Best preamp for this purpose?

1

1ply

New member
I have read through several treads and do not think I have found this addressed. If I missed it, please call it to my attention.

I sing and accompany myself on acoustic guitar. Currently I am using an Emerald Opus X 30 12-string with a b-band pickup and a CA Legacy Vintage 6-string with a Fishman Pro Pre-Blend. I have several wooden Santa Cruz guitars, a Taylor, a Martin. which do not have pickups.

I want to buy equipment that I can use for both live and studio.

The microphone forum recommended I purchase either the Shure SM7 or the EV-RE20 for vocals since they match best my vocal range. One post warned me that I needed to get a preamp with plenty of power for the Shure SM7.
What preamp would recommend for this purpose? It needs to have at least two channels (one for a microphone and one for an input from my acoustic guitar). I would prefer a four channel preamp since I hope to mike my guitars that do not have a pickup some day. But if I have to do it, I’ll wait and start with a two channel. Cost is an issue but if I have spent thousands of dollars on guitars it does not make sense to cheap out on the other necessary equipment.

For live performances, I plan on going from the preamp to a self-powered speaker(s) like the Mackie SRM450.

As always I am open to constructive criticism. :)
 
You have posed a difficult question, because essentially, the needs of a live rig and a recording rig are really quite different. For vocals, you need FX, at least reverb. For recording, you can make do with plug-ins, but for live work, you need hardware, unless you plan on running your rig through a computer. First, I can attest that the SM7 rocks as a live vocal mic, and it's need for lots of gain actually makes it resistant to feedback in that setting. It is also a good studio mic for lots of stuff, not just vocals. For live acoustic guitar, some tone shaping potential is very useful, not only for feedback control, but also to tame what I call piezo "quack". I believe that the needs of a vocal preamp and an acoustic guitar preamp are really very different. Yeah, you can plug an acoustic into the instrument (high-z) input of a mic preamp, and you'll get *one* sound. I hope it's a good sound, because it's what you get. The Fishman will help, because it does some of it's own tone shaping.

I would consider 2 separate and distinct preamps- one for vox, and one for guitar. For vocals, I would consider Joemeek threeQ or M-Audio DMP-3. I like the Joemeek because it has EQ and compression, and can be run clean, or agressive optical compression can be used for some color. The DMP-3 is pretty clean, but offers little in the way of tone shaping options. It does allow 2 mics for stereo mic'ing. Most folks will agree that for recording, mic'ing acoustics in a good room beats any direct recording option. If you go that route, you need a really good acoustic guitar preamp, and they don't come cheap. My best suggestions for that are Fishman Aura, DTAR Mama Bear, and Avalon U-5. The high priced spread (to die for) is Pendulum SPS-1, which
for my money, is the best acoustic preamp on planet Earth. For cheap, the Joemeek threeQ is a pretty good acoustic preamp. If you are on a budget, consider a DMP-3 for it's 2 channels, and a threeQ for a guitar preamp (and a different vocal option.)

For cheap FX, the only real games in town are Lexicon and TC Electronics, and I personally prefer TC Electronics M350. Those 3 units(DMP-3, threeQ, and M350) would give you a bunch of tonal options. Guitar or vox can be run through either preamp, with the FX box added to whichever is used for vocals. In the studio, you can run a stereo pair of mics into the DMP-3 and vox through the Joemeek.

As I said, live and studio needs are really not the same. If money isn't the main thing, and I just want good sound, my live rig would be a good small PA with it's own reverb, and guitar goes through the Fishman Aura before it ever gets to the PA. In the studio, I'd use the best channel I could afford, and get one good multipurpose mic, recording vox and guitar separately. I'd record dry and add FX to the vocal track during mixdown. My choice for that would be something like an AKG C414B-XLS into an Avalon M5 (which does everything a U5 does, and more) . The only problem with that is that it is a $1000 mic into a $1000 preamp. It makes sense, though- you are right. Why buy multi-thousand dollar guitars and then record them direct into a cheap preamp? That's like marrying a centerfold and then putting a bag over her head. Best of luck.-Richie
 
For a dual purpose device for live and studio use, a little Mackie VLZ mixer is hard to beat. I wouldn't call the preamps "unique" sounding, but if you don't push them hard, they're pretty transparent.
A 1202 VLZ Pro will set you back about $300 and you get 4 very useable channel strips with inserts for recording and a versatile mixer for live sound and studio matrixing. Every studio should have one anyway.
 
Thanks

Thanks for your help with this topic.

Reading these posts reminds me of my experience upon leaving a library. I am continually impressed with my own ignorance.

I did not realize the importance of reverb for vocals. Thanks Richard.

I will first attend to obtaining equipment for live performance. I will purchase the Shure SM7 for vocals. I’ll use my Composite Acoustic Legacy Vintage with the Fishman Pro Pre-Blend (combines internal mic with U.S.T.) as my main stage guitar. I’ll purchase either the Yamaha 500 STAGEPAS or the L.R. Baggs Core 1 since they both are active systems with preamp and reverb.

I realize that the Shure SM7 is not an ideal mic for my guitar but it works with my low bass voice.

I’ll keep reading and check back when I am ready for recommendations for serious recording.

I also recognize that I will need to address my recording needs in stages. My first priority is equipment that will allow me to make good “poor” quality demos for coffee shops and bars. Do you have any suggestions? I have a desktop computer with dual core 3800 processor and 2 gigs of memory.

Thanks,
Rip
 
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