how does a FMR RNP compare to a EH 12AY7?

W

Walter Tore

New member
HI All: I am currently using 2 EH 12AY7 mic preamps and am wondering how they compare to a FMR RNP? I know there is a lot more gain to the RNP. I use a beyerdynamic M500 ribbon and the EH can't power it. Will the RNP power the ribbon mic? How about the sonic characteristics between the 2? Thanks. Walter
 
I posted this on gearslutz and here and got not a single reply. I figured I would get a bunch seeing both of these preamps have a pretty loyal following. Anyway, I bought one used and it should be here this week. I will report what I hear and offer soundclips. Walter
 
How much did you get it used? I'm thinking of getting one but not sure if I want to fork over the $500 for a new one.
 
Seafroggys said:
How much did you get it used? I'm thinking of getting one but not sure if I want to fork over the $500 for a new one.
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$350 including shipping and 2 TRS cables. I think I got a good deal. It looks brand new and all is working good.

I recorded 2 songs with it on the snare drum and ride cymbal. I just pulled it out of the box and plugged it in without messing with the mic placements. I am going to mess around with different mics as well pretty soon. I also only used the UA plate reverb plugin on the vocal/harp mic, no reverb on the cymbal, none on the guitar (reverb from the princeton reverb) and a tad of the reverb that came with the samplitude recording software on the the snare and decided today to experiment with other options. I am using 2 UAD cards and the plate reverb and neve 1081 eq uses a lot of CPU. I have been putting the plate reverb on at the final mix, on all the tracks. I find the snare to have way to much reverb this way. If I use the plate more than once, it overloads the UA system ( I use 4 neve 1081 eqs, precision limiter, and 3 LA-2A's). I am not sure I liked the results. The plate reverb on the entire mix I am use to. You can hear the songs at the link below. The songs are titled:

got good lovin all night long
living on the city streets

all the other songs are using EH 12AY7 mic pre amps on the snare and cymbal.
 
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Walter Tore said:
HI All: I am currently using 2 EH 12AY7 mic preamps and am wondering how they compare to a FMR RNP? I know there is a lot more gain to the RNP. I use a beyerdynamic M500 ribbon and the EH can't power it. Will the RNP power the ribbon mic? How about the sonic characteristics between the 2? Thanks. Walter
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RNP has like 70db of gain, right? It'll power the ribbon just fine.
 
pohaku said:
It has 66 db of gain, but it powers my ribbons (including Beyer M500s) just fine.
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thanks for the replies! I got the preamp last week and have used it with a beyerdynamic M500 (on a princeton reverb) and a shure 57 (on snare). I like it better than the EH 12AY7 just for the ability to use it on these mics. Walter
 
I like it!

I listened to keep me on the road and living in the city streets. On living on the city streets the snare definitely sounds tighter and more focused than on keep me on the road. It was hard to tell with the cymbals, but all in all I say it was a good grab. I'm thinking about buying one for my snare now.

-Barrett
 
Bguzaldo said:
I like it!

I listened to keep me on the road and living in the city streets. On living on the city streets the snare definitely sounds tighter and more focused than on keep me on the road. It was hard to tell with the cymbals, but all in all I say it was a good grab. I'm thinking about buying one for my snare now.

-Barrett
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Hi Barret: Those songs were with the EH12AY7 mic preamps. The songs with the RNP didn't start till July 23rd and those songs were recorded on the 22nd. the ride had a AKG414 TLII and the snare a michael joly mod'd oktava M012. I am going to be selling a couple of the EH preamps now that I have the RNP. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks for listening! Walter
 
Hahaha well I suppose they sound better to me for reasons other than the Pre. When I try to compare two different sources I sorta hyper focus and try to recognize as many differences as I can. I guess I don't know why it's different but I liked it! My bad! Thanks for clearin it up though.

-Barrett
 
Hi Barret: I think both preamps are good. I am wanting to use ribbons and a shure 57 and for this reason the RNP is a good choice. I am sure someone with skills (better than mine) could make both preamps sound real good. I do like the way the RNP sounds in my recent mixes. Walter
 
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