Mic Preamp advice

cincy_kid

cincy_kid

Active member
Trying to decide which preamp to buy and wanted to post my setup and intentions here for some advice.

I plug my mic into a snake which runs to my current preamp (M-Audio Tampa) and from there into my Delta 1010 sound card and out form there into my small mixer where I can run my Monitors from or my headphones when recording.

I am debating on getting a new single channel, 2 channel or 8 channel preamp and here are a few things I want to do:

- when playing my acoustic, currently I use my condenser mic right around where the neck meets the body and it sounds ok. I would also like to utilize the electronics of the acoustic/electric guitar and run it direct into the preamp so that ui can record both at the same time and blend the 2 together for a better sound.

- I may want to also record vocals at the same time I am recording guitar therefore I will need 2 or 3 channels total for that.

- when recording my cajon / tambourine / cymbal (percussions) i will want to have 2 or 3 mics for that as well.

So with this in mind, my current preamp offers only 1 channel so I guess I need to buy another one. I am looking for an inexpensive one and after looking around online here are a few of my considerations:

Single Channel:
- golden age pre-73 ($350)
- Studio Projects VTB-1 ($150)

2 Channels:
- Art Pro MPA II ($199)
- Presonus Blue Tube DP v2 ($140)
- M-Audio DMP3 ($199)

Multi-Channel:
- Behringer ADA8000 UltraGain Pro-8 ($199)
- Presonus Digimax D8 ($399)
- Art S8 ($239)


My budget is anything under $400 but would prefer to stay on the lower side so I can get a couple of other smaller things I need too :)

I am leaning towards the 8 channel Behringer but I am not sure if I need 8 channels and if I would lose much quality by using a preamp such as that.

If there are any others in that price range that I should consider, please let me know.

Looking for advice, thanks in advance!
 
I use the Behringer ADA8000 (I have four of them) for live work but I'd be very wary of using it in the studio. At low gain settings the pre amps are so-so but, once you turn them up past about 3 o'clock they get very noisy.
 
Hey Bobbsy, thanks for that. Actually I read the same thing online about it getting noisy at higher levels.

Thinking about it more, i probably dont need an 8 channel preamp anyway. If I am still able to use my current preamp and just add one that has 2 or 4 more, that should be all I ever need for my little studio. But if the 8 channels still make more sense for my purposes I can always "grow" into them.

So, still looking for some advice on what to get.

thanks!
 
Thanks for the replies!

Elton: hi neighbor is for me? :) I am in northern KY but born and raised in Cincinnati, where you at? Yea was definitely considering the digimax but i read somewhere that if you were using multiple channels at once, the quality got a lot worse.

Moresound: yea its really really tough for me not to just buy the Golden Age as I have heard lots of good things for the pre at that price point but dang, 1 channel doesn't get me where I need to be.

arcaxis: Another one I almost grabbed. Guitar Center audio people say its one of the most popular but since it was on the high end of my budget I tried looking for other options. I thought it was a single channel, but it looks like you can do a mic + a D.I. which would work for most of my stuff (especially with my other preamp in the mix). I will see what prices are out there, but to be honest, I hate buying used when it comes to electronics...I don't trust how others treat their equipment :) You said you grabbed one but didn't say how you liked it. Good stuff for the price?

Thanks for the advice and any others are welcome to chime in.
 
I was using a Presonus Digimax FS Octpre for the last few years as my first preamp unit and recently came on these boards for some input on an upgrade for a single channel preamp for vocals and acoustic guitar mostly, as I felt the Digimax wasn't quite cutting it for these applications. The recommendation was to pick up a golden age pre which I did, and I have to say after using it for about a month it is a big upgrade over the sound quality of the Octpre. I haven't used it for that long obviously, but I have been very happy with the GA and if it's a better quality sound you are looking for, I would recommend this over the Presonus. The Octpre however I have been quite happy with for Bass and Drums, but since there are 8 pres for close to the same price as the GA, obviously the sound degradation at higher gain is noticeable. But hey, if you'd rather have 8 inputs than one additional preamp thats your tradeoff.
 
thanks for the input arca and nightman!

I think i need at least a 2 channel preamp to go with my other single channel pre so i can have 3 inputs at minimum. If 1 were good, I would get the GA and although I know the Focusrite is a great 2 pre for the price, its a bit steep so I am debating now on one of the 2 channel pres I have listed in my Original Post above (something $300 or less preferably). I don't think I should spend much more than that on pres when my mics are budget mics anyways, so probably best to invest in better mics before I invest in higher quality pres. At this stage I just want to be able to record 3 at once.
 
thanks Wheelama, I am going the inexpensive route for now and grabbing the ART TPS II. I have seen a lot of people mention that they switch out the tube to a better one and get a much better sound. Anyone have any suggestions on which tube to get?
 
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