Purpose bought pre-amps

[Ermz]

No, I don't agree in saying that the mic preamps don't make much of a difference. I find in a lot of cases the mic pres matter more than the actual mics themselves! I was down at a local studio a few months ago and the owner decided to show me the difference between a U87 through a Focusrite Plat preamp as opposed to an SM-57 through a Buzz Audio. The U87 had all its high-end totally killed and everything that came through it sounded muffled in comparison to the 57 track which was clear as day.

This held consistent for many of the A/B samples he showed me. He also had a session showing the same source recorded through different preamps, but with the same mic... the difference between the preamps was definitely audible.

Of course as Andy said, mic placement, as well as factors at the source matter much more than the signal chain, but I disagree with anyone who says that the mic preamp doesn't make much of a difference.

 

[unsilpauly]

i also think that mic pres make as big a difference as anything, good or bad. everything in the signal chain makes a difference. as far as pres i would check out; the api that was mentioned is great for drums. the true precision 8 is really good and pretty transparent, good for drums and vocals for sure. the vintech x73 is absolutley killer on guitar and good on vocals as well. the presonus eureka is a good channel strip and the digimax is a decent a channel for the price. i want to check out the rnp and also the rane pre that james has mentioned on here as well. all of this is personal taste though. try them out, whatever preamps you can and get what will bring you the sounds you are after.

 

[Andy Sneap]

are you guys saying a different pre makes as much difference as changing amps or moving a mic? I think not. It does make a difference of course, it's the same as A/D convertors, all I'm saying is the pre isn't the be all and end all like some people think it is. There's far too much snobery when it comes to gear, though of course, it's nice to use the best gear for the job.

 

[mxlinus]

ok, i don't agree either, or neither does anyone else here, about making a difference. What I was trying to say was, I want a good pre, even thought using a mackie wouldn't kill me.

But back to the subject:

Anyone know any decent 8 channel pres out there in a range of 2000-4000$? I might ask for too much in that price range, but... any ideas?

 

[Razorjack]

You could fill a single rack space with 3 RNP's and get another stereo pre-amp (the Amek 9098 dual pre for example) for around $3000 and thats without shopping around. That would give you six perfectly clean channels and two channels with a bit of colour for the same price as some hyped up two-channel preamps out there.

 

[Andy Sneap]

what I guess I'm saying is a great pre won't make your tone, it will enhance it and possibly colour it in a good way, maybe give you that extra few %.

It's all subjective of course, for instance I have a focusrite red that I felt had a certain low mid with vox, I didn't really like it, yet when I mixed the last Killswitch album I was diggin the vocal tone, turns out that was exactly what was used. So I don't think you can really say this is good for this, this is good for that, I love API's on gtr when I've used them before, but as someone said earlier, they didn't like them. Oh and just cause its says class A or has a valve doesn't mean its good either.

 

[Andy Sneap]

Saying all this tho, for the money API's are a good buy and you can get the 9098's in stereo pairs. I did a shoot out with a load of reconditioned Neve and allegedy copied Neve's in Germany and we ended up going with the 9098's so...

 

[mxlinus]

damn, I thought I have to sell my soul for those amek's, but good damn, I can get them for under 800 euros a piece. I don't even wanna know what the API's cost. My problem is pretty much solved. Might wan't to give it a try for a couple of Really Nice Preamps also...

 

[acorredor]

I have 3 channels of Amek Pure Path Pres... i like them a lot, they do a great job on everything... since i only have 3 i use the pres on the control24 for the rest of the drums... i think Andy is right, i've found that a good amp, good instrument/player and mic positioning are more important than pres and converters.

 

[Nebulous]

1000Aud seems a bit too much for an rnp. It's priced at around 500USd on their site, which would translate to about 660Aud...

Yeah, thats what i meant earlier about shops in Australia charging shitloads for equipment, i think its all in the tax and shit that teh price goes up so much, in fact, the RNP has a RRP of $1130.........!

As for the "argument" over a pre making a difference, in my case, i think a quality pre would make a world of difference over my Behringer Eurorack 2442 (I realy didn't wana have to mention what i use)!!!
Now i can't say that i agree with people getting TOO fussy about their choice between an Avalon, Focusrite, (insert decent/expensive brand) unit(!), but in my case, i think it's worth looking around for some SLIGHTLY better equipment, because i am getting sick of the "old school" hum of the Eurorack, not to mention the distorted signal after shit all gain.

But cheers for the help guys.

And people, don't worry, when i get my new pre's, i won't start pointing that snare mic at the wall...........

 

[Glenn Fricker]

it's the same as A/D convertors, all I'm saying is the pre isn't the be all and end all like some people think it is. There's far too much snobery when it comes to gear, though of course, it's nice to use the best gear for the job.

You're right on the money there, Sir. I seem to remember Roger Nichols saying something like "You guys focus way too much on the gear! Give me a few 57's and a Mackie board and I'll blow your minds!"


I think the most obvious and totally overlooked thing has to be room acoustics. Not nearly as sexy as a rack full of glowing L.E.D.'s but more important to a mix by several orders of magnitude.

That being said, you can have my Great River when you pry it from my cold, dead hands

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Great River are definately not the first thing that pops into mind when I think of 'transparent'. But to each his own.

Actually, depending on how you set it, the MP2NV can go from "crystal clear" to "lard lad doughnuts." It's all dependent on the input gain switch in relation to the ouput level knob.... that, and kicking in the 'loading' button will give a flat frequency response.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Thats a nice chunk of change for the Great river pre's! But what I would really like to know is which pre's are best for each instrument. Anybody?

You can't go wrong with the Great River on any instrument. That's the whole point of it. Now, the GR is a modern bastard child of the Neve 1073. Fletcher said something to the effect of "The great thing about Neve gear is that even when we use it wrong, we still wind up looking like geniuses to our clients." or something like that.

I've thrown all kinds of strange instruments at my mp2nv, and I've never been dissapointed. And I DO mean strange. Apart from metal, I wind up doing a lot of Celtic music as well. Cittern, Bodhran, Bouzouki, Harp, Fiddle, Flute, Whistle, you name it.

 

[Red Planet]

Get a sytek 4 channel mic pre with burr browns on channels 3 and 4. That way you get two different sounding pres in a single rackspace for around 900USD.

These pres sound good. Open and clean, but with a little character. A friend of mine did a shootout and they beat the RNP..

 

[Nebulous]

You're right on the money there, Sir. I seem to remember Roger Nichols saying something like "You guys focus way too much on the gear! Give me a few 57's and a Mackie board and I'll blow your minds!"


I think the most obvious and totally overlooked thing has to be room acoustics. Not nearly as sexy as a rack full of glowing L.E.D.'s but more important to a mix by several orders of magnitude.

That being said, you can have my Great River when you pry it from my cold, dead hands

Thats the very reason I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a single/ dual channel pre. Not only do i not have that sort of money, but the money i do have will be going to use once i have finnished reading F. Alton Everest's "the Master Handbook of Acoustics"



Daniel\m/