pre amps revisited

[foreverain4]

i just cannot decide. say you had 2-3000 dollars to spend on a pre, or two. what you you get?

[SonicAlbert]

How many do you need?

That is the first question, and will determine what quality units you can buy.

[foreverain4]

two would be ideal. i am looking at capturing really good stereo imaging. i wish i had a whole arsenal just to mess around with for a few months... then i could decide..

[scrubs]

At that pricepoint, get whatever you want. Chances are it will be very good to excellent and, if it's not what you are looking for, it should have good resale value so you can exchange it for something else.

[foreverain4]

millenia media has certainly caught my eye. anyone have any expirience with that company?

[BigRay]

yes. I have a Millennia HV-3C..very good company, very good products.



their client list is massive, and their products are very clean...

for 3,000 you can get the HV-3C WITH the ADC Upgrade. Very clean, but with mojo too.....

oR the neve portico(1430) and a DAV BG1(680)...youd have a clean pre, and a warm/colored pre...the BG1 is the heat, and neve..well...its a neve.

BG1 info:
Mark Knopfler just bought a rack of them, as did david gilmour.

http://www.michaelsawitzke.com/teddy/

samples.

review: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec...ctronicsbg1.htm

site: www.davelectronics.com/bg1.htm


id suggest either one of those options..cant go wrong with either..they are ALL world class pieces.

[bigtoe]

i'd add the john hardy M1/M2 to your list to audition.

Mike

[jkokura]

Mindprint DTC...

jacob

[pohaku]

What kind of music and what instruments/voices are you planning on recording? That will/should influence your decision. At that price point you can two channels of lots of (most) things. But if you are doing metal, you might prefer two channels of API, Great River or Neve to two channels of Millennia. If you are doing classical recording, however, the Millennia or the DAV may be your ticket. You can get two channels of any of these (except real Neves) for under $3000 and in most cases under $2000.

I have two channels each of Millennia (2 - TD1s), API (512C), Pendulum, (MDP-1), Groove Tubes (MP1), Peavey (VMP-2) and A-Designs (Red and P1 in 500 form cards) as well as some older Symetrix units (SX202). Any of these could easily be purchased within your budget (included a lunchbox or rack for the API and A-Designs cards). If you buy used, you could easily get two channels of any of these for substantially under $2000. And there are lots of other great preamps out there. Each provides a slightly different color and may have some different features that may lend themselves to the kind of recording you are doing. I do mostly acoustic/roots rock stuff so I use the Millennia and the Pendulum a lot with the APIs and A-Designs for electric guitar and percussion. There are lots of new preamps becoming available that fit the API 500 form rack and could give you some flexibility and keep the price manageable (figure @$600-700 new per channel once you get a rack and power supply).

[BigRay]

after thinking about it, id definitely get the BG1(2 clean VERY hq channels, as good or better than the millennia HV-3C) and for some color, id get the Hardy m1, neve portico, lavry mic pre or an electronaut:
http://electronaut.info/

which have interchangeable transformer cards....

[Big Kenny]

No question http://www.mercenary.com/gmltwochanmi.html

[Big Kenny]

well ok, this maybe or a crane song http://www.mercenary.com/groovtubvip.html

[LeeRosario]

Just depends on your sound tastes, man.


The first things that come to mind are things like Neve, Vintech, API, Avalon.


But alot of sub contracting type electronic shops (non sweetwater types) make some really good stuff comparable or better than name brands


(as the gentleman above has already showed).

[MISTERQCUE]

Yo' 4everain4, if I was investing 2-3K on a pre, not only would I seek the recommendations, hints, advice & opinions from others here & elsewhere, but I would also include checking out & comparing pre's in your $$$ range at your local or nearest music retailer, visiting a studio (if you know the owner) housing these pre's and listening to the many songs, samples, demos, etc. that have been perf'md thru these pre's and are available all over the 'Net!

