Mic Pre Shopping!

B

BurnBarfield

New member
I decided that I need to spice up my arsenal with a selection of new mic pres..

I'm running two Aardvark Q10s as the I/O for my DAW and, unless strongly advised against will be picking up one of each of the following..

Rane MS-1B
M-Audio DMP3
ART MPA Gold (not digital)

Would those in addition to my Aardvark give me enough variety?

Any other suggestions for replacing any of the above?

And is there anyway to to put the Rane/MAudio into a rack other than just tossing them onto an empty tray?
 
Hey B,
I am thinking of selling my MPA Gold if you do buy used.
I bought it to use for overheads on my drums, used it for 2 sessions, and it has sat since then. I bought a Topaz project 8 24 channel console that I now run all my drums through, and just dont need it.

I also have 4 channels of RNP and 4 channels of DMP-3, a ART MPA, a Joe meek and some other stuff I cant even remember what it is in the mic cab.

I even thought about trading it (and cash either way) for something I would use like a good compressor or a good SM7 or whatever. It is just lonely sitting there unused.

Oh and the DMP-3s mount rather easy into one of those universal rack trays, you know... the ones that are pre drilled on the bottom with a bunch of holes..I imagine the Rane would do the same, or you might have to drill an extra hole or 2.

Let me know,
Tom
 
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tmix said:
Hey B,
I am thinking of selling my MPA Gold if you do buy used.
I bought it to use for overheads on my drums, used it for 2 sessions, and it has sat since then. I bought a Topaz project 8 24 channel console that I now run all my drums through, and just dont need it.

I also have 4 channels of RNP and 4 channels of DMP-3, a ART MPA, a Joe meek and some other stuff I cant even remember what it is in the mic cab.

I even thought about trading it (and cash either way) for something I would use like a good compressor or a good SM7 or whatever. It is just lonely sitting there unused.

Oh and the DMP-3s mount rather easy into one of those universal rack trays, you know... the ones that are pre drilled on the bottom with a bunch of holes..I imagine the Rane would do the same, or you might have to drill an extra hole or 2.

Let me know,
Tom
Click to expand...

As far the the Art goes, yeah I wouldn't use it for overheads either but it's working really nice for me on e.guitars and snare/kick. Also the dmp3's are half rack sized but they are taller than 1U, but only by a few millimeters which is very annoying as it's a waste of rack space. Out of the 3 I've owned 2 and would probably go with the Art over the dmp3, it just sounds better on more sources but is nearly 3x's the price.
 
I have a Q10. While I've never used that ART, I'm frankly not sure that the DMP3 or the Rane are going to sound all that much different than the stock pres in the Q10. A bit cleaner perhaps, but if you are looking for color, you aren't going to get it there. We are talking different shades of relatively clean budget preamp here. If you want something that sounds different, I'd look at a a Brick, Peavey VMP-2, or even a Joe Meek unit of some sort.
 
I just sold my dmp3 to a guy on here and he is saying that even with the pad turned on on the unit he's getting too much output.

I honestly don't remember having that issue. Is the dmp3 output really hot and I just never noticed?
 
donkeystyle said:
I just sold my dmp3 to a guy on here and he is saying that even with the pad turned on on the unit he's getting too much output.

I honestly don't remember having that issue. Is the dmp3 output really hot and I just never noticed?
Click to expand...

I have several DMP-3s and none of them are particularly hot output. It may be that his Audio card is set at -10 input in lieu of +4 which most cards have the adjustment some where either hardware or software wise.
 
donkeystyle said:
I just sold my dmp3 to a guy on here and he is saying that even with the pad turned on on the unit he's getting too much output.

I honestly don't remember having that issue. Is the dmp3 output really hot and I just never noticed?
Click to expand...

I wondering if he is routing the dmp3 through the mic pre on his board rather than using the line in. If you are hooking and amp to another amp you will get a rather HOT signal. He should try using the line level in on his mixer.
 
Fishmed_Returns said:
I wondering if he is routing the dmp3 through the mic pre on his board rather than using the line in. If you are hooking and amp to another amp you will get a rather HOT signal. He should try using the line level in on his mixer.
Click to expand...

I told him what tmix said and this is what he said"i've looked into that. the peak indicator on the interface turns red
at 0db. still looking"

So I think he's saying that with the pad on and the volume all the way down, the peak indicators go into the red. I think I may vaguely remember having that problem, but then I just used the pad on the mic too. I dunno, it sound like he's recording a really loud signal through a really high output mic.

I emailed him and asked him to clarify what he meant in his last email. I'm really worring I'm going to have to give the guy his money back and pay to have him return it to me. if it's really broken I don't have a problem with that, but I don't think it is. it seems like it's probably something silly like you suggested fishmed.

thanks for your help fishmed and tmix
 
donkeystyle said:
I told him what tmix said and this is what he said"i've looked into that. the peak indicator on the interface turns red
at 0db. still looking"

So I think he's saying that with the pad on and the volume all the way down, the peak indicators go into the red. I think I may vaguely remember having that problem, but then I just used the pad on the mic too. I dunno, it sound like he's recording a really loud signal through a really high output mic.

I emailed him and asked him to clarify what he meant in his last email. I'm really worring I'm going to have to give the guy his money back and pay to have him return it to me. if it's really broken I don't have a problem with that, but I don't think it is. it seems like it's probably something silly like you suggested fishmed.

thanks for your help fishmed and tmix
Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my Bass Amp head. It has a "Direct Out" and if I go through the mic pres on my board I always have too much signal.
 
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