Best budget non tube pre amp?

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Fishybob

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I know the question of best tube pre amp is a regular but how about non tube??

I use a Rode NT1000 mic and find that the sound is quite warm and rich enough for my taste. Therefore I just want a pre that sounds transparent and is a few steps up from the ones built into my Behr.... Budget mixer!

Any recomendations for a unit at about £100? A built in limiter would be a real bonus. :rolleyes:
 
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Fishybob,
I personally think the cleanest / cheapest pre I would recommend is the M-Audio DMP-3. I bought one and since then bought another. I don't know if you can find one for your price, but you get 2 channels instead of just one, but no compression or limiting.
Most of the channel strip type (single channel with Compression or EQ) are not particularly transparent. I am sure there are those out there, I just dont have any experiance with them. I have a JoeMeek unit with EQ and Compression but it is far from transparent.

Hope that helps some.

Tom
 
I don't know what you mean by budget, but it's going to be hard to find something with a built in limiter in that DMP3 price range methinks.

War
 
The limiter would purely be icing on the cake. It's the sound quality that I'm really interested in.
The M-Audio DMP-3 looks good - I have a Sound on Sound review that speaks very highly... any alternatives?
 
Fishybob said:
The limiter would purely be icing on the cake. It's the sound quality that I'm really interested in.
The M-Audio DMP-3 looks good - I have a Sound on Sound review that speaks very highly... any alternatives?
Click to expand...

The Rane MS-1B is a single channel pre that would be an alternative in that pricerange.
 
Rane MS-1B...hmmm...

Wow! Thanks scrubs.

Just been chcking out some reviews on that bad boy and it's pretty highly rated. I'd never heard of them before.

I'll have to try and find somewhere around here that sells them so I can demo it.

Anyone else heard of these pre's?
 
Fishybob said:
The limiter would purely be icing on the cake. It's the sound quality that I'm really interested in.
The M-Audio DMP-3 looks good - I have a Sound on Sound review that speaks very highly... any alternatives?
Click to expand...
The M-Audio DMP-3 is the best bang for the buck IMO.
 
stupid remark, but i think its a good idea not to look for preamps with tube simulation and stuff, i worked with several of those and never ever was impressed with the sound...
too bad i never was able to work with a REAL tube preamp,
(mhhh, once a little black box that in my opinion was too small to even fit a tube in there!)
but seems to be a little hype, no?,,tube tube tube,
i always thought that anything with tubes was very expensive,
so i'm even a bit scared to use those budget machines

but we're all on a budget aren't we
 
I have a Rane MS1b and I've been really pleased with it. I only have a slightly modified ART Tube MP (tube upgrade) for comparison, and the Rane is certainly more transparent and clean, if not a bit thin in the low end. Excellent on acoustic instruments and vocals. I don't know how it compares sonically with the M-Audio DMP3, but with the DMP3 you get two channels of preamp and DI. The Rane only gives you one channel of mic preamplification and no DI for basically the same price.

I ordered mine from Sweetwater and had to wait a few weeks for it.
 
Fishybob said:
I know the question of best tube pre amp is a regular but how about non tube??

I use a Rode NT1000 mic and find that the sound is quite warm and rich enough for my taste. Therefore I just want a pre that sounds transparent and is a few steps up from the ones built into my Behr.... Budget mixer!

Any recomendations for a unit at about £100? A built in limiter would be a real bonus. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The DMP3 is clean and smooth with lots of gain, and it will give you a much more 3-D sound field. My old Beh mixer quickly got relegated to headphone amp about two years ago.
 
What else??

Ok, well they are looking like the two to demo. I must admit that 2 channels would be really useful though so that may swing it for me.

Once I've got one of these I'll need something to go between that and the soundcard in to help control and give me the best levels.

Do you think I should go for a seperate limiter or a compressor with a gentle amount added just to round things down?

My local music shop were trying to steer me in the direction of the M-audio Tampa which had mono pre and compressor with SPDif out... Similar price range but how does it compare?

I know that when you buy a gadget that does several things each part is going to suffer... but it could save some money?
 
