Mixer or Micpre

[Bozman]

I posted this in the Mic section, but thought it might be better over here. Any help would be appreciated.

I’m about to buy my first condenser mics and need some advice. I’m getting a large condenser now and will be adding some small condensers in the near future. Now I need to know what should I get to provide power these mic’s. I’m going between a) Mackie Mixer (1202 or 1402 vlz pro), b) Behringer Mixer, C) Mic Pre (ART, Joemeek), or d) Dual channel Mic Pre.
The current uses will be primarily for recording vocals, percussion, and acoustic/classical guitar. Longer term, there is a chance that I could be doing drums and who knows what else, but that is unknown at this time.

I record onto a Boss BR-8 so I currently only have two inputs to use for recording. I would like to be able to stereo mic the acoustic/classical guitar recordings.

The way I see it, getting a mixer would probably be most beneficial and also would also allow for expanding my current set-up in the future. My main concern about the Mackie/Behringer mixers is the pre-maps. If the preamps in the Mackie are good, why do so many people still buy the ART/Joemeek to go with them? If I buy a mixer, am I still going to want to buy an external Pre in the near future???

On the other hand, I like the ideas of just spending $100-200 on one of the inexpensive micpre’s that are currently available. Of course, I would either need two of them or a dual channel model, so that would increase the price a bit.

I could keep rambling about this, but I think I’ll stop here and wait for some input.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

[electricbeats]

at least or me -
get micpres !!!
I do own a mackie, i'ts just the small VLZ but it does its job - BUT as soon as it comes to condenser mics - the micpres do not deserve to be specislly mentioned in the ads, I bought the mackie because everyone said the micpres are ok, but in fact they are just usable for vocals, if ever.

When recording acoustical guitar you are dealing with delicate, lo level signals and thats exactly what brings out the quality of the pre for you usually have to ad lots of gain, which results as far as cheap mixers go in NOISE.

I tell you get a stereo or even mono micpre, if you have a good sounding guitar and you don't have to eq excessively then almost every little mixer will do.

klaus

[charger]

The Mackie pres are revolutionary--for a small-format mixer--not because they have a great sound, but because they are extraordinarily clean. Read all through their site and you'll see they say this all over the place. They don't have a lot of distortion, they don't have a much noise, they jsut take a signel and amplify it pretty damn well.

However, the reason people like preamps like the ART and the Joemeek are because they DO change the signal... adding thickness, "warmth," even some distortion.

I do think the Mackie pres sound incredible... when you compare them to the old (non-vlz-pro) Mackie pres, "where good signals went to die."

[c7sus]

Stay away from the VC3Q in the Meek line. The 6Q is a good box, and the 1Q is even better...... keep in mind that the Meek is NOT transparent! It adds a pretty good dose of coloration to whatever you put through it. Just depressing the compression button with all controls set on their lowest settings adds color to the signal. Some folks like it and some folks hate it. Myself, I think it does what Joemeek says it should do...... what more can you ask for?

As far as the Mackie pres....... I can get a bunch more gain from the Meek before it gets harsh than I can from the Mackies.......

[electricbeats]

don't get me wrong there, the Mackie pres are ok, neverthless they are to noisy when dealing with acoustic or even stereo location recording ( which was what I wanted to do with that mixer)
as far as I understood the thread's topic is mixer or micpre and even if the ART colours the sound it's still less noisy, maybe my mixer has a problem there ?

apart from that I've always loved the Idea of having a pair of micpres whose sound I like, to carry with me to every show or recording session...