Good $200 preamp for a Shure SM7?

H

hippothegreat

New member
Hey from a Newbie!! I posted this yesterday in the wrong forum, so apologies and here it is again:


Can anyone recommend a good preamp for the Shure SM7 mic please? For use on voice over only.....I hear that the SM7 needs 60db + of gain....?

Am considering:

Studio Projects VTB 1
DBX 286A
M-Audio DMP-3
ART pro Channel (really out of my range, but hey....)

Would be WAY cool if I could find something with compression/eq on it too.....but at the end of the day I just want a decent quiality sound.

Thnx!!
 
People like the GA pre73 with the sm7. Don't have either, but I've heard good things about the combo. I think it's $300.

And for $200 you can get a decent pre. Some people are just rude.

I have a pro channel, because like most people, it was all I could afford. It's a pretty nice pre. I'd like something better, but it's just what I could afford.

My next mic is going o be an sm7, and next pres will be he ga pre73 and a ua610. But waiting on the funds.
 
Good Question Posse -

Yes I have a Lexicon Alpha, which I purposely chose because it's pretty much a barebones interface: I really would rather use a separate preamp.

If the ART Voice Channel is recommended though, I'd probably use the interface built into that.....
 
you can do a lot worse than a DMP3 for that price range. it does have enough gain to use with the sm7. i have to turn my mpa gold up almost all the way to the point that it sometimes starts to get noisy.

at this point i'm waiting on the GAP to come back in stock so that i can get one of those in. we'll see how it goes
 
AMcB said:
Some people are just rude.
Click to expand...
Ah... maybe, but I prefer
succinct: marked by compact precise expression without wasted words <a succinct description>

I wasn't dissin' the pres as much as I was complimenting his choice in mics... the SM-7 really warrants a better pre than those listed to realize it's quality
 
MOFO Pro said:
Ah... maybe, but I prefer
succinct: marked by compact precise expression without wasted words <a succinct description>

I wasn't dissin' the pres as much as I was complimenting his choice in mics... the SM-7 really warrants a better pre than those listed to realize it's quality
Click to expand...

Mabye. But the golden age pre73 sounds pretty cool for $300.

I've never used the voice channel. But I can't imagine the interface in that being that great. Does it have a headphone out?
 
Any high gain low noise preamp ought to do fine...the Avalon 737 is a terrific one....theres a model on the UX1 that will do that for just $100...since the SM7 doesnt require phantom power its a perfect choice.
 
I've been pleased with my DMP3 on ribbon mics. The only complaint I have with them is that the meters aren't properly calibrated. Thankfully that doesn't affect the sound quality.
 
Hmmm, $100 for some cap swaps . . . INA163 has a huge PSRR, and noise on the phantom rail should be cancelled by the differential input, so I'd want to see proof the noise improvement, that is a trivial measurement . . . I think I liked our very own Ethan's idea of stripping out the following filter circuit to clean up the signal path a bit better . . . I would go so far as to suggest chucking the inverter/output driver circuit entirely, really isn't the need for 99% of users.
 
You can find Focusrite Trakmaster Pros on ebay for $150ish.
For $150-$200, it's a nice channel strip with a nice opto-compressor.
 
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