Fishybob said:
Once I've got one of these I'll need something to go between that and the soundcard in to help control and give me the best levels.
Click to expand...
Why?

I track into a DAW and never need to use a comp or limiter on the way in. Just track at a sensible level and you shouldn't have problems with clipping. You can then compress/limit in the box if you need to. If you overdo it a bit going in then it can't be undone and you'll have to retrack.

It's probably beneficial learning to setup a distortion free recording chain without the need for limiting. Also the less crap you put your audio through then the better potential for a good sound.

I know you're after other suggestions but I'm just going to give another vote for the DMP-3. The cheapest I know of is Thomann in germany:

http://www.thomann.de/index.html?partner_id=97926&page=thoiw2_midiman_dmp_3_prodinfo.html

I've dealt with them before and they're pretty quick and the shipping is very reasonable.

You will have problems sourcing a lot of stuff that gets recommended to you on this site. A lot of the stuff just isn't available in the UK and Europe and if you do find a supplier it will cost a heck of a lot more than what these guys pay for it. For example I think you'll struggle to find that Rane pre.

God luck with it anyway
 
Thanks for that.

My singer is a little tempremental. I was hoping to have something in the chain to cushion it a bit - I was told that to get the best out of the pre amp I need to run it as close to the limit as I can... With my singer I'd either get a quiet signal or a frying smell!

But I agree wholeheartedly with trying to keep the chain simple... I'll just have to slap him around a bit before we start!


Thanks again
 
Fishybob said:
I was told that to get the best out of the pre amp I need to run it as close to the limit as I can.
Click to expand...
In my opinion that's just bad advice. You get nothing 'extra' out of the pre by tracking as hot as possible. There are no real benefits and you risk clipping or you have to use extra gear (limiter) to prevent clipping. Also you will have little or no headroom left to play with at mixdown.

A good tip which I owe to this very board is to track so that average levels are around -12dbs in the DAW. This gives the peaks plenty of room and you can always compress at the mixing stage if necessary.

Fishybob said:
But I agree wholeheartedly with trying to keep the chain simple... I'll just have to slap him around a bit before we start!
Click to expand...
That sounds like a good cheap solution and you can get rid of any stress while you're at it. :D

EDIT: this thread might be a good read for you. farview explains why not to track hot better than I do.

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=151688
 
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Fishybob said:
Thanks for that.
My singer is a little tempremental. I was hoping to have something in the chain to cushion it a bit - I was told that to get the best out of the pre amp I need to run it as close to the limit as I can... With my singer I'd either get a quiet signal or a frying smell!

But I agree wholeheartedly with trying to keep the chain simple... I'll just have to slap him around a bit before we start!
Thanks again
Click to expand...


I like to track with no dynamic processing in the chain whenever possible, which is most of the time. Getting your singer to tame his/her dynamics at the source is great *IF* it doesn't kill the performance. But there are times when the little bit of sonic clarity gained by avoiding putting a limiter in the chain is overshadowed by the loss of emotion in the performance. This is NEVER a good trade.

Big thumbs up on the DMP-3, especially if stereo micing of acoustic guitar or other acoustic instruments (or drum overheads) is in your future.
Cheers, RD
 
Yeah, I could really do with the flexibility of two channels.

Thanks everyone
 
Fishybob said:
I was told that to get the best out of the pre amp I need to run it as close to the limit as I can
Click to expand...

That might be true with a "real" preamp....I E one costing $1K plus....when driving the tubes/transformers the distortion produced can be very euphoric(there also expensive pre's that sound like shit when you drive them), but with cheap gear....you want it to work less because usually driving cheap preamps because of the cheap components in them it sounds harsher, thinner, smaller etc. Its like driving 120mph in a Ferrari vs. a GEO prism. Ferrari will get up there faster and struggle helluva lot less when pushed.
 
The word "best" is useless is your situation. There is no best. There are only devices that suit various purposes. You mentioned in your post that you want a transparent pre. No one transparent pre is the "best" compared to other transparent pres.
 
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I use a Rode NTK into a Focusrite Trakmaster - I'm quite pleased with the transparency and detail. The vocals always sit well in the mix, and the sound is quite transparent. The EQ is subtle.
 
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