just want something more expensive because it might inspire you to record more. Certainly nothing wrong with that.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec12/articles/preamp-results.htm

http://www.recordingreview.com/blog/mic-preamps/mic-preamps-disappointment-in-recording-gear-4/

Whatever you do, the most important thing to remember is the music is the most important thing! Make more of it and best of luck on your journey.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
^+1.

I'll also add that you won't be able to hear the difference if you're not using high quality converters (therefore, better monitoring), either. Even then, it's not a huge difference, like many will have you believe. The reason I run high end pres is because, while they do layer nicely, it's more that people see them on my gear list and are willing to pay more to record with me, it also makes me stand out against the plethora of other "studios" in the area. By having nice things, people assume you're serious about what you do. Plus, I run a $2500 converter box and it just seemed silly to plug a $300 8-channel mic pre into it :p
 
Alright homies, thanks for all the feedback thus far. I'm really leaning toward the Warm Audio. Are there any big differences between the wa12 and the tb12. There is a tb12 on my local craigslist and it is in my budget. If I wait a while I might be lucky enough to snag a great river for 5-6 hundred, if I'm lucky.
Matrixclaw: I realize the ISA pres are really good but sadly they are out of my budget minus the ISA one.
 
Cool, that's what it was on paper. I just wanted to double check since stuff like that sometimes varies even though its basically the same thing.
 
benjy said:
Cool, that's what it was on paper. I just wanted to double check since stuff like that sometimes varies even though its basically the same thing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've heard it's really awesome, but I have no experience with either.

They were both at the top of my list... but now that I have an SCA rack coming with 6 A12bs, I don't think I'll need them anymore :p
 
Alright guys I am getting a Warm Audio WA12 Is there any real difference between the 500 series and the non one is about 150 more expensive. Also I actually have some cash left over and wondered if there was any kind of EQ, Comp, or something of that nature that would go nicely paired with the wa12.
 
benjy said:
Alright guys I am getting a Warm Audio WA12 Is there any real difference between the 500 series and the non one is about 150 more expensive. Also I actually have some cash left over and wondered if there was any kind of EQ, Comp, or something of that nature that would go nicely paired with the wa12.
Click to expand...

You'd have to buy a 500 series chassis for the wa12-500. The cheapest one I know of is the Chameleon labs, but it's only one slot which somewhat eliminates the point.
 
So the 500 hundred series requires the rack to operate? I can't just set it down an use it like the other. Sorry if I sound dumb. I only own one piece of rack gear.
 
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