8 channel pre amp that has nice sound

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buryher17

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I'm looking for a nice sounding 8 channel pre that has 8 ins 8 outs. Preferably xlr to xlr but i could also like xlr to 1/4 or 1/4 to xlr.

I'm going to be using this for drums primarily and I want it to add that nice tone to my drums. I need to make my drums sound as professional as possible.

I'm looking to spen anywhere from $0-$500/600? I'm probably gona find a used one of whatever it may be, i'm low on money so i'm hoping to find a good deal on a nice 5/600 $ pre
 
It is sort of tough to tell what you mean by “that nice tone.” All pre amps sound slightly different from one another.

Anyway, I have an older 8 channel pre that I like on my drums. It is an SMPro PR-8 Mark II. One of the original models.

http://www.musik-service.de/SM-Pro-Audio-SM-PR-8-MK-II-Preamp-prx395679489en.aspx

It has everything you described and warms up the sound some. But with different drums on one side of it and different ears on the other side of it, it’s hard to say if it will sound the same.

Just my 2 cents.

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Sorry for the interruption here but, I'm actually in the market for a multichannel multi-tasker preamp. Something I can use on drums as easily as on a guitar cab or for a bass guitar direct in. Would you consider this unit worthwhile for my purposes? Or are the pres grainy and noisy or what?
 
I've got a mic shootout posted elsewhere. All the guitars are going through my M-Audio Octane (8 channels of the pres found in the DMP3). Here's the link to the shootout:

http://www.spottedmuse.com/shootout/

And in this second link, 8 of the 12 drums tracks were in the Octane. I know, 12 might be overkill, but I was experimenting. So when I ran out I sent the snare and kick (2 mics each) through some channel strips with compression. I'd have been just as happy with them through the Octane and adding compression later. (In fact the snare sound in this track is mostly the overheads through the Octane):

 
undrgrnd studio said:
Sorry for the interruption here but, I'm actually in the market for a multichannel multi-tasker preamp. Something I can use on drums as easily as on a guitar cab or for a bass guitar direct in. Would you consider this unit worthwhile for my purposes? Or are the pres grainy and noisy or what?
Click to expand...

Only if you turn em way up. Drums and electric guitar cabs are already good and loud to begin with. That means you don't need as much gain on the mic pres. Less gain equals less noise and distortion.

But then, isn't that the nature of all mic pres?

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Hey Folks, sell your gear here. It’s FREE http://www.proaux.com
 
In that price range, I wouldn't expect anything special.

You can easily find something that will give you perfectly acceptable gain, and certainly nothing that will hold you back from getting a nice sound, provided everything esle is in order.

But nothing that will "add that nice tone" to your drums. :D Whatever the heck it is you meant by that statement.

.
 
I know i've said this a million times already, but I'm looking at getting the Focusrite Octopre. It's a little above your price range at 800, but it has compression on each channel, which will be great for drums. Also, for 200 bucks you can get a digital out card for it so you can run it into your interface's ADAT input. Focusrite also makes an Octopre LE, which is doesn't have the built in compression for 200 less. They're supposed to be really nice preamps.
 
I think to sound as professional as possible you'll have to spend $600 per channel.

Anyway, Line Audio makes an 8 channel preamp that is suppose to sound similar to DAV products. It cost $780 new, plus shipping from Sweden.

Otherwise the Five Fish preamps are supposedly nice for the money, but if you don't know how to use a soldering iron it won't do you any good.

I think you'd be better off getting something like a Sytek and using less mics on your drums.
 
Yeah, I know how to solder, but I don't know enough about electronics and the flow of signal that I would even know where to begin with a kit like that. If it was all spelled out for me I could do something like that, but when it comes to picking my own power supply unit and knowing how to run the power to the preamps and so on, I'm lost.
 
Kits from Five Fish and JLM have step by step instructions and great customer support, so I think as long as you know how to soldier you can do it.
 
Awesome, I'll check it out for sure. I think it's kind of funny that the enclosure costs nearly as much as two pre-amps, but my girlfriend's brother is good with that kind of stuff, so I'll have to ask him to help me build an enclosure. I'll probably get that two pack and enclose it in a 1u rackspace.
 
Focusrite Octopre. Adat lightpipe, very nice. Reg. Octopre 799.00 le VERSION 599.00
 
BeniRose said:
I know i've said this a million times already, but I'm looking at getting the Focusrite Octopre. It's a little above your price range at 800, but it has compression on each channel, which will be great for drums. Also, for 200 bucks you can get a digital out card for it so you can run it into your interface's ADAT input. Focusrite also makes an Octopre LE, which is doesn't have the built in compression for 200 less. They're supposed to be really nice preamps.
Click to expand...

Great unit as I have posted but be VERY careful with Octopre compression,I never use it unless in my mobile rig and just a hair. I can get pumping very easy.
 
Octo-pre came to mind.

I know several studios that use the Behringer ADA8000 - also worth considering if you have ADAT inputs into your recording rig.

Failing that, a small Soundcraft mixer may be an option.
 
Just remember...

BeniRose said:
Awesome, I'll check it out for sure. I think it's kind of funny that the enclosure costs nearly as much as two pre-amps, but my girlfriend's brother is good with that kind of stuff, so I'll have to ask him to help me build an enclosure. I'll probably get that two pack and enclose it in a 1u rackspace.
Click to expand...

That by the time you're done - you'll spend about $400 on 2 channels of very nice preamplification.

If you were looking for 8 channels of very nice preamplication and no DIY requirement - I'll strongly recommend the Swedish built Line Audio 8MP....8 channels of very, very nice preamplification for about $820 shipped. That's 1/2 the price per channel of the five fish product and everything in 1 rack unit....AND you don't have to build it. Give TNJazz at Gearslutz a pm and ask him about the Line Audio preamps...he found them to be better sounding than Onyx pres in head to head use at their studio.

Jay
 
another option is get a Mackie Onyx mixer, maybe a 1620, 8 channels of nice Onyx preamps. They are pretty good plus you can firewire it right into computer.Its a slick setup. That will though send you over your budget with a firewire option....hum, let me think.
 
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