Preamps.

[Dj17]

I thought I'd buy a Yamaha mixer with a DMP3 preamp, but since I'll probably have to upgrade the mixer later on, I thought it'd be wise to just buy a mixer that already has good preamps. In case I really need it, I'll just buy a better 1 channel preamp later on.

What would you suggest? Someone suggested me a Mackie 1202VLZ. The preamps indeed have good reviews but a lot of people seem to prefer the Soundcraft preamps. There was a long post about Mackie vs Soundcraft on the mixing/mastering board, but they started talking about much larger and expensive mixers, which I don't/won't need.

So. Mackie? Soundcraft? Anything else? Try to stay in the Mackie 1202VLZ price range, though.

 

[SonicAlbert]

I think you are on the right track by starting with the mixer, and not a mixer with an external preamp.

If possible, try to listen to each mixer. I know that may not be easy if you don't ahve a store near you.

The smaller Mackies sound better than the bigger ones in my opinion. The 1202 is actually a great sounding little mixer. But so are the Soundcrafts.

Part of the issue with preamps is stacking them. So if you are doing tons and tons of tracks, then average preamps like what are on inexpensive boards might end up sounding kind of bland. But for a small production, like vocals along with a guitar or something like that, then a small mixer would be a decent place to start.

You can always add a better preamp later.

Also, make sure that whatever mixer you buy does *not* have preamps on every channel. You want some line level channels as well. The reason for this is that in most small to medium sized mixers both the line level inputs and the mic inputs go through the preamps. The line level inputs are attenuated to mic level and then sent to the preamp. So to put a preamp in front of that is kind of pointless, as you don't get the full advantage of it. But if the mixer has channels with *just* line level ins, then you can put a preamp in front of that and not worry about coloration from the mixers onboard preamps. Hope that makes sense.

 

[tdukex]

If you need a mixer, a lot of excellent recordings (and professional recordings) have been made with both the Mackie and Soundcraft boards. Personally, I think the preamps on the DMP3 sound better than a Mackie mixer. If you don't really need a mixer, I would just buy a DMP3 ($150) and save my $ for better preamps--like two channels of Davisound or four channels of Sytek for $800 or maybe one of the Hamptone kits