Sytek MPX-4Aii--in need of mic pre for 4 inputs

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pietro79

New member
Hello

I have a matched pair of ADK Vienna's (have a bit of a bump at 5k), a bunch of 57's, a beta 52, and a bunch of homemade mics. I record a variety of styles, but am concerned more with character than a scientifically clean/true/uncoloured recording

I'm using a Digi 002 rack, which has mic pre's on the first 4 inputs, and a -10db/+4db switch on the last four... so I'd like to get 4 pre's for the last 4 inputs.

I'd like to spend less than $1500 Canadian ($1300 US)... wishful?

I was thinking of the Sytek MPX-4Aii

Any hooray's or boo's? please explain if so. Are there other 4-channel pre's I should consider?

I guess I could also go with two 2-channel units...

I'd appreciate some eye opening; point me in the direction of some things to research.

sincerely
pietro
 
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pietro79 said:
... am concerned more with character than a scientifically clean/true/uncoloured recording

.... I was thinking of the Sytek MPX-4Aii
Click to expand...


Unfortunately Sytek falls more in to the clean/true uncolored area.

Maybe if you could get a couple transformers installed in channels 3 and 4. As I understand it, that is still an option.

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chessrock said:
Unfortunately Sytek falls more in to the clean/true uncolored area.

Maybe if you could get a couple transformers installed in channels 3 and 4. As I understand it, that is still an option.
Click to expand...

Did you mean burr brown op amps? My understanding is that Syteks are of a transformerless design, but I have no idea if transformerss could actually be installed in one.
 
tdukex said:
Did you mean burr brown op amps? My understanding is that Syteks are of a transformerless design, but I have no idea if transformerss could actually be installed in one.
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Yea, it's an option.

I don't know many people who have chosen that option, though.

.
 
Hi Pietro,

I own the Sytek 4-pack, with Burr-Browns installed as an option on chnls. 3-4, but I have not yet tested those two channels.
The 'straight' channels are exactly that: very quiet, with tons of headroom. I have tested them running into my reel-to-reel doing some acoustic guitar at high volume and I think they are very accurate, without adding a 'sonic footprint' of any kind. Also, the output from the Sytek is good and hot.
Build quality is nice, good pots and such.
I feel they are well worth the money. I wanted 4 good channels for general recording, figuring I could always add a tube pre along the way for color.

A review:
http://www.mojopie.com/sytek.html

Best,
CC.
 
Cosmic said:
Hi Pietro,

I own the Sytek 4-pack, with Burr-Browns installed as an option on chnls. 3-4, but I have not yet tested those two channels.
Click to expand...

Cool... let me know what you think of those Burr-Brown channels.
 
chessrock said:
Unfortunately Sytek falls more in to the clean/true uncolored area.

Maybe if you could get a couple transformers installed in channels 3 and 4. As I understand it, that is still an option.

.
Click to expand...
Chessrock is right about that. The Sytek is clean on channels 1 & 2. It may even be equal to or slightly surpass the DMP3 to a certan degree. I think a lot of it depends on what you're putting up in front of it as is the case with any preamp. It all depends on the voice, guitar.....yadayadayada.

I own the Sytek with the Burr Brown Op Amps on channels 3 & 4. Channel 3 on my unit is a bit troublesome and noisy at a certain level. Channel 4 is OK. Overall, I'm still figuring out how best to get the best out of the Sytek.

There's a lesson there to be learned if you read it right. :)
 
60's guy said:
Chessrock is right about that. The Sytek is clean on channels 1 & 2. It may even be equal to or slightly surpass the DMP3 to a certan degree.
Click to expand...

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Sytek. Does anyone else feel that the Sytek is only "equal to or slightly surpasses" the DMP3?
 
leddy said:
I'm about to pull the trigger on a Sytek. Does anyone else feel that the Sytek is only "equal to or slightly surpasses" the DMP3?
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Personally, I'm not one to get in to the whole; "this mic pre puts that mic pre to shame" stuff.

