Best 1 Ch. Mic Pre Under $1000

[DarthFaders]

Anybody know? I know that it's subjective, but I'm just wondering if I could have some suggestions.

Darth

[c7sus]

Mackie VLZ......................................

[c7sus]

Why take the opinion of guys you have never even met???

If you're in Nashville you should be able to either audition or maybe even take home for a day or two just about any pre under the sun. Get a good relationship going with the most reputable dealer in town. You'll get better info and access to gear by cultivating THAT relationship than you could ever get by asking 98% of the guys on the BBS.

Just watch this forum for any given 7 day period. It's a never-ending stream of questions like "Why do I need a pre/WTF is Phantom power/ What's the best pre I can get in a box of Crackerjack"

Bottom line is YOU are the only person that can figure out which pre is the BEST for YOUR taste and budget.

[crawdad]

Originally posted by c7sus


If you're in Nashville you should be able to either audition or maybe even take home for a day or two just about any pre under the sun.

What's the best pre I can get in a box of Crackerjack"
.

Great advice and you got me laughing too! There are so many rental companies in Nashville that you could probably rent any piece of recording gear--pre's mics, etc--that you wanted. There are so many studios there, juyst ask around and see who the good gear companies are.

What IS the best Crackerjacks pre anyway!?

[chessrock]

Best ONE-CHANNEL?

Well, that disqualifies the Mackies since they start out at 4-channel. Also disqualifies the DMP3 (2-channels), so the answer would have to be . . .

The Grace Design 101.

[tubedude]

Personally, if was set to buy one channel for a grand, I would buy a racked up API, maybe hunt around for 2 racked for about a $1000. Totally a no-lose-retains-its-value preamp. Or, look around for a properly modded and racked Neve 1272. Either of these will be excellent and very re-sellable.
Or look really hard for used Amek Neve dual 9098 preamps for about $1000-$1200.
Someone on RAP had a new Great River MP2 for like $985, and that would be the best buy in the world, and would sell for that 5 years from now when you are ready to sell it. Just gotta look.
Good luck.

[darrin_h2000]

I would suggest the Vintech Neve pres on ebay for 1100.00 buy now price.

But I think that they are 2 channell.

[CyanJaguar]

I have only heard one API and I would not use it on my mic if you paid me to. It sounded dead

This preamp, however, is the beast. What's more, you get two channels and high and low eq. ALL tube, input and output transformers.

I also heard that its color is awesome for coloring a whole mix

check out two examples done with a TLM 103 here. I did not do this, I found this on the net

http://www.elevenshadows.com/Shegar.mp3

and

http://www.cellardweller.com/tlm103sample.shtml

[tubedude]

I love API. You heard a very rare dud or something. They do sound very up front and in your face, which works really well for kick snare and often times vocals. Guitars sound huge, too.
What preamp is that on the soundclips, the Peavey? I plan to aquire one eventually. I can take one home for $100 down...

[tubedude]

Check into the SPL Goldmike too, it seems rather similar to the PEavey, and I hear good things about it often...

[CyanJaguar]

yeah tubedude, its the peavey vmp2

I lostg a bid on one last night in the last 7 seconds of the auction. Nobody had bid for 5 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes.

WHat do you mean that you can take one for $100 down. If you know where I can get one for less than $700, please tell me.

thanks

[CyanJaguar]

BTW tubedude,

I am researching on the goldmike. Tell me what you heard about it. It looks like it might be a good unit.

[MartyMcFly]

C7...
Yeah and if you take the advice of those guys at the music stores you'd probably be buying whatever they feel they ought to push on you...whatever they have too much of in stock. They dont nessicarily want you to have the best equipment, but they want you to help them fill their quota for the month...They're all just washed up carsalesmen anyway.

[Jack Hammer]

what is the deal with this 1k cut off. Anyway, what if there were 2k to spend. I hve heard that an Avalon pre amp is quite good. It goes for about 2k. Anybody ever compare this to the 1k and under pres just for scientific research value.

[c7sus]

Huh? I said REPUTABLE DEALERS, for starters, and said TAKE IT HOME AND TRY IT OUT AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF.


When I walk into the store I already know what I want. With the infinite amount of information available today on just about any product, most folks should be able to narrow down the options to those that merit the time to properly audition this stuff on their rig and see if it does what they need it to do.

If a person can't decide for themselves what sounds good they should find something else to pour their bread into. IMHO

[DarthFaders]

Originally posted by c7sus
If a person can't decide for themselves what sounds good they should find something else to pour their bread into. IMHO

I'm just trying to narrow it down so that I can try some out....

[c7sus]

That was directed at Marty McFly........

Solid State I would check out Earthworks, Great River, API, Focusrite, JoeMeek, etc.

Tube: Avalon, Manley, Drawmer, HHB, etc.

There's so much to pick from. Do you want just gain? Color? Transparency? EQ and compression onboard too?

www.mercenaryaudio.com

search google for Brent Averill, too......

The sky is the limit with this stuff.

[chessrock]

If I were you, Darth, I would do a search on some of Dan Kennedy's posts.

In case you're not familiar, he owns Great River Electronics. He has some very interesting things to say about this. Based on some of the recordings I've heard you post, I don't think whatever preamps you're using are half bad. I would imagine Dan would probably make the same recommendation, and that is to improve your mics, room treatment, and other processors before you even consider an expensive pre. Especially one in the $1000 range that probably won't be noticeably better than a Mackie, or whatever it is you already have.

If I remember correctly, you are recording to a Roland multitrack recorder? If that is the case, I would address your A/D conversion first. You could step up to something simple like an ART DI/O, or you could go all out and get yourself something like a Lucid. Either way, you'll probably see a much more immediate, noticeable improvement in the sound you are getting - and a much better way to spend $500-1000 bones.

Once everything is in place, and your skills and ears have outgrown your gear, then give Ted Fletcher at Mercenary Audio a call and have him set you up with one of Dan Kennedy's Great River pres.

[Dolemite]

Originally posted by chessrock
If I remember correctly, you are recording to a Roland multitrack recorder? If that is the case, I would address your A/D conversion first. You could step up to something simple like an ART DI/O, or you could go all out and get yourself something like a Lucid. Either way, you'll probably see a much more immediate, noticeable improvement in the sound you are getting - and a much better way to spend $500-1000 bones.

Honestly, I think the A/D converter/word clock thing is almost as overblown as the mic pre thing. Also, I'd say most converters in stand alone multitrack units and sound cards are akin to the Mackie preamps of the converter world.

[chessrock]

I have to disagree with that one, partially.

My only experience was with a Roland vs-880 and a Boss BR-8 . . . but I can tell you, my recordings improved dramatically once I went the sound card route. You may have a point, though, as I'm sure the a/d conversion has probably improved a lot since my days of fiddling with the vs-880.