Accurate? or Not? - A new game

[Bassman Brad]

Hey Bassman,
Let me know if you do the Jensen transformer mod on the MP20. I have considered having that done on mine too. Mine already has the Burr Brown op amps, but it was like that when I bought it used so I can't compare to the non-modded sound.

Sure, I'll be happy to do that. From what I've read, though, the IC chip mod is the one that makes the more noticable improvement in the sound of the unit, between the two mods. (I think I read that on this board, in fact.)

By the way, as far as I'm concerned, the Presonus MP20 is already a pretty decent sounding pre right out of the box. Since I decided to brush up on modern recording technology, and get myself up-to-date about the gear that is available today, part of that process was to start hanging out at sites such as this. Another part of the process was to order a couple of the CDs from 3D Audio. One is the mic sampler CD that I mentioned earlier. But, I've ALSO got their first preamp comparison CD (I was told that a "Vol. 2" is coming out soon), which compares many of the worlds greatest preamps, with identical input signals using professional musicians, and levels carefully matched, and then burned to Red Book CD (not worthless mp3 files). In other words, these CDs are everything that the Listening Sessions would be if they had been done "correctly." (That's just my humble opinion, of course.) The Presonus MP20 is one of the preamps included in this CD, and is probably the cheapest one on the disc, except for the Mackie VLZ. However, while the VLZ clearly sounds like a cheap, crappy preamp, when compared to all those prestige units, the MP20 actually sounds half-way decent, even in that illustrious company. No, it doesn't sound as good as the best of the high dollar preamps on the disc, but I feel that it certainly holds it's own pretty darn well, especially when you consider the price of the unit. All things considered, it's a perfectly serviceable preamp for the money. If the Firepod that I ordered uses the exact same preamps, then I'm sure that I'll be very happy with that unit, and won't feel the need to drop big bucks on an outboard pre for a very, very long time. By the way, the Firepod should be arriving any day now.

 

[Bassman Brad]

Whoo hoo! Danny, you ROCK! That was over and above the call of duty, my man. Thanks for the mini-reviews!

(And thanks to all of you who contributed your comments. I am deeply grateful for your assistance in expanding my knowledge base.)


Brad

 

[The Axis]

It's funny you should mention the Earthworks mic. ....I'm wondering, in fact, how that compares to the cheaper mics in the Earthworks line. The TC-30, for example, .....For that matter, I also wonder how much you really gain over something like the Audix TR-40's, which would cost less than half again the price of a pair of TC-30's.

I have owned the QTC1s and the SR71s.
The only difference in the TC-30 from the QTC1 is a higher self-noise and slightly less flat response (I think).
In spite of the fact that a lot of people talk about self-noise as being an issue, it almost never actually is an issue to the final recording quality, even in the quietest rooms, .
The SR71 is a cardiod or supercardioid, but otherwise very flat in response. It "hears" things differently than your ears, because your ears are closer to omni than cardioid, so it sounds "colored" een though its frequency response is flat.

Distortion has never been an issue for me. I think that is only a problem at relatively high sound pressure levels.

I mentioned the EV Cobalt CO4s because in my search for "neutral" sounding or "accurate" mikes, these stood out WAY above most of the crowd, but at a cheap price.

As you can tell from the responses above, different people have different criteria for judging how "good" a mike sounds. Some *want* the mike to add color so that the recorded sound sounds better than it "really" sounds. They may also describe an "accurate" mike as "too neutral" or "dull" sounding.
For my purposes I was simply trying to capture a sound that I already thought was "good" enough. So I value neutrality and accuracy.