Preamp Impedance Shootout

[Trevoire520]

This could almost be considered part 2 of my mic preamp shootout.

One of my pre's has switchable impedance. 4 steps starting at 2.4 Kohms and finishing at 300 ohms. So I've recorded clips of each setting and then normalised them all to an rms of -20dB.

I'll reveal the results once there's been a bunch of votes.


Here's the files:

A

B

C

D

EDIT: Added guitar only files. These are just Mp3's though as uploading WAV's takes ages!

A Gtr Only

B Gtr Only

C Gtr Only

D Gtr Only

 

[Wisheraser]

It sounds as if there is a pretty drastic low-pass on file A that is getting less and less severe with each file. I liked C the most with just the guitars (nice and thick low mids on that one), but D seems to fit in the mix better.

 

[Trevoire520]

To me it sounds like going from A to D there seems to be less low end and more top end clarity each time, A and B sound a bit muddy I think.

I like how the guitars jump out of the mix in D as the highs seem to be much less restricted, but I find myself missing the low end on the chugs a bit, so I think C has got the right balance. Mind you with a bigger sounding bass guitar that might not matter so much and in that case it might be better to go for the clarity of D.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Shit, must've missed this the first time around - I honestly prefer D!

 

[JakeAC5253]

I'm guessing:

A = 2k4
B = v
C = v
D = 300Ω

D is my favorite, it's the only one that doesn't step on the bass guitar, the rest are all very dark.

EDIT: SHIT necrocosupported.

 

[Trevoire520]

^Yep, A through D is 2.4k, 1.3k, 500, 300

Makes me quite miss my Onyx actually, the Allen & Heath R16 I got to replace it has 3.3K input impedance for the mic pre's!!!