behringer mic pre, or behringer built in mixer pres

[tojo]

Hey guys, I'm just looking for a couple opinions. I am trying to decide whether or not I should use a dedicated behringer mic pre, instead of the built in mic pres on my behringer mixer. My school of though right now is... I should go with the dedicated mic pre into the behringer mixer, because if it's just a standalone mic pre it must be better than the ones on the behringer mixer.

here's the mic pre: Behringer Ultra gain mic200

here's the mixer: Behringer Eurorack mx1604A

so far the mixer seems good enough for my needs... but If i were to use the dedicated preamp how would I go about using it? Would I go:

Mic -> Preamp -> Patchord cable out into a line in on a channel on my mixer? I mean wouldn't putting it into the line in on a mixer add the mixer-pres on top of the dedicated pres? (I hopes this isn't too confusing, but I have little experience with preamps)... so would I just turn the gain all the way down and then put it into the line in?

thanks guys.

[the-audio-man]

That's exactly what you would do.

Mic--->XLR--->Preamp--->Line Out--->Line In Mixer

I've heard mixed things about those Behringer Pre's - they don't last long (at least they didn't in the early days). I own a few behringer preamps they are good but the tube warmth isn't that great. I hear changing up the valve in there is the way to go for more warmth and improved sound quality.

[tojo]

So you suggest that I do use it over the built in pres at least for all my mono sources( I only have one) ....


by the way if you click on the link, could you tell me which input i would go into (which line in) on the mixer? Would I avoid going into the first 4 because they already have pres (they have gain knobs so they are pres right).... so should i go from the pre into the line in on any of the first channels or no...?

once again, i'm being a little confusing sorry about that. (bad grammer too!)

[Minion]

The pre amps inside your behringer mixer are probably no worse than a standalone behringer mic pre , they probably use a simular solid state curcuit topology ...The Specs on the mixer pre"s is pretty good (Better frequency responce than the standalone) Mic pre and they don"t even give out the distortion specs on the Mic200 probably because the tube ruins the specs....

I would say that you might get a different flavor useing one over the other but I don"t think the sound quality will be any better with one or the other....


Cheers

[tojo]

thanks! I have no idea how the whole specs of a preamp relate to it's performance, So I appreciate your answers!

[craigmorris74]

The pres on the mixer are probably ripoffs of a Mackie circuit, while the stand-alone is some bizarre thing with an LED lit tube. I'd trust the mixer pres.

Save your money until you can afford one of the better low end pres recommended around here.
Craig

[guitar junkie]

yeah why Behringer? I mean there are all sorts of other brands out there if you look around....

[tojo]

1. i got the mixer like a year ago for $50... that's it.
2. someone gave me the pre for free! i thought that was swell, and wondered whether or not it would be worth using it at all.

I'm saving up for an audio interface