Daking Mic Pre IV - worth the $$$ ?

M

mattkw80

New member
I am saving all my pennies for this :

http://www.daking.com/product_4pre.html

Where I live, I can buy it for around $2000. I am leaning in this direction for a variety of reasons such as, it's supposed to be modeled off the Trident A Range stuff, and I like many songs and albums I have heard done on that equipment (David Bowie, The Beatles, Bong Water). As well, a friend of mine who owns a studio, and knows what he is doing, owns 2, and loves them.

The final reason I am attracted to this unit, is that Geoffery Daking says he has a philosophy of "Get home early" meaning - things should sound really good with minimal EQ needed after the fact. I have a video of him explaining this if anyone wants to see it. He basically says, equipment used to sound much better in the 60's and 70's, and we shouldn't be needing to fuss with stuff as much as we seem to need to with some of today's equipment.

Having said all of that.... am I going to get $500 per channel value out of this unit?

Does anyone else use Daking stuff ?

I only really need 2 nice channels for Drum Overheads, but hey... if this unit has 4, I will take 4. (But if there's a better alternative to this, to just get me 2 nice channels, I am listening).

Some people have compared Daking's pre's to API stuff. Maybe I should just grab a couple of API unit's instead ?

Feature wise.... this has eveything I need.... I am not interested in any EQ controls.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
$2000 is really close to getting you 4 x 500 series channels and a lunchbox, leaving some room for expansion. This also allows you to get a mixture of channels. Have you considered that?
 
Yeah, I would consider that for sure.

I have been looking it over.

Which model Preamp would be best ?

As mentioned above, I'm looking for the closest thing to a "get home early" no fuss preamp, more so for Drums than anything else.


The biggest advantage of that I believe, would be that I wouldn't have to buy everything at once. I could get just the rack, and 2 pre's for now.
 
pohaku,

Which lunch box module model ?

I've looked, and find mostly API Eq's, but I'm not sure which API module would be best.

Just a preamp, no eq, compression, or anything fancy necessary.
 
Okay.... I see those.

Looks like they are $830 each.

Are those fairly All-Purpose....... ie: Vox, Bass, etc. ?

I already own an LA-610, so I guess I am covered for Vox and Bass anyhow.
 
you can find them used in the $600-650 range. lots of great, classic records were made with api consoles which had pres of pretty much the same design on every channel.
the 500 series lunchbox format is extremely popular these days-- so many companies are making pres, eqs, compressors or other studio tools for the format so you'll have many choices for expansion down the road. also the fact that there are so many new products for the format means that the used market continues to grow as well, so there will be plenty of opportunities to expand at a lower cost.
 
The API 512 module is frequently used for drum duties,but it is an excellent all purpose pre as well. The API 512 has been around the longest of the major brand 500 series preamps, which means that there are lots of them out there, which means there are lots of used ones out there. A used 512 goes for @$600 give or take $50 bucks or so. I have 2 that I bought used in pristine condition for $595 each. A used API 6 slot lunch box runs about $350-375. Follow the GS board classifieds. Modules and lunch boxes turn up with pretty good frequency there - although you need to move fast when they do come up.
 
Wow.... so it all comes down to API or Daking.

I just don't know.

The lunch box idea is obviously much more flexible, and I believe I can get Daking stuff for it, but.... I don't really want a mixed and matched set of "stuff".

ie: 2 API's, 2 Daking's, 2 of this, 2 of that

I've heard, many good sounding records sound cohesive because every track was recorded through the same "board". ie: All API, all Trident, all SSL.


Does anybody here use Daking ?

It does not seem to be very widely used.
 
i don't think you can get daking stuff for the lunchbox, but i'm not sure. they probably have a similar modular system or something. some folks over at gs use dakings.

there are many companies making great units for the lunchbox. i've had six different lunchbox units-- none of them api, all of them high quality and great sounding.

i'm sure the cohesion of those records you're referring to was helped by the use of a console for tracking and mixing, but probably a lot more by being recorded with the same talent in (presumably) the same room, by the same recording engineer, being mixed by the same dude, etc.

personally, imho, if you're really set on the dakings and since you've heard them in action, i'd go for them and forget what anyone else here says.
 
