is it worth me getting an external mic pre?

R

robertmetal

New member
hi there im thinking of getting a little external tube mic pre to "warm and fattern" up my mics sound which is used only to record vocals. the equiptment i have is a rode nt1000 and a zoom mrs1004 digital workstation. the rode nt1000 is quite a nice sounding mic but a little too bright so im looking for something to warm it up. the digital workstation has a built in mic pre of course but i guess its not going too be the greatest. you can also edit tone and EQ of the mics sound through the workstation but im not sure if this would acchieve the same effect as a tube pre.
i asked a sound tech friend and he said it would not be worth while unless i got a very good external mic pre. he said that the models i was looking at such as Samson c-valve, presonus single tube pre, Art tube mp studio 3 etc would not be much of a step up from the zooms inbuilt one thus i would be adding another "budget" piece of equiptment in the chain (ultimately degrading the sound) is this true?

if not what make/models could be recommended?

many thanks :)
 
I second the idea of considering a different mic. Changing your mic pre may not change the tone you're getting.

Have you even tried eq'ing your recorded track before just assuming that won't help? Sometimes eq (and a tasteful dose of compression) can be enough. Experimenting can often be the best way to learn about this stuff.
 
Your sound tech friend is correct. The pres you are looking at are starved plate designs which use a tube to solely introduce distortion to the circuit. Some people perceive this as warmth, but to me it just sounds fizzy. The least expensive real tube preamp is the GT Brick which typically runs @$399 for single channel. (The EH 12ay7 may qualify for this honor, but I've never used one). In addition the perceived "warmth" produced by a real tube preamp is often quite overstated. The effect is typically more subtle. At your price point, you would get a more noticeable change in sound by using a different mic. As other have noted, try a good dynamic or a ribbon. A used Beyer M88 would be great if you can find one cheap, or possibly a used Beyer Soundstar II (M400).
 
I know that tubes are literally "warm" - But I never quite figured out why so many people equate sonic warmth with tube gear, when almost every classic "warm" sounding preamp is solid-state... And I've yet to hear some cheesy "toob" preamp that actually sounds "warm" at all.

Must be a marketing ploy... :eek:
 
Massive Master said:
I know that tubes are literally "warm" - But I never quite figured out why so many people equate sonic warmth with tube gear, when almost every classic "warm" sounding preamp is solid-state... And I've yet to hear some cheesy "toob" preamp that actually sounds "warm" at all.

Must be a marketing ploy... :eek:
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Yeah, I thought about recommending something that was "neve-esque" - like a Chameleon - rather than a tube pre - but it would likely be outside the price range the OP is looking at. I still think a different mic would be more useful though.
 
A 58 with a decent preamp ("decent" meaning "very nice sounding" like a Grace 101 or a True P-Solo) would probably blow his mind. But he doesn't want that - He wants a *tube* preamp. And I've been in enough arguments with people who want a *tube* preamp to know that he probably isn't going to listen to people that have decades of experience unless they say "Yes - a *tube* preamp is what you need."

I'm kidding to some extent of course -

But seriously - A relatively brittle sounding mic into what I'd assume to be a very brittle sounding preamp with probably no headroom whatsoever (probably being overdriven as well)... That can't be pretty.

As a mic, any mic, will only ever sound as good as the preamp driving it allows it to sound, replacing the preamp by itself is arguably going to sound "warmer" and "fatter" than the Zoom's (?!?) preamps.

But don't underestimate the modest SM58 with a decent preamp...
 
robertmetal said:
hi there im thinking of getting a little external tube mic pre to "warm and fattern" up my mics sound which is used only to record vocals. the equiptment i have is a rode nt1000 and a zoom mrs1004 digital workstation. the rode nt1000 is quite a nice sounding mic but a little too bright so im looking for something to warm it up. the digital workstation has a built in mic pre of course but i guess its not going too be the greatest. you can also edit tone and EQ of the mics sound through the workstation but im not sure if this would acchieve the same effect as a tube pre.
i asked a sound tech friend and he said it would not be worth while unless i got a very good external mic pre. he said that the models i was looking at such as Samson c-valve, presonus single tube pre, Art tube mp studio 3 etc would not be much of a step up from the zooms inbuilt one thus i would be adding another "budget" piece of equiptment in the chain (ultimately degrading the sound) is this true?

if not what make/models could be recommended?

many thanks :)
Click to expand...

Take your mic to a music shop and plug it in to a decent pre-amp. If you like what you hear, research pre-amps. If you don't, checkout microphones.
 
robertmetal said:
hi there im thinking of getting a little external tube mic pre to "warm and fattern" up my mics sound which is used only to record vocals. the equiptment i have is a rode nt1000 and a zoom mrs1004 digital workstation. the rode nt1000 is quite a nice sounding mic but a little too bright so im looking for something to warm it up. the digital workstation has a built in mic pre of course but i guess its not going too be the greatest. you can also edit tone and EQ of the mics sound through the workstation but im not sure if this would acchieve the same effect as a tube pre.
i asked a sound tech friend and he said it would not be worth while unless i got a very good external mic pre. he said that the models i was looking at such as Samson c-valve, presonus single tube pre, Art tube mp studio 3 etc would not be much of a step up from the zooms inbuilt one thus i would be adding another "budget" piece of equiptment in the chain (ultimately degrading the sound) is this true?

if not what make/models could be recommended?

many thanks :)
Click to expand...

I agree with your friend. Money NOT well spent.

I think you could get a better bang for your buck by purchasing either a used RE20 or a used Sennheiser 421
 
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