Hands Down.... You're favorite Mic Pre?

[jpfour23]

Just curious... what do you all rely on as your absolutely favorite mic pre?

jp

[endodoc]

For squeaky clean: Millenia HV2C
For a touch of color: Avalon 2022
For a full palette of color: Great River MP2NV
For warmth: Hamptone HV2TP

Obviously this question doesn't have 1 right answer!

[Kasey]

all i have is the presonus tubepre and the preamps on my yamaha mg16/4 mixer.

they do pretty good.

[gemsbok]

art tube mp- its all i gots right now>

[mrbowes]

A-Designs MP-2

my only high end pre, but it smokes anything else i've tried (RNP, mackie vlz, rane ms1b, SP vtb-1, tfpro)

[dwillis45]

Hands down favorite preamp? Great River me1nv along with my favorite mic (AT4050) from the Hands-Down-Favorite-Mic thread on the mic forum. I can't wait to see what posts are lurking in the Guitar/Basses forum!

[pohaku]

Pendulum MDP-1

[punkin]

My collection is small but suites me for now besides...I jus don't know no better

2 - Avalon M5's (happy birthday to me ) - for vocals...some acoustic & electric guitar and stringed instruments like cello, violin, piano.

1 - Art MPA Gold - drum over-heads, some vocals (I know...TOOB...just don't drive it hard it sounds nice) and general puposes.

1 - DMP3 - Acoustic guitar and drums...especially snare...I like the snare snappy. Oh,...and hi-hat.

1 - Presonus MP20 - Drums and acoustic guitar and vocals behind a tube mic. It's another nice general purpose mic-pre. Very clean with decent gain.

2 - Presonus ToobPre - Bass and keyboard DI's...awww...shut up 'bout it already!

2 - FMR/RNP - Anything clean...drums mostly for me oh!...I like it with banjo!

I listed them because, I couldn't pic a favorite...it depends...the application and the mic.

I generally prefer all acoustic insturments to be recorded clean...so, the cleanest I can afford is what I have...vocals I know are acoustic too but, sometimes don't sound best cold. The ability to "dial in" a little flavor is what I'm after there. The same for DI's...clean can be nice but sometimes/often, I like to soften up the artificial/digi-sounding keyboards.

So there.

[rsolinski]

API 312...no question

[xstatic]

Chandler TG2

[noisedude]

I don't get to use awesome boutique pres ... but I'm very happy with my Joemeeks and the pres in my Soundcraft M12. Well ... happy till I upgrade them!!!! (especially the desk ... we'll see what happens after I upgrade my interface )

[fldrummer]

So far it's a Greg Hanks BA-660.

[mrface2112]

tie: m-audio tampa and a symetrix 528.

the tampa has a "large" sound to it--very nice on elements you want to stand out, yet is very smooth sounding. excellent as a DI as well. the 528 is more aggressive sounding....when you engage the comp and start to work it some, you get a very unique tone that's hard for me to describe--but would work well on a more aggressive singer, etc--definitely less transparent than the tampa. the tampa just makes everything sound better.

neither i'd want to use on every track in a mix, but a combination of both works pretty nicely.

third place: for a nice all-around preamp on the cheap, it's hard to beat the VTB-1. loads of quiet gain on that one.


cheers,
wade

[Erockrazor]

My favorite preamp is an m-audio Audio Buddy. It gets the job done for 40 bucks for sure. Pretty quiet and good signal. Im satisfied for what i paid.

[MadAudio]

I'm quite happy with my M-Audio pres - the DMP3 and the Octane. They're much cleaner than the pres in my old Mackie 1604.

[noisedude]

Am I?

[Erockrazor]

Originally Posted by noisedude

Am I?

I caught that one too. Im one to take note of all grammar mistakes. Not saying I dont make them at all but I tend to see them quite often.

By the way , you do make a nice pre-amp.

[chessrock]

I'm not much of a gear snob ... but I wouldn't turn down a DW Fearn if someone desperately wanted to give one to me.

[Dot]

Hands down? My fav? That would have to be the MillenniaHardyADesignsGreatRiverAPINeve mic preamp.

[Middleman]

When I rent:
Neve 1084, 1081 or 1073 for Vocals
API on Drums

What I bought:
Neve Portico 5012

[c7sus]

Best I've got here is a Davisound TB-10. Lots of clean gain.

Still need to send it back to have the instrument I/O's changed from TR to TRS. Hums like a bitch with a bass or guitar in it. Hayne told me they only tried it out on keys!

But he was quick to update his design when I pointed out the problem. Hard to believe I was the first clod that ran up against that!

[earworm]

for a year i used a joemeek vc8 as preamp for vocals, also used it on bass and guitar but since i got my symetrix 528 i don't use the joemeek often anymore, i find the eq's of the 528 better (definately more control, fully parametric) but like someone else said, the 528 IS a bit agressive, i've used it on guitars with great results (sennheiser md421 connected to it)
or mostly for vocals of course (akg 414)
but believe it or not, i've had results that were kinda better with my M8 and a dbx163x on insert, the M8 has clean pre's, clean but simple eq..

my next buy might be an avalon 737

[Rodger Hartlett]

Originally Posted by Middleman

When I rent:
Neve 1084, 1081 or 1073 for Vocals
API on Drums

What I bought:
Neve Portico 5012

that's sad. why are you spending extra on renting when you could own??why not sell the portico and get a real Neve preamp. ok so maybe you lose out on the resale but wouldn't it make sense rather than renting all the time?
it kills me to see kids waste thier cash on something they can't use because it is not good enough.

my favorite preAMP? the vt-1 by d.w.fearne . the best sound i have ever heard!

class a high end

[scrubs]

For now, I'm very happy with my GT Brick. Not that I wouldn't love some really high end pres, but I also like to pay my rent.

[Middleman]

Originally Posted by Rodger Hartlett

that's sad. why are you spending extra on renting when you could own??why not sell the portico and get a real Neve preamp. ok so maybe you lose out on the resale but wouldn't it make sense rather than renting all the time?
it kills me to see kids waste thier cash on something they can't use because it is not good enough.

my favorite preAMP? the vt-1 by d.w.fearne . the best sound i have ever heard!

class a high end

Well, a couple of things. I really hope you are kidding...

First, I am long past being a kid. Second my Portico sounds as good as a 1073 so I will be keeping it for a long time. In fact there are several shootouts in publication around a 1073 vs a Portico, the latest in TapeOp where they claim the Portico in fact sounds better than a "real" Neve 1073. I am not sure I would go this far in describing the two but they are extremely close. (Hey, Rupert designed both so why are we even talking about the Portico not being a real Neve). Finally, I will always rent because I can get all three of the above preamps for about $90 for a weekend which is more cost effective for a tracking and of extreme high quality when I need that many preamps to do a sesssion. Why sit on $9000 worth of preamps when I could invest in gear that gets regular use like high end monitors or outboard which is used over many hours of mixing. Preamps only get used for tracking so they are by and large one of the worst time use over money investments you have to make.

Renting is the most cost effective way to get a high end sound and keep a start up studio viable. For me, late at night when I feel like recording my own stuff, the Portico at $1440 is all the investment I need for working out songs and arrangements. Occassionally I get a final vocal, if I need it better I might rent the 1084, not so much for the preamp but for the EQ on that sucker. Its very nice sounding.

The Fearn would be one I would want to try as would be the Martech or the Manley VOXBOX.