I believe there are Daking 500 series units in the offing. I'm quite certain I read something about them on GS. You might want to search over there. BTW Daking units also come up for sale on the GS board. Might pay to keep an eye out over there for those as well.
 
Thanks guys.

I have not yet heard the dakings.... my friend has them in his studio, but I've not made it over there yet. I have heard his work, so I trust his opinion, and he's been raving about his Daking's for the last 3 months.

So, I know my next step has to be to go hear them personally.

I don't know for sure that there are Daking lunchbox modules, I think they are still in the works. Daking's site does not mention them.

You have tweaked my interest with the API 512's though...... I mean, those are obviously prooven....... there would be no risk with those.
 
the daking and api lunch box stuff are all high end gear.....i'd go for the lunchbox since so many companies make products for it.... tonelux, api, a-design etc..
 
Yeah, APIs are good stuff. I'm actually lending out one of my lunch boxes with my 2 API pres, a Purple Audio Biz pre, and a API 525 comp to a friend who is recording an album. She has a Neve sidecar available to her which she is also using, and recording to 2", but they wanted to use the APIs for drums, even with the Neves available. Probably use my pair of Beyer M160s for the overheads with the APIs. I'm always amazed how many mics you can put on a set of drums if you really want to.
 
Teacher said:
the daking and api lunch box stuff are all high end gear.....i'd go for the lunchbox since so many companies make products for it.... tonelux, api, a-design etc..
Click to expand...

iirc tonelux has their own proprietary lunchbox/rack thingy.

but yeah, the lunchbox thang is a great way to go. api set the bar pretty high for other companies to strive to meet or exceed. other than the apis (which i've used, but never owned), i really liked the a-designs p-1's and am currently really digging the avedis ma5 and lachapell 583s pres. the lachapell is very cool because it's a tube preamp that utilizes a 12ax7 at the proper voltage and you can keep it clean or hit the input hard to get some nice color. you can also change the character of the preamp by swapping tubes. the avedis is a new design that often invokes comparisons to the n word and includes a cool 28k boost feature.

some dealers offer discounts if you buy modules at the same time as a lunchbox or rack, or you can find lunchboxes and pres used at a significant savings.
 
the lunchbox idea sounds awesome and all, but if you consider that you're going to drop $600/channel on some api's, plus $300 or so on the box itself, you could probably score a used 3124 for a few bones less, and only be taking up a single rack space
 
kojdogg said:
iirc tonelux has their own proprietary lunchbox/rack thingy.
Click to expand...

my bad

Ironklad Audio said:
the lunchbox idea sounds awesome and all, but if you consider that you're going to drop $600/channel on some api's, plus $300 or so on the box itself, you could probably score a used 3124 for a few bones less, and only be taking up a single rack space
Click to expand...

you get more flexibility from the lunch box though....
 
mercenary has a cool deal right now. if you buy a lunchbox or 500 series rack from them, they give you blank panels for all of the slots. The blank panels can be used as coupons-- for every one you send back to them with the included s.a.s.e.s, you get $50 off a module you purchase from them.
you can still save more by buying used, but that's a pretty cool deal.
 
There are still a few places offering deals where if you buy 4 modules you get the lunchbox for free. At least one place that I recently saw was letting you buy ANY four modules and not just modules of the same type or brand. If you factor this into the equation, a rack mounted API 3124x is not really cheaper, and the lunchbox offers flexibility. Like mentioned above, there are a lot of really cool offerings currently out there for the 500 series format and undoubtedly a lot more to come. Even Emperical labs finally has a 500 series module out there. I can't wait till they start putting fatso's and distressors in the 500 series format;)
 
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