Pre-amps in mixers
- Thread starter remco
- Start date
SittinIdol
New member
That's what I have, an Allen/Heath System 8 168. It's getting old, not that that's a bad thing. Could probably use a good cleaning though...
And a lot of the knob guides(?) are coming loose and falling off.
Sounds pretty good though I guess, besides a couple of intermittent channels.
And a lot of the knob guides(?) are coming loose and falling off.
Sounds pretty good though I guess, besides a couple of intermittent channels.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Get at least one high-end 2-ch mic pre -- something very versatile like a Great River MP2NV.......
I find the Mackie, the yamaha, and even the new Soundcraft preamps in their cheaper stuff to be very bland. Not really bad, but nothing special either. The Allen Heath system 8 will have a very round warm tone. It's not very aggressive by nature, but smooth instead. Almost like an AMEK/TAC preamp. The EQ is fairly decent. Must better than most newer EQ's in my opinion. The highs seemed pretty smooth, but can get pretty clanky if you push them too hard.
RD423
I really hope you aren't serious about never using the onboard preamps that come on a console. I just bought a console specifically to use the preamps and EQ's on it. My console preamps hold their own right next to my Chandler, next to Great rivers, Universal audio's, Avalon's etc.... They might be different (thank god), but thats a good thing. It would be a waste of my money to buy an external preamp that sounded just like my console. Console preamps and EQ's can be a wonderful thing. Luckily I believe that since my new desk has 44 preamps, 44 channels of 4 band sweep, and 44 channels of 4 band mid parametric's, and 8 channels of 4 band fixed.
RD423
I really hope you aren't serious about never using the onboard preamps that come on a console. I just bought a console specifically to use the preamps and EQ's on it. My console preamps hold their own right next to my Chandler, next to Great rivers, Universal audio's, Avalon's etc.... They might be different (thank god), but thats a good thing. It would be a waste of my money to buy an external preamp that sounded just like my console. Console preamps and EQ's can be a wonderful thing. Luckily I believe that since my new desk has 44 preamps, 44 channels of 4 band sweep, and 44 channels of 4 band mid parametric's, and 8 channels of 4 band fixed.
My current mixer is a A&H System 8 24 channel 8 buss. I got it for just under 1000 bucks. GREAT mixer for the price!
EQ is really sweet, and the preamps are definately above average. They sound better than a Focusrite Platinum series (but not ISA). It needs a bit of a cleaning, but other than that it is a solid performer.
I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a mixer under 4k. I can't think of too much better in that price range.
EQ is really sweet, and the preamps are definately above average. They sound better than a Focusrite Platinum series (but not ISA). It needs a bit of a cleaning, but other than that it is a solid performer.
I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a mixer under 4k. I can't think of too much better in that price range.
RD423 said:
Depends on the board. If you have a Neotek or even the System 8 we are discussing you dont' *need* external preamps as much. Much less if you have something extremely high end like a Neve or SSL console--it would be retarded to use a lot of external preamps in that case.
NL5 said:
A friend of mine has a Ghost and I haven't used it to record, but I've hung with him while he did live sound reinforcement with it. The Ghost is okay, but I felt the A&H had more meat to it and just overall higher quality.
Unfortunately it isn't easy to find the System 8's. I lucked into mine.
SittinIdol
New member
As far as the system 8 goes, well I've never used anything else for preamps so I couldn't really say how it compares to others.
if you take a listen to this sampler:
Everything on there was recorded through the board...
hmm, this gets me to thinking about how to clean the sucker. Maybe I'll start a new thread about it.
if you take a listen to this sampler:
Everything on there was recorded through the board...
hmm, this gets me to thinking about how to clean the sucker. Maybe I'll start a new thread about it.
xstatic said:
Maybe I should've clarified a little bit. Let's say for instance I would use the pres on the mbox because they are focusrite and sound good. I would not use the pres on the 002 because they aren't that good to me. Now some boards do have good pres but not the low budget boards. That's just like i have a cheap compressor joemeek vc6q comes with built in phantom power but it doesn't sound good I went out bought a $40 phantom power to use and bypass the phantom power in the compressor. If u go for low budget boards then the pres aren't that good that's what I was trying to say.
remco said:
Unfortunately not really. That is my home recording mixer. All of the stuff I do out of the studio for work is done on a Mackie D8B. Right about the time I got the A&H I started working in a studio full time and needless to say my personal recording time is at an all time low.
I have stuff, just not *finished* stuff. If you're really interested I have stuff that is minus vocals and needing some acoustic guitar re-dubbed. Some of it was tracked on a Mackie CR1604 though so it may not be the best example in the universe.
I know it sounds stupid, but with a newborn child, working around audio most of the day, and a wife that won't let me play with my equipment when I *am* home... it can be difficult to get to your own material.
Heck I played keyboard the other day on a session after not playing for a few weeks (who has the time?) and I was like... man, amazing how fast you can lose your game.
I mean, it was good but it I had to actually concentrate a little bit on a few extended chords or fast scales.
LemonTree
Suck 'em and see!
I've never heard the system 8 but I own a 1987 A&H Saber 24/16/2 and the pre's are way better than anything I've heard in a mackie or a soundcraft or soundtracs. 60Db of CLEAN gain. I like the EQ too, it's very warm and punchy on the bottom with a gloss like sheen on the top.
I recently bought an M-Audio TAMPA mic pre, it's got a different characteristic from the A&H but again very useable, actualy quite a nice compliment to the A&H.
I love this board and the only thing I'd consider trading it for on todays marked is the new TLAudio VTC
I recently bought an M-Audio TAMPA mic pre, it's got a different characteristic from the A&H but again very useable, actualy quite a nice compliment to the A&H.
I love this board and the only thing I'd consider trading it for on todays marked is the new TLAudio VTC
The saber is a great little desk. Qulity wise it is actually very comparable to the system 8 consoles, but the saber is a true studio console and offers a lot more features than the system 8. I think you might have a hard time finding someone to trade you a Saber for a VTC though. Those little VTC's are really spendy. Hang on to your Saber. Anyday now they may start going up in value