Mic Pres for Ribbon Mics

Somnium7

Somnium7

Noise Criminal
Since many of us are getting or already have new ribbon mics I figured it might be helpful if there was a list of mic pres with enough gain for them.

I read somewhere that a proper pre for ribbons should have at least 70dB of gain. Not sure if that is accurate but I am going to use it as the baseline for qualifying pres for ribbon use. Only 70dB and above need apply.

I'm reading specs from a catalog here...
Here goes:

  • A Designs, Pacifica - 72dB
  • AEA RibbonPre - 83dB
  • Apogee Mini-MP - 75dB
  • ART MPA Gold/Digital MPA - 75dB
  • ART Pro Channel - 100dB
  • ART Tube PAC - 70dB
  • ART TPSII - 80dB
  • ART TubeFire8 - 70dB
  • Bellari RP220 - 70dB
  • Focusrite Liquid Channel - 74dB
  • Great River MEQ-1NV - 70dB
  • Great River, MP2NV/ME1NV - 70dB
  • GT ViPRE - 75dB
  • GT SuPRE - 72dB
  • Grace Model 101 Ribbon - 70dB
  • Manley TNT - 70dB
  • SSL XRackMicPre - 75dB
  • SSL Alpha VHD - 75dB
  • Universal Audio SOLO/110 - 75dB
  • Universal Audio 8110 - 74dB
  • Universal Audio LA-610 - 77dB
This isn't a complete list nor do I hold any responsibility for accuracy. Hopefully it will be helpful for those who suddenly find themselves starved for gain. :D
Feel free to add to the list...
 
i think a couple of those are channel strips that only reach those gain levels when the compressor/limiter section is engaged and make up gain is added, which of course adds gain, but may add noise too.
 
Purple Biz - 75db
A-Designs 500 form cards (P-1, etc.) 70 db (except Red card with 68db)
 
safe sound p-1 - iirc 70db
chameleon labs 7602 - iirc 70d, though those last 5 db or so can get a little furry depending on the source :)
 
I'm using a Karma K-6 with a DMP-3 and it's more than enough gain on the low gain setting (I believe it goes up to 66)

Sounds fantastic.
 
yeah those k-6's are great. the fact that they use an active, phantom powered circuit gives them a more robust (i.e. higher gain) output and makes it easier to use with a variety of preamps.
 
Somnium7 said:
If you like rolling your own the Baby Animal from JLM Audio can hit 72dB with the right input transformer.
http://www.jlmaudio.com/Baby_Animal_Mic_Pre.htm

I think I might go with this one myself.
Click to expand...
Those OEP transformers are excellent for the price. I've used them in 2 x channels of Baby animals and both input and output on a Gyraf G9. I used Lundahls in the other two BA channels and they sound different but not really better than the OEPs.

Pretty good considering the Lundahls cost 5 or 6 times what the OEPS cost!

The baby animal "dual" will cost a bit more but will give you even more gain (80db+). As of course will adding a step up output transformer to either (giving you an additional 6db).
 
Sigh... I don't know where this "You need 800db of gain to push a ribbon" thing comes from. I haven't used a pre yet where my ribbons didn't work just fine... even cheapies. The only problem you will have with a cheap pre and a ribbon is the same problems you will have with any mic and a cheap pre. The cheap pre may be noisy as you push the gain and sound like poo.
 
Where it comes from is people using mic pres on interfaces and cheap mixers which only give you 45-50db of gain.

And when recording really quiet sources, people claim that even a pre giving them 60db of gain just isn't enough for a ribbon without driving the pre into shit city.

But yeah, I'm sure the "problem" is overstated a bit sometimes.
 
I would agree ^^^^^ When testing the group buy ribbons, while they required more gain than the condensers, It certainly wasn't pushing the pre's anywhere near their limits, and really wasn't to much more than the condensers.
 
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