I have never owned a true dedicated mic preamp. I have always recorded through my Mackie VLZ-Pro, its the older one. But I have recorded what I consider fair sounding vocals. I'm not a great singer for sure. But I am wondering about these 2 preamps. Would they make a difference in the sound. Is it worth it. Or would it just sound "different", like adding color. thats all kind of obscure to me. I'd like to know if anyone has compared these two units or has either and what your thoughts are. I'd like to keep my price range under $500.
Golden Age 73 or RNP, which is better?
- Thread starter gamut1
- Start date
Gizzmo0815
New member
It depends...
Like mos things in this crazy music world, the answer to your question is...it depends.
The GAP73 is very much a character preamp...it's designed to impart a bit of coloration into the sound. And it's not the cleanest amp when you start to push the gain high. It does however have a great many options when it comes to modifying the internal parts to make it sound more musical (I won't say better because that's entirely subjective). So that's one thing the GAP73 has going for it.
I consider the RNP to be a slightly higher quality preamp than the GAP73 but it's also much more clean and therefore isn't really so much a character preamp as it is a good clean one for general (all purpose) use. It's got a huge amount of headroom than the GAP73 does, and also doesn't distort as much at higher gain levels. Plus...two channels...but obviously more expensive for it.
That's my $0.02.
Like mos things in this crazy music world, the answer to your question is...it depends.
The GAP73 is very much a character preamp...it's designed to impart a bit of coloration into the sound. And it's not the cleanest amp when you start to push the gain high. It does however have a great many options when it comes to modifying the internal parts to make it sound more musical (I won't say better because that's entirely subjective). So that's one thing the GAP73 has going for it.
I consider the RNP to be a slightly higher quality preamp than the GAP73 but it's also much more clean and therefore isn't really so much a character preamp as it is a good clean one for general (all purpose) use. It's got a huge amount of headroom than the GAP73 does, and also doesn't distort as much at higher gain levels. Plus...two channels...but obviously more expensive for it.
That's my $0.02.
Thanks Gizzmo,
Yes its true all things depend on the user. I guess I need to somehow try them both to see what I'm most happy with. I did see where you can modify the GA-73 for basically another $300 bucks to get specs closer to what the actual Neve preamp has. Gosh... decisions decisions. Sometimes we just have to be happy with what we have. But where's the fun in that. LOL. I appreceate your $.02
Yes its true all things depend on the user. I guess I need to somehow try them both to see what I'm most happy with. I did see where you can modify the GA-73 for basically another $300 bucks to get specs closer to what the actual Neve preamp has. Gosh... decisions decisions. Sometimes we just have to be happy with what we have. But where's the fun in that. LOL. I appreceate your $.02