Best sounding, most inexpensive preamps for the Electro-Voice RE20...

[Mike Rophoné]

Hey guys,

First post! And with that, another question about preamps (hope this is the right forum to post in)...

What would you say are the best sounding, most inexpensive, dual channel preamps for use with the Electro-Voice RE20 specifically?

Eventually, I'd like to get a Sound Devices MixPre or 302 (I do a lot of on-location audio recording as well as in-house), but in the meantime, I'm wondering if there's anything inexpensive, of any real quality, that I could get as a stop-gap.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

MR.

 

[homestudioguy]

Your question has some vagueness when you use the terms, "Best sounding" and "inexpensive". The 2 terms are really polar opposites from one perspective.
There may be a $99 preamp that sounds good when compared to other preamps below $100 but will sound terrible when compared to a $500-$1000 preamp.
I suggest you take your microphone to a store and test it with different preamps to see which one it sounds best with in a price range you can afford.
I personally think the Focusrite ISA One is a nice preamp that sells for under $500.

 

[moresound]

Hello mike and welcome to the forums.

There would be two preamps that come to mind for your endeavors they being the FMR RNMP and the Golden Age Pre73.
Both are with in the Goldy locks preference that you stated. Not to cheap, not to expensive, these are just right.

 

[moresound]

Dang it!!! You wanted a duel channel??? Do you have a reason for that if your just going to use one EV RE20?


Exultant chose for a microphone by the way.

.............. Well maybe two of each preamp that I mentioned then.

 

[Mike Rophoné]

I suggest you take your microphone to a store and test it with different preamps to see which one it sounds best with in a price range you can afford.

I would, but I'm not aware of any stores within gettable distance to.

I personally think the Focusrite ISA One is a nice preamp that sells for under $500.

I've heard a lot of good things about Focusrite, but the ISA One is only a one channel preamp, correct?

How does their Saffire range compare?

There would be two preamps that come to mind for your endeavors they being the FMR RNMP and the Golden Age Pre73.
Both are with in the Goldy locks preference that you stated. Not to cheap, not to expensive, these are just right.

If Golden Age did a two channel preamp, that would be pretty schweet.

What are FMR like? Haven't heard of these guys at all...

Dang it!!! You wanted a duel channel??? Do you have a reason for that if your just going to use one EV RE20?

Podcasting with more than one person, and for laving people up.

Exultant chose for a microphone by the way.

Cheers! Took me long enough to come to a decision, but I believe I made the right one.

.............. Well maybe two of each preamp that I mentioned then.

That's probably a little over budget for now.

 

[mrmoe]

I've been using a Studio Projects VTB1 Mic Pre with an SM7 and a Beyer m500 ribbon.....plenty of gain and very decent sound...careful not to over use the tube!

 

[Mike Rophoné]

I've been using a Studio Projects VTB1 Mic Pre with an SM7 and a Beyer m500 ribbon.....plenty of gain and very decent sound...careful not to over use the tube!

That's a single channel preamp, right? I'm after two channels.

What about an ART USB Dual Pre and swapping out the tube(s)? Or is that preamp going to be noisy no matter what you do?

 

[mrmoe]

I've used an Art mpa gold......it's about the same cost as 2 Studio Projects VTB1's.....I'd recommend buying 2 VTB1's....

 

[moresound]

Mike the FRM *Really Nice Mic Pre* is good to exultant with in it's price range. Were you able to google them up?

Where do you live that your no where near a music store? .... wait! Let me try and guess .... Sweden? Closest music store being 3 1/2 hours away.

 

[wheelema]

If you're looking for a on-location solution that is somewhat more affordable then the SoundDesign MixPre (and way more affordable then the 302!) look at the Sound Design USBPre2 (requires a battery USB power source if used standalone) or a Zoom H4N, R16, or R24. You might also look at the CircuitWerkes MicTel.

 

[Mike Rophoné]

Mike the FRM *Really Nice Mic Pre* is good to exultant with in it's price range. Were you able to google them up?

I did, and the FMR looks very nice, but a little out of my price range ATM.

Where do you live that your no where near a music store? .... wait! Let me try and guess .... Sweden? Closest music store being 3 1/2 hours away.

I live in England, and there's precious nothing around here.

If you're looking for a on-location solution that is somewhat more affordable then the SoundDesign MixPre (and way more affordable then the 302!) look at the Sound Design USBPre2 (requires a battery USB power source if used standalone) or a Zoom H4N, R16, or R24. You might also look at the CircuitWerkes MicTel.

I didn't even know Sound Devices did a USB preamp, so many thanks for letting me know! Though, if I was going to pony up the dough to get the USB Pre2, I'd probably wait it out a little while longer until I can afford the 302, so that I can use it in the field as well as in-house. But thinking about it a little more, perhaps it'd be better if I do have a dedicated preamp for podcasting, etc, as opposed to trying to find a do-all solution.

With that said... How's the M-Audio DMP3 with the RE20, or one of the Mackie equivalents?

 

[lank81]

I'm not sure how well the RE20 goes with the DMP-3 but I've used the DMP-3 with numerous mics. I've had Samson C02s, SM81s, CAD m179, SM57/58, MXL v67g, and a Rode NT-1a plugged in to the DMP-3. It had enough gain for all of the mics. It's basically a clean pre so if you're looking for some character, I'd look elsewhere. Nice Pre for the $$ though.