need a preamp for SM7???

K

Kerose

New member
looking hard at the SM7, all the reviews make me think this would work precisely for the particular problems i am experiencing with my current mic, anyways, i have read where people are recommending a nice preamp to go along with it.........so is that accurate? I am using an Apogee Duet into my iMac 24" 2.66. Do you all think an outboard preamp is necessary for this mic, and also keep in mind that i don't have S/PDIF ins on the Duet so it would be an analog connection XLR into the Duet, if that matters to y'all, Just don't want to buy this mic and find that I am gonna need to pick up a preamp as well to achieve the rave review status!, and if you do recommend a preamp, what would you suggest in the 100-200 price range? Thanks a milly in advance.
 
Well Id think that any mic you want to buy will require a preamp...you might at that price point shop used on Ebay...if you want new there is a Rane that might fit the bill.
 
The Apogee Duet already has mic pre amps with 75db of gain (according to their web site), SM7's do require a fair bit of pre-amp gain but it should work fine.

Knowing that Apogee usually make top of the line gear I would try the Apogee pre amp out before buying anything else as it may be all you need.

Cheers

Alan.
 
???

You already have super top notch pre's built into your Apogee don't worry.. I would worry about maybe getting a better mic if quality is concerned there's no point in putting a bad mic into a really nice preamp. What are you trying to record and what mic are you using?

Darren_h2000: you are most unhelpful on this forum did you even read the guys post???? He's got two preamps built into his Apogee Duet.. (geez :mad:)
 
I haven't really used the Duet, but I'm sure its preamps will work very well with the SM7 (I do have a couple of those - SM7b, that is), based on messing with the Duet at a store. You might try out a more colored preamp later to see if you like it, but my guess is you'll have a bunch of keeper tracks with just the Duet, and you probably won't even think about it (and maybe buy some nice hats or something with the money you would have spent on the standalone preamp).
 
The SM7 will work just fine with the Duet. The Duet has very nice preamps - way better than most other one and two channel integrated devices. Provides plenty of gain. You should have no problems. If you want a different preamp for color, buy it later. Give the Duet a shot first.
 
alright, i understood from reading that the Duet has real nice pres, but usually just assumed even a 200 dollar standalone pre would be nicer than a pre built into a unit, but i'm assuming much of the Duets 500$ price tag comes at the expense of its pres, certainly not for i'ts I/Os, which is perfect for what I wanted, okay, well if you all think i aint gonna gain anything from a 200 dollar preamp over the Duet i will give this a go with just the SM7. I'd imagine an Apogee Duet and a Shure SM7 SHOULD give me better results than an M-Audio Fast Track Pro and a MXL V63M. I may also just look into an outboard processor or something of the sort, but I usually tweek effects on my final mix like a mofo anyways, so a clean clean signal in is probably the best bet for my workflow. Thanks all, i'll report back if i remember.
 
Yeah Apogee makes nice enough stuff...I figured you had a model without preamps since you were asking about them...I dont think you could have done better with a 200 dollar outboard pre there...my bad
 
IMHO, the Duet's pres are at least as good if not better than any $200 outboard pre currently available. I've used the Duet and a reasonable assortment of cheap stand alone pres (M-Audio, Symetrix, Art, etc.) and I think the Duet is a much better clean pre. If all you were looking to spend was $200 on a standalone pre, I would not bother. You would have to move up at least a notch just to equal the Duet.
 
pohaku said:
IMHO, the Duet's pres are at least as good if not better than any $200 outboard pre currently available. I've used the Duet and a reasonable assortment of cheap stand alone pres (M-Audio, Symetrix, Art, etc.) and I think the Duet is a much better clean pre. If all you were looking to spend was $200 on a standalone pre, I would not bother. You would have to move up at least a notch just to equal the Duet.
Click to expand...

How do the Duet's pres compare with Mackie's (VLZ Pro, Onyx)? I'm a little familiar with M-Audio DMP3 pres and the Symetrix 302 and 202, but more so with Mackie preamps-
 
When I hear Apogee the first thing I think of is A/D converters. Preamps never even pop into my mind. I've never even read anything about their preamps, but if they're anything like their converters they should be top notch.
 
toddbel said:
How do the Duet's pres compare with Mackie's (VLZ Pro, Onyx)? I'm a little familiar with M-Audio DMP3 pres and the Symetrix 302 and 202, but more so with Mackie preamps-
Click to expand...


IMHO, they are considerably better than the Mackie pres. The Apogee pres are very clean pres - more on the order of Grace pres than colored pres.

Just to make sure, you do know that the Duet only works with a MAC, right? I expect that you do, but I'm asking just in case. . . . .
 
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