1000$ mic pre for a 300$ mic???

[borntoplease]

so i have been looking at mic pres to go along with the royer 121. i was set on the ME-1NV. everyone here seemed to recomend it. but oh, how things change so fast. the 1k dollars i was planning on dropping on a mic just got washed away. its funny how money seems to dissapear. so until i can pull some more funds together, i need to get something less expensive to hold me over. after doing my homework, i think i am decided on the MXL V77 or V69m. is it worth it to get a 1k dollar mic pre for a 250-350 dollar mic? or should i hold off until i get the royer? i like the pres in my venice, i think they are outstanding... but... i dont know, more gear is always fun, and i want to expand on what i have, and i think a nice pre is a good place to start. lets just say i was never getting a royer, and had to stick with the MXL... would it ever be worth it to ever spend that kind of money on that mic? or is there something else that would do the job?
thanks in advance

 

[Farview]

A really good mic pre will make a cheap mic sound better. I have been known to plug a '57 into my Amek 9098 pre for guitars or snare drum recording. It sounds different than when plugged into my Ghost or my Langevins. Having dfferent flavors is always good.

 

[Teacher]

A good mic pre will make a crappy mic sound better then a cheap mic pre, but where the Good mic pre will shine is in post processing aka mixing. The better pre's tracks will take to compression, eq, etc. alot better before falling apart vs the cheap pre's.

Peace

 

[chessrock]

It sounds like you're just upgrading for the sake of upgrading. I don't normally think of that as being a very good idea. If there's a piece of gear you really want, then get it -- if it's a particular mic pre that will give you a sound that you just gotta' have, then by all means go that route.

Normally, I wouldn't upgrade the mic pre unitil it was very obviously the weakest link in my chain, but that's just me.

 

[tdukex]

I think buying a high quality pre is always a good investment if you don't have one.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

A '57 thru a GR and voila, there's your sound!

 

[chessrock]

The only problem I have with that logic is that, regardless of what you plug it in to, a 57 still sounds like ... a 57.

And if that's your bag, then by all means. But a mic pre isn't going to magically transofrm your cheap, shitty mic. Nor is it going to significantly alter the sound of anything in a meaningful way.

A decent mic pre can help improve your mixes in subtle and incremental ways, though, I wouldn't dispute that - but that's about as far as I'm willing to go.

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

But a mic pre isn't going to magically transofrm your cheap, shitty mic.

Chess... have to disagree -- a 57 sounds mediocre at best with budget pres... load it via a Great River or API and it does "magically transform" it. All I can say is try it........

 

[chessrock]

I have and, wow, it's amazing how much a 57 can sound so consistantly like ... a 57, no matter how you slice or dice it.

That said, I do like what an API can do to a snare drum track, in general.

 

[manning1]

the 57 issue with certain mic pre's has always interested me.
it seems the 57 is very sensitive to the impedence it "looks into".
i certainly found this out using different op amps, and setting up different impedences for it to look into.
so i'm not surprised it sounds great on cetain pre's that load it properly.
but - i'm still not sure if the transformer plays a part. in my experiments with transformerless designs the destination impedence seemed to play a part.
does anyone have any more info on why "technically" the 57 likes certain mic pre input impedences over others ? any info appreciated.

 

[Henri Devill]

I would get the pre and use it with a MXL V69 or 77 and they are useful mics anyways ..you will want it{pre} when you do get a Royer .IMO

 

[borntoplease]

thanks for the input. it looks like the overall word is "go for it..." so i think i will... and i will do my own test on the 57 with the great river. i hope it sounds as good as bruce says... if anyone should know, it seems like he would.

