A couple of mic preamp questions for you whizzes

B

boechler

New member
Hi,
Relative newbie here. I am looking at purchasing a Toft AFC-2 preamp/equalizer and an RNC. This purchase is to upgrade an ART TPS preamp I have been using with my Yamaha AW16G recorder. The AFC-2 contains the same preamp as the ATC-2 which I am also considering. From what I am reading the equalizer on the AFC-2 might be more what I am looking for than the one on the ATC-2 and the RNC compressor may be closer to what I am looking for than the compressor on the ATC-2. I can also get the AFC-2/RNC combination for a few hundred less than the ATC-2. Now for my questions.
1. Is there any reason I may be missing to buy the ATC-2 over the AFC-2/RNC combination? Any known incompatibilies?
2. How important is it to have meters on the preamp? The AFC-2 does not have any meters and the ATC-2 does.
3. Obviously my hope is to improve the sound. Am I watering down the sound improvement gains by running the higher quality Toft preamp into the presumably lower quality preamps on the AW16G? If the inputs on the 16G are at the minimum level will they still influence the signal from the external preamp?
Thanks for all the useful information on this forum and I hope someone is able to steer me right here. By the way, I am unable to listen to any of the above mentioned equipment without first purchasing. Brian.
 
From reading reviews and comments on the 'net, the ATC-2 is good in that -

It has preamps that are pretty good. I wouldn't sweat the difference in pres unless you're taking on very high profile clients - the Toft ones should be capable of a lot. 60 dB overall gain should be good with a number of mics, but how it works when it's pinned is always a concern. I don't know from first hand experience.

The EQ is supposed to be excellent and very musical. Probably the main attraction. I have no idea if the EQ section of the AFC-2 will be similar or not. Probably.

The compressor sounds good for ceratin things, but it doesn't have a threshold control. The threshold is a secret, much like the speed limit in this city. The RNC gives you full parametric control, so it's probably more versatile overall but not capable of the character of the Toft. Different animals.

It'd be nice if someone from Toft or PMI could explain how/if/what changes the threshold on this thing, and what the knee is like. If you're very experienced with compression, it would take some playing around with to get used to. If not, the RNC has been said to be a good unit to learn on.

My impression is that Toft is decent to excellent, but more or less all about the EQ.

I'm just guesing.

As for meters, every pre should at least have a clip light to give you a sense of what your levels are. The clip light is an indicator of "the end is near", or "this is just about right" or "turn this thing down". A meter is used for the same thing, but obviously more exact. Meters are great on pres that have input and output stages - it allows you to drive the preamp as you like and match the output signal to what you need - thus changing the flavour of the pre somewhat. With only one control, how hard you drive the signal has more to do with what kind of level you want to set overall. You'll have meters outside this box, so it's not really critical. Your ears should be the final judge.


Here's a review by Fletcher:

http://www.mercenary.com/flatre.html


sl
 
Thanks for the input Snow lizard.

Yes I have read Fletcher's review and several other reviews of the ATC-2. From what I've read the equalizers on the AFC-2 and the ATC-2 are different. The AFC-2 has four sweepable bands of EQ and only the mid-frequency bands are sweepable on the ATC-2. I have also read that the EQ is perhaps more versatile on the AFC-2 than the ATC-2. This is more what I was looking for.

From all the reviews I've read I really wanted to try out the RNC and thought it might make a good combo with the AFC-2 since the AFC-2 does not have a compressor. I was pretty much decided on this and now I notice that there are no meters or even clip lights from what I can tell on the AFC-2. I am not sure why it would be designed this way or how one would work around this.

Does anyone else have any comments on running a better quality preamp through the preamps on the AW16G. Will I be losing significant quality this way or should it be fairly transparent?

Thanks again for the input Snow Lizard
 
insteaD OF BUYING 2 mid range mic pre-s why dont you just buy one nice one instead. great river- api-. get a seperate compressor when its time. seems to me your going kinda diagonally up the quality ladder.
 
The Toft is a definite step up from where you are, I think you will find it very usable for a long time. I used mine for a couple years before I moved up to DRS and John Hardy. You can find a used one for around $650 -$750 on the boards. I was selling mine awhile back but decided to keep it for overheads and stereo acoustic stuff (going into a mix)
 
gemsbok, I want a dual channel preamp because I often stereo mic the acoustic guitar. I also want to run a stereo signal from a keyboard thru the preamp. I am only using this studio for myself and as a hobby, so I am not wanting to spend much more than $800 for preamp and compressor.

Big Kenny, the Toft AFC-2 is the unit I am looking at. It contains 2 channels of pre's and EQ. It does not have meters or clip lights. Will I be able to work around this or should I wait and purchase something with meters? How does one operate a preamp that does not contain meters? The only preamp I have owned had meters and I use them to set my gain levels. Are they necessary? If they are necessary, I could pay the extra $400 for the ATC-2, which has meters and a compressor, but I would rather not pay that much, and I would rather use the RNC compressor. Brian.
 
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