Best (low cost) Preamp for Instrument (primarily guitar) Recording

BanjoSmith

New member
hello...

Am about to record electric guitar (straight in). Was also about to grab a DBX 386 & replace the tubes (to use specifically for instrument recording)...& then I read somewhere in one of the forums that the 386 is weak in the mids.

My (electric) guitar is an Eastwood Tenor Classic...that would go straight in to the pre (Hi-z). [I also have a Gibson TG 25 N (also a tenor, acoustic)...which would be using an AT4033 into the pre].

Rich mids are a must for good guitar tracks; & I'm more worried about the electric (since there wont be a mic).

so...A) is this true about the DBX 386...???...weak mids...???

B) if so...any suggestions...??? (gotta b a 2 channel)

thanx,


BanjoSmith
 
You won't get much improvement replacing the tubes in that unit (DBX 386). The preamp is nothing exciting, and it's colored in not an interesting way...but the unit has decent converters.

You also plan to record the electric direct...but are worried about the mids in the unit...so I'm not understanding how you think you will use the DBX 386 for that?

What is your budget?
 
Or, use an EQ pedal on a short lead from guitar and shape the tone before it hits the high Z input?

A secondary advantage is that the guitar cable would now be out of the equation because of the much lower source Z of the pedal.

Dave.
 
Buy a cheap secondhand Behringer Vamp2, this thing will be much better than plugging a guitar into any low Z preamp.

Alan.
 
Then, many of the latest generation of small mixers have high impedance inputs,e.g. Soundcraft 8FX.

There are also pedals that use valves but only one company (cough!) AFAIK makes one with proper 300V valve supplies and "pro" headroom.

Dave.
 
Maybe I missed it, but assuming this is for recording - how is the signal getting into the computer? Any decent audio interface will have an instrument input, no other preamp needed.
 
Maybe I missed it, but assuming this is for recording - how is the signal getting into the computer? Any decent audio interface will have an instrument input, no other preamp needed.

Good point Mike. I had assumed an AI and the OP wanted something "better aka different" from the built in HZ input? Probably won't be but then some AIs have poorish headroom and of course stories abound and peeps are always looking for that Holy Grail of Sound!

If he IS going into a laptop jack he will certainly need some form of impedance converter and a pedal* is as good as any. Mind you, if he uses "our" full fat valve jobby he will blast the lappy input stage. The pedals do however have an "emulated" output at about neg ten.

*NOT! One of the daft, counter-intuitive "true" bybass jobs.

Dave.
 
just to clarify...

1) I WILL be using whatever preamp I purchase w/ mics...to record various instruments (mostly acoustic guitar)

2) will also be recording my own guitar...an electric...thru the hi z

3) going into SONAR X, on a dedicated audio pc, thru a Lynx AURORA 8...no hi z there

4) not sure I understand the question related to preamp not mattering if I use the hi z...of course it does...that signal is still amplified

5) no holy grail quest here...just looking for quality signal representation across the entire spectrum (which is why I asked about other pre's)

thanx (& thanx for all the replies thus far)


banjo
 
Keep an eye out for 1073 clones from the likes of Golden Age, Great River and a bunch of others. It's a classic preamp design that's copied by all sorts of companies. Separate in/out volumes let you go from clean to saturated and they make for a great DI (and a great all-around preamp anyways). It's a good flavor to contrast against the "accurate but not spectacular" preamps in most interfaces.
 
just to clarify...

1) I WILL be using whatever preamp I purchase w/ mics...to record various instruments (mostly acoustic guitar)

2) will also be recording my own guitar...an electric...thru the hi z

3) going into SONAR X, on a dedicated audio pc, thru a Lynx AURORA 8...no hi z there

4) not sure I understand the question related to preamp not mattering if I use the hi z...of course it does...that signal is still amplified

5) no holy grail quest here...just looking for quality signal representation across the entire spectrum (which is why I asked about other pre's)

thanx (& thanx for all the replies thus far)


banjo


Well, see, you didn't tell us what you were using for a/D conversion. But now I have to ask - you have a $2000 converter, but want to use a cheap preamp?
 
Yeah man, I'm not sure what yo are looking for. Why go cheap on a pre when you already have a great interface?

Maybe I am missing something...
 
WA273 pops up in my thoughts. Or something like it. You’ll need a cable to get to the Aurora which if I read correctly only takes a DB25 input but maybe you have that already.
 
The Aurora doesn't have any preamps...

No but it is "high end" and there is the Weakest Link argument? Then, we don't(?) know the OP's mics or his intended MO? An SM57 at 800mm from an acoustic will demand a pretty low noise pre amp.

wtGr! Sometimes helping peeps is like drawing teeth!

Dave.
 
Two channel preamp I own which I consider 'low cost'. Probably would not record guitar direct with as I prefer micing an amp, but it is capable of doing direct >> ART Pro MPA II.
It can be driven to 'gritty'. Hi-Z in is >1meg. I've tried the MPA II as a DI for bass and it worked well.

Youtube of MPA II as an electric DI.....

 
Well, I guess I skipped over the "low cost" part of the title, so following [MENTION=190964]arcaxis[/MENTION]' link I sorted by review rating all the under $2k, 2-channel preamps that had DIs. This non-tube ART ranked pretty high:

ART TPS II | Sweetwater

I've never tried it, but it looks like an option.
 
Well, I guess I skipped over the "low cost" part of the title, so following [MENTION=190964]arcaxis[/MENTION]' link I sorted by review rating all the under $2k, 2-channel preamps that had DIs. This non-tube ART ranked pretty high:

ART TPS II | Sweetwater

I've never tried it, but it looks like an option.
It does have a tube. Likely a starved plate design (not necessarily a bad thing). For budget worth a look.
 
If he can find one the Audient Mico got a very good rep and had the bonus of excellent conversion to S/PDIF. Shame Audient dropped the design.

Dave.
 
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