Daking Mic Pre IV - worth the $$$ ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mattkw80
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if you can get the lunchbox for free with the modules, i would say go for it. if not, i would go with the 3124....but that's just my personal opinion
 
I think the first thing you should do is go over to your friends house and listen to the Daking. If you love it, buy it.

The lunchbox thing is great, but the most important thing is that you *love* the gear you spend so much money on. So if the Daking really is amazing to you and you think you'll get use out of it, then it's probably worth it to get it. You can always get a lunchbox later and gradually add modules to it.
 
speaking of 4-channel preamps, does anyone here have experience with the syteks? better yet, anyone know how they stack up against APIs?

i really want to add a 3124 to my rack, but can't justify the cost right now...i was thinking maybe the sytek would be a good call in the meantime, especially seeing how they run about $600 on ebay
 
The Sytek preamps are nice solid sounding preamps. They are great for their price range. Personally, they are somewhat similar to your RNP sound. Fairly neutral, good headroom, good build. They won't be one of those "wow you" preamps, but are an excellent utility kind of preamp where they certainly won't get in your way either. In my opinion, they are one of the better "values" pn the market. PLus, I like supporting Mike Stoica because he is a great guy and building nice stuff (Neotek).

As far as the DaKings go.... I have not specifically used the DaKing MicPre4, but I have used the other stuff (pre/EQ strip and compressor). My experience has been that the preamps were pretty decent, but it was the EQ on the input strip that I liked better and where I felt like The DaKing stuff really shined. It has that sort of vintage "girth" to it where you could choose just about any setting and it sounded good until you really got into the extremes. Nice wide feeling Q that left things still sounding pretty natural without sounding stressed. I liked the compressors a lot as well, but did not care for them too much on vocals. Great on electrics to really give them a push, overheads to give them a fatter sound, and certain acoustics to give them some more aggression. I didn't care for it to much on things where I needed a more invisible style compression, or lots of reduction with a more focused controlled sound. I am not sure if it were me that I would ever by the 4 channel preamp though just because I felt like it was not the real strength of the Daking product line, and there are what I consider to be better options in "similar" price ranges.

In looking over things, either the API 3124 has dropped a bit in price, or is a little less expensive then I remember it. It is certainly a little cheaper to get a 3124 than 4 API 512c's and a free rack. I would still pay the little bit extra if it were me just to have the flexibility. PLus, if you loaded your rack with a couple of channels of purple pre's and a couple API's for example, the cost comes down a bit and evens out more. For the last while though I have also made sure that all of my purchases are kind of a forward thinking purchase to fit future plans and/or changes.
 
would you consider the sytek's much of an upgrade over mackie onyx pres?

right now i'm sitting on just my 1640 and an MPA gold, and would like to add 4 channels of pretty punchy pres for drums/guitars without spending a huge wad of cash
 
When you guys use the API's on drums (the 512c's) how many channels do you typically need?

For example, are you running Overheads + Snare + Kick (4 channels) of API or are you also using API's on Tom's, under the snare, etc.

I only use around 4 mics on drums anyway... but, how do you guys afford enough pre's for 8 or more mics setups ?
 
if you can get a good sound with 4 mics and 4 good pres then that's enough. plenty of great records have been made with 4 or less. if you need isolated drum tracks for each drum, focus your best pres (and mics) on your kick, snare and overheads.
 
mattkw80 said:
When you guys use the API's on drums (the 512c's) how many channels do you typically need?

For example, are you running Overheads + Snare + Kick (4 channels) of API or are you also using API's on Tom's, under the snare, etc.

I only use around 4 mics on drums anyway... but, how do you guys afford enough pre's for 8 or more mics setups ?
Click to expand...

Although I have 15 channels of good pres, I actually don't do drums very much in my home studio. Better to track drums in a good room. So when they are required, we go off to a real studio or at least a good sized rehearsal space. The cheap way to get enough channels for heavily miced drums is to use a board. You can use better pres for overheads, snare, etc., but mic up the rest through a board of your choice (Allen & Heath, Midas, Wackie, etc.) Probably the cheapest per channel arrangement, and frankly, more convenient that using lots of one and two channel pres.
 
When you guys use the API's on drums (the 512c's) how many channels do you typically need?

For example, are you running Overheads + Snare + Kick (4 channels) of API or are you also using API's on Tom's, under the snare, etc.

I only use around 4 mics on drums anyway... but, how do you guys afford enough pre's for 8 or more mics setups ?
Click to expand...

i had the pleasure of tracking with API pres once...the studio had 2 3124's, so the API's were used on the kick, snare top/bottom, toms(1 rack, 1 floor), and OH's

then i used a focusrite 110 for the FOK mic, and brent-averill 1073's on the room

shit sounded really good, but the drummer totally blew it...i was pretty bummed to say the least
 
pohaku said:
... Better to track drums in a good room... You can use better pres for overheads, snare, etc., but mic up the rest through a board of your choice (Allen & Heath, Midas, Wackie, etc.) Probably the cheapest per channel arrangement, and frankly, more convenient that using lots of one and two channel pres.
Click to expand...

a couple of great pieces of advice...
 
As much as I do like the Sytek preamps, I am not sure I would consider them to be a huge step up form the Mackie Onyx preamps. The older Mackie preamps I would, but the Onyx is definately nicer than the VLZ crap. In fact, the Onyx almost has a Sytek'ish vibe. That kind of neutral but still a little smooth sound. On drums especially I would imagine the Syteks and the Mackies sounding closer in sound than on other sources like vocals, acoustics and even electrics where the differences would start to become more apparent. Also, "punchy" is definately not what I would use to describe the Sytek sound. This to me would be more of the API sound. Fast response with a low mid aggression. I could see calling a Neve style preamp punchy but it a different way.
 
I'll be checking out the Daking tommorow evening, so.... I'll let you guys know what I think of it.

I've never heard SSL, Neve, or API...... but I do own a UA LA-610 so I can at least compare it to that.
 
As much as I do like the Sytek preamps, I am not sure I would consider them to be a huge step up form the Mackie Onyx preamps. The older Mackie preamps I would, but the Onyx is definately nicer than the VLZ crap. In fact, the Onyx almost has a Sytek'ish vibe. That kind of neutral but still a little smooth sound. On drums especially I would imagine the Syteks and the Mackies sounding closer in sound than on other sources like vocals, acoustics and even electrics where the differences would start to become more apparent. Also, "punchy" is definately not what I would use to describe the Sytek sound. This to me would be more of the API sound. Fast response with a low mid aggression. I could see calling a Neve style preamp punchy but it a different way.
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seeing how you're one of the handful of people here whose opinion i trust, it seems like i might be better off to skip the sytek, and go straight to the top
 
As hard as it is to do, I have never regretted saving up a little longer and getting the "right" tool for the job instead of settling for an "intermediate" purchase. The Syteks are good preamps, but in your specific scenario it does sound like they may not be the right purchase for you at this point in time at least. However, I also don't think you would regret purcahsing the Sytek preamps either. One nice thing is that they are fairly affordable, and they do hold vlaue pretty well. Its a tough call. I guess in this case at least you are sort of looking at a win-win scenario:)
 
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