But generally speaking, the overall perception, design and intended use of the Sytek ... is that of a higher-end and more professional-caliber mic pre than the dmp3. I will at least give it that much. :D
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chessrock said:
Personally, I'm not one to get in to the whole; "this mic pre puts that mic pre to shame" stuff.

But generally speaking, the overall perception, design and intended use of the Sytek ... is that of a higher-end and more professional-caliber mic pre than the dmp3. I will at least give it that much. :D
.
Click to expand...

The more I read, the more I think it's just a pissing match between all these transformerless pres. I read on recording.org that the SP828 is very close to the Sytek (with the BB's) in design and sound.

Without being able to use them all side by side, I think it's just going to be a crap shoot.
 
leddy said:
I read on recording.org that the SP828 is very close to the Sytek (with the BB's) in design and sound.
Click to expand...

The SP is designed around a TI Instrument amp, like most of the other cheap ones out there ... and very much like a lot of the home made ones (Example: If you were to take up electronics and wanted to design your first DIY preamp, you'd probably use a similar design and base it around a TI Instrument amp).

The Sytek is kind of a hybrid/discrete design, that doesn't use an instrument amp at all (although it does use an opamp stage for impedence matching and some of the gain chores; also from TI, which is where the confusion comes in -- totally different parts that do totally different things). They're totally different designs. Whether or not that translates to differences in sound, though, is totally open to subjective debate.

But a lot of ignorant people assume that, just because one mic pre uses a "Burr-brown" part, and another mic pre uses a different burr-brown part ... that they must be similar. :D Which is kinda' funny.
.
 
leddy said:
The more I read, the more I think it's just a pissing match between all these transformerless pres. I read on recording.org that the SP828 is very close to the Sytek (with the BB's) in design and sound.

Without being able to use them all side by side, I think it's just going to be a crap shoot.
Click to expand...

Update:

I bought the SP828. Noticably more clear and detailed than the Yamaha MG pres I had been using. Nothing subtle about the difference - it's very obvious.

Next purchase will be a DAV BG1 to provide a golden channel for my main stereo pair.
 
Brought this thread back because about a month ago I purchased a Sytek (instead of the DAV). I now have the SP828 and the Sytek. I still think the SP828 is a big step above economical mixer preamps, but the Sytek sounds a lot better still.

It may be obvious, but the biggest difference was on lower-output mics. By themselves, my Beyer ribbons and my RE20 sounded about 10 times better. They were sharper; less muddy & quiet. On my Earthworks TC20 (which has pretty high output), the difference was smaller. I tracked my jazz group twice in the same room with the same mics, using the different preamps. It was a simple 4-mic live set-up with a mid-side pair in front of the group with a spot mic on the upright bass plus the hand-held vocal mic. There was so much more dimension and detail with the Sytek. I assume the ultra-low distortion is the reason.

I would have sold the Sytek in a second if the difference was not worth the money. It's a great preamp. :)
 
I think you kinda' nailed one of the strengths of the Sytek and others like it ... and that is that, as you crank the gain up or down to extreme settings, the distortion, noise levels and frequency response remain fairly linear / marginal.

In the middle / center position, it's rather pedestrian. Frankly, just about any mic pre on the market will perform well within it's relatively narrow optimal range.

As a sidenote, I think a lot of the lower-end mic pres on the market (and those based around an Instrument amp) can benefit a great deal in this area by the more recent release of the THAT 1510 preamp chip. Just so happens that this particular amplifier does exceptionally well at the higher gains (60 db or more). This may significantly level the playing field if the 1510 becomes widely adopted in newer designs, or if more people do the very simple modification / swap it would incur.

http://www.thatcorp.com/datashts/AudioPreampComp.pdf


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Thanks for the info. I wonder how easy it would be to swap out the BB in my SP828.

It would still have a cheap power supply though.
 
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