 

[Richard Monroe]

I have to add myself to the "go for it" group. I believe more in front ends than destinations. The core of your sound is the mic and the pre. I also agree with Chessrock. If I plug my 57 into my Avalon, it still sounds like a 57, and variable impedence doesn't change that. I don't particularly like the sound of a 57, but that's just me. I do know that a great pre is one of the essential tools for good recording. In this case, I believe upgrading for the sake of upgrading is fine, if you have a less than ideal signal chain.
At a certain level, you can debate the sound of Great River vs. Avalon, Manley, D.W. Fearn, Pendulum, Martech, etc. When you are using the pres in a Mackie mixer, any of those is going to give you better sound, all other things remaining equal. After a lot of gear has come and gone, that Great River will probably still be in your rack. I think you will rarely regret buying really great gear.-Richie

 

[chessparov]

Guess that AE's like Tony Visconti and Joe Chicarelli will may have to stop using Shure's then to help make hit records. (Visconti uses the Avalon 737 quite a bit BTW)

Seriously, the sounds that these guys (and Bill Putnam and Chuck Britz) have gotten out of various Shures really is astounding IMHO.

Certainly understand that taming that massive presence peak can be daunting for lesser mortals (like me) without the gear and the ears.

Chris

 

[Farview]

I have and, wow, it's amazing how much a 57 can sound so consistantly like ... a 57, no matter how you slice or dice it.
.

But you can't tell me you don't hear a difference between a '57 through a Mackie pre and the same '57 through an API.
Different combinations sound different. Having 2 different kinds of mic pre almost doubles the different sounds you can get with your same mic collection.

 

[ozraves]

I'd side with Blue Bear. The main weakness of cheap mic preamps is with dynamics in my opinion. A 57 pretty much always sounds like a 57 unless you're using one of those cheap mic pres that make every mic sound pretty much alike. But, I find if I plug a 57 into a top end mic preamp such as the Great River then it blossoms. Get a good preamp and then suddenly you'll be into dynamic mics from Electro Voice, Shure and Beyer.

 

[chessrock]

Certainly understand that taming that massive presence peak can be daunting for lesser mortals (like me) without the gear and the ears.

I think that's kind of what some of us are getting at. The whole edgy midrange thing can certainly work on some stuff. The point is that plugging it in to a particular mic pre isn't going to change that. It's still a 57, it's still going to be edgy, and it's still going to be hit or miss (even if it's a better-sounding miss).

Keep in mind that Joe Chicarelli could make a dixie cup and a piece of string sound good. And guys like Bob Ohlson have had the pleasure of recording the kind of people that would probably sound wonderful through that same dixie cup ... without Joe Chicarelli's help.

Say, I think that's actually one of my better quotes.

 

[DJL]

so i have been looking at mic pres to go along with the royer 121. i was set on the ME-1NV. everyone here seemed to recomend it. but oh, how things change so fast. the 1k dollars i was planning on dropping on a mic just got washed away. its funny how money seems to dissapear. so until i can pull some more funds together, i need to get something less expensive to hold me over. after doing my homework, i think i am decided on the MXL V77 or V69m. is it worth it to get a 1k dollar mic pre for a 250-350 dollar mic? or should i hold off until i get the royer? i like the pres in my venice, i think they are outstanding... but... i dont know, more gear is always fun, and i want to expand on what i have, and i think a nice pre is a good place to start. lets just say i was never getting a royer, and had to stick with the MXL... would it ever be worth it to ever spend that kind of money on that mic? or is there something else that would do the job?
thanks in advance

Welcome to the mic forum... get the GR. http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=139810

PS... a Shure SM57 will always be a SM57... but a good preamp will help you hear what a SM57 really sounds like. Get the GR.

PSS... I've gone from Mackie to Allan & Heath pre's, along with most of the other budget crap like Grace, M-Audio, SP, Art, and etc... to Soundcraft along with the Great River MP-2NV, John Hardy M-1, DW Fearn VT-1, and Manley Dual Mono and I will never look back.

 

[chessrock]

PS... a Shure SM57 will always be a SM57... but a good preamp will help you hear what a SM57 really sounds like. Get the GR.

That was what I was trying to say (and failing). Thanks. Although I still think better mics are more important ... but whatever.

 

[DJL]

That was what I was trying to say (and failing). Thanks. Although I still think better mics are more important ... but whatever.

You're welcome... and I think both better mics and preamps are very important.