Hey tube,
I think we can safely award you HR BBS Gear Slut of the Year for your mic pre addiction...
I don't mean to shoot down your mic pre plans, but don't you think that you're gonna be on the ass end of the point of diminishing return with a couple thousand invested in mic pre's? Seriously, I can't see anything better or more expensive than an RNMP being a worthwhile investment for the homerecordist. If I were you I would definitely plunk down the $30 for Lynn Fuston's
mic pre comparison cd before I started making $1000 decisions. Even if the pre's you're looking at aren't on the CD, I think listening to it might remind you how slight the actual sonic differences are between various pre's and give you an idea of what type of pre you're looking for. If I were in a position to buy a couple nice mic pre's, I think I would make sure that I at least got:
1. 2 channels (or more) of decent transparency, and even an M-Audio DMP2 or
a Symetrix SX202 (modded with Burr-Brown opamps) would work quite well for this IMHO.
2. 2 channels of more colored sound, probably something with transformer input/output, like an API or perhaps the RNMP (which is transformerless but I hear its a much more colorful piece of gear than the RNC). Also, some earlier production Presonus MP20's and
MP80's have actual Jensen transformers and are said to be quite good.
3. 2 channels of tubeness. Yep, and real tubeness, not anything from ART. Look into a Peavey VMP-2, which is a true class-A, all-tube mic pre. You can even cover up the brand name if it embarasses you.
My take on gear is that, if you do the research and buy the right stuff, you can get 90% of the quality for 10% of the price. I guess if you have the money there's nothing wrong with getting 100% and a lot of this stuff has a high resale value so there's not too much risk involved, but its always good to maintain your liquidity.
Personally, I think quality homerecording requires at most one "gold channel" and as many channels of adequacy as necessary. I can see the following signal chain being very cost effective in relation to its quality:
RNMP (assuming its as good as rumoured) -> RNC (when needed) -> Lucid AD2496 -> Soundcard
That's, what, about $1300-1500 depending on the soundcard. Now you've got the signal, or rather data representing the signal, into the computer and you can do incredible things with it that might require another $10,000 or more to duplicate with outboard gear. To me, that's a major goal: getting the very best signal amplified, limited or lightly compressed (when needed to make use of every bit), convertered, and into the computer.
BTW, be sure to check out sjoko's recent
post on converters. Interesting stuff.
Hell, I'm sure you know everything that I'm saying already but I just wanted to give you the "budget" perspective on things. Also, I gotta wonder, what mics do you have or plan to get to plug into all these nice pres?