Brutha', that particular pre you are willing to spend a nice piece of change on deserves careful comparison, critical attention to audio detail & complete consideration to what you expect from this unit.

Peace
Q.rM

[maskedman72]

for that type of $$$ you can get a mp2nv and a mic.

my pre list in the price range would be;

great river mp2nv
shadowhills gamma
api 3124
chandler tg-2

[NS Recording]

I would have to consider mighty hard a Vipre...if Michael Wagner uses them they must not be too shabby. Otherwise, I might look at something like API or Neve.

http://www.jbsound.com/proddetail.ph...ve-tubes-vipre

Of course for $3k you might could swing an API 3124 and a GT Supre.

[Middleman]

I would need to know what type of music you are recording before sounding off.

[Reggie]

Originally Posted by NS Recording

GT Supre.

Holy wow! Is this really new or something? I hadn't seen it. It's like a souped-up stereo Brick or something. Might give Sebatron a run for his money...

[SonicAlbert]

foreverain4, your address is shown as Fort Wayne, so you should be able to just go over to the Sweetwater show room and try out a pile of preamps. Just leave your credit cards at home!

[foreverain4]

the purpose of this preamp would be more for criticle acoutic type recording. would be used for drum overheads, vocals, acoustic guitar, any type of acoustic instrument really. perhaps even electric guitar. not really going for really heavy stuff. i seen the mindprint DTC mentioned above. anyone have any real life expirience with it?

[foreverain4]

Originally Posted by SonicAlbert

foreverain4, your address is shown as Fort Wayne, so you should be able to just go over to the Sweetwater show room and try out a pile of preamps. Just leave your credit cards at home!

i have purchased stuff from sweetwater. they dont carry any millennia media product. i also see they dont carry mindprint either. i guess i dont want to limit my search to just what one retailer carries. i will probably go there to check out an avalon..

[chris-from-ky]

Originally Posted by foreverain4

the purpose of this preamp would be more for criticle acoutic type recording. would be used for drum overheads, vocals, acoustic guitar, any type of acoustic instrument really. perhaps even electric guitar. not really going for really heavy stuff. i seen the mindprint DTC mentioned above. anyone have any real life expirience with it?

Pendulum has a dual channel mic pre that I've read is quite nice. I asked Fletcher about it once and if I recall correctly, his was a glowing recommendation. (As glowing as Fletcher gets when discussing pre's. You know he's the type of person who promotes having an arsenal of different but, good pres's and when the quality is on the level of the pendulum, he hasn't ever really put one over another - that I've read.) If I had that kind of money and only wanted two pre's, I'd go for the great river MP2-NV or the Pendulum.

[foreverain4]

Originally Posted by chris-from-ky

If I had that kind of money and only wanted two pre's, I'd go for the great river MP2-NV or the Pendulum.

who said anything about having that kind of money? lol

[Soundmind??]

I have a Mindprint DTC as well as 2 Avalon 737sp. I'm very pleased with both of them. I have a warranty issue with Avalon. Bought it in July and they tell me the 1 year warranty runs out in February, quite a short year. They base the term on the manufacture date, not the purchase date (first for me). Haven't had any trouble with them, but for such high priced gear, you'd think they would stand behind their product. I read so many glowing reviews about their service and quality...I just hope the quality part is true.

Anyhow, they are both very quiet and have excellent EQ and compressors. Avalon can really be warm and sexy with tweaking the controls the right way. I've used them both on accoustic guitar, flute, bass, vocals, etc and they both do quite well. The DTC gives you two matched channels for the price of one Avalon. With $3000, you should be able to get two avalons or one DTC and one Avalon. Either way I think you will be pleased. If you go with Avalon, be sure to order them as a matched pair (serial #s will be sequential). If you talk with Avalon, ask them what the deal is with their warranty policy.

Good luck with your purchase.

[Soundmind??]

Forgot to mention, the Mindprint DTC has a pretty good A/D converter option. I've actually ran the Avalons to the line in on the DTC just to use its converter.