Recommendations on Inexpensive Tube Mic Pre-Amps

Muddy T-Bone

New member
Looking for some recomendations on good tube mic preamps that are in the $200-$300 range.

I would use it to "warm" vocals and acoustic guitar and send some more gain downstream.

Needs list-

Min of 1 XLR input, 2 is better
48v phantom
XLR out
Low noise (of course)
 
Well, foolish me..... I started this thread with out searching for this topic prior to posting. Plenty of information to get me started.

As I suspected, the word "good" and "under $300" in a tube preamp are mutually exclusive terms. I've owned tube gear for around 45 years nad should have known better.

I'm no longer in search of the holy grail tube preamp under 300 bucks that is worth a darn..does not exist

Now I'm investigating the Golden Age Pre73, a Sebatron, and Studio Projects NTB1. All tranny products I understand. But well done solid state can sound acceptable (not tube-like) but acceptable.

Any other preamps I should look at that you have experiance with?

Thanks in advance.
 
"Tube sound" never came from the tubes anyway. It's usually the transformers in the circuitry (which you'll find in the GAP, among others in that range).
 
Massive Master-

From what I understand that "tube sound" warmth is likely the even order distortion that pleases our ears.

As I remember it, the even order distortion results from the interaction of the tube with output transformer. So I guess that its both the tube and the transformer creating what we call "warmth"
 
Me and my band just got a little Presonus TubePre. I know it's on the smaller side, but at $50 used from Guitar Center we decided to give it a shot. I know Presonus has a decent rep, and those are about $130 new I think. Just an idea.
 
"Tube sound" never came from the tubes anyway. It's usually the transformers in the circuitry (which you'll find in the GAP, among others in that range).

LOL! Massive you cant throw knowledge out there like that to young eng's lol they only know what others tell them :laughings:
it throws them all off lol. Gotta love Massive and he is right :laughings:
 
"Tube sound" never came from the tubes anyway. It's usually the transformers in the circuitry (which you'll find in the GAP, among others in that range).

+1 on the Transformers!

But if you are looking for a good Tube Mic Pres for the least amount of money, look for a used Demeter or a GT Brick.
 
I own 2 x Studio Projects VTB-1 pres, could not resist getting a couple of extra pres for the price, they actually sound very good but I don't usually crack up the tube drive unless I am after that sound. review. The Golden Age 73 is well worth a look and I will grab one at some point.

Cheers
Alan.
 
These are quite handy without breaking the bank.

View attachment 76620

Tim

This was my first outboard pre and I still use it mostly for the features it has that the digital built in pre's don't have on my interface. Like the high pass knob, phase switch, mid side encoder, stereo function, being able to drive it hard at the front end and back it off at the output, then there's the impedance knob which usually always sounds best at 12 o'clock. The reason why I bought it was because I grew bored and unsatisfied with the digital pres on my interface. They were thin, sort of tinny, and just not very pleasing to the ear.

Anyways, I didn't buy this unit because I thought it was going to warm up my signal with "tube sound", because I did my research beforehand to find out it's a starved plate design. I don't f*cking care though! Simple as that. In comparison with A/B it sounds better to my ears then the stock pre's on my interface. The signal feels fuller (call that warmth?), and a little cleaner highs. VERY clear and low noise. Maybe it's the fact that it's analog and not a stock cheap digital pre. I don't know.

I have the GAP pre 73 as well, and while I use it for a lot of stuff (most single tracked stuff actually), there are occasions where you might not want all that retro character, at which point I'll go to the Pro MPA or a more generic outboard pre. Some sources sound plain just a little TOO warm in the low mids with the pre 73 which raises the mud flag if you don't take special care to eq it out. However, yeah the pre 73 is much superior in sound quality than the mpa, you get what you pay for!

Just a couple little mini reviews for ya on a few things people have already recommended. Thanks and good luck!
 
People knock "starved plate." But if you're looking at it as an effect, it can work. The late John Simonton used this in the PAIA Tubehead, and he has a brief explanation in the original (Popular Electronics?) article.

For OP, building your own "real" tube pre (real as in transformer input, 250 volts on the tube, etc) isn't that difficult. Mind you, you're working with mains voltages, high voltage on the tube, etc, so it isn't like putting together a 9v fuzz box ie *do so at your own risk* For a finished polished design you could come in at your budget. If you know how/where to shop for things like transformers, or are selective in transformer input, you could do slightly better.
 
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