Is it worth it? [II]

[Bguzaldo]

There's an 8 channel preamp maybe some of you are familiar with, its the Nady PRA 8. I can pick it up on ebay for 100 bucks or less and i was wondering if its worth it, just to add some gain for drums and live recordings. Not a whole lot of features, individual phantom power for each channel which is what's pulling me in, but the outputs are only 1/4 unbalanced i was wondering if its worth the bones, i have 100 bucks to spare and i need 8 channels of pre's. nothing else is really close in price range.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...amp?sku=185277

Thanks
Let me know
-Barrett

[avieth]

Nady doesn't make quality gear. If you must have 8 preamps for under $140 then don't get me wrong, this is the product for you, but don't expect good quality preamplification from such a cheap product.

As far as budget preamps are concerned, I'd recommend you look at products from ART. Of course you won't find 8 preamps for $140 from them, but you can get two Tube MPs for around $160 (retail, they go for $30 on MF!) and they are excellent for the price.

[Bguzaldo]

Originally Posted by avieth

Nady doesn't make quality gear. If you must have 8 preamps for under $140 then don't get me wrong, this is the product for you, but don't expect good quality preamplification from such a cheap product.

As far as budget preamps are concerned, I'd recommend you look at products from ART. Of course you won't find 8 preamps for $140 from them, but you can get two Tube MPs for around $160 (retail, they go for $30 on MF!) and they are excellent for the price.

Yeah, I've been looking into those and everything seemed all fine and good, but i got a lot of negative feed back about those on these forums, can you clear any of that up? I'd be more than happy to buy three of those for 90 bucks because you get the tubes and the XLR in/outputs. Thanks again let me know.

-Barrett

[avieth]

I have two ART Dual MPs. Each unit is two Tube MPs in a rack-mountable enclosure. I've had no issues with them, and the sound is great. The Tube MP isn't noisy, and has the features I need. I can't notice a significant difference between these and the preamps on my Mackie 1604 VLZ3.

You might want to check out the M-Audio DMP3 as well. People around here rave about it. I've never used one myself though. People on this board have a tendency to ignore budget. If you had $10,000 to spend on a preamp then the ART Tube MP is a bad choice. Expensive high-end preamps sound better for obvious reasons, but a budget unit like the Tube MP is more than capable of producing a great sounding record.

[pohaku]

A used board is one of the better ways to get a bunch of serviceable preamps for cheap. I'd look for a used Mackie or, better yet, an Allen & Heath board.

[Bguzaldo]

i have an art MPa Gold should i just buy one more?