Drum Pramps

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fibes

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I own an Allen & Heath Mixwizard (16 channel). I use this exclusively for drums. I would like to upgrade one of the preamps for the kick drum. I would first like to know what will an upgrade do for the sound? And how much do I need to spend for the upgrade to be worthwhile? Please give makes and models with prices. Thanks.
 
The questions you ask are quite debatable, and you'll get as many opinions on them as we have registered members. :D

A few things to keep in mind, though, in your selection process:

* For drums, solid state will usually give you more accuracy and detail (over tubes), untill you get in to the really high price ranges. Although some people prefer tubes for kick and/or snare for it's innacuracies (a little warmth/aggressiveness/distortion).

* A preamp's slew rate can be a telling figure for how accurately it can perform on drums. It's a figure that is expressed, I believe, in volts per millisecond (or something like that). :D Anyway, a higher slew rate means it has a better chance of responding accurately to quick transients (like those from drums).

Anyway, the Grace Design supposedly blows anything in it's price range out of the water in terms of it's slew. This would lead me to think it might be a good choice on drums. The Syteks are supposed to be very fast-responding, as well, and they can be had very reasonably (although I have heard some stories that it is sometimes easy to clip them at the input, so you should probably have pads).
 
Everybody has their own taste, of course.

Personally, accuracy is about the least important thing I look for in a preamp when close mic'ing drums. After all, who listens to a drum kit in real life with their ears a couple of inches from the kick or snare? (If they do, they better start learning ASL). So an "accurate" capture of the sound of a drum from 2" away is not high on my priority list.

My most important criteria in a preamp (for drums) are does it help to get a ballsy sound and does it have enough headroom. The API 3124+ is a nice piece that fits those criteria, which, although pricey, gives you 4 channels, so the price per channel is not that bad. (about $650 per channel?)

The Vintech 1272 is probably the cheapest Neve-sounding option. (about $600 per channel for two channels).

I've also mic'ed whole drumkits using the 8 channel ATI 8MX2 with great results. It's reviewed for some reason in the August 2002 issue of Pro Audio Review, even though the unit has been in production for many years. (Not sure of current street prices, but I imagine around $300 per channel. Also functions as an 8x2 mixer as a bonus.)

I won't even get into the issue of the absurdity (in my opinion) of buying a preamp based on specs as opposed to the sound. That's already been kicked to death on a neighboring thread.
 
See what I mean? :D

That's only two down, and we still have . . . how many more members/opinions to go, yet?
 
fibes what mic you using on the kick? that would make id say double the diffrence then the preamp then id ask what techniques do you use for micing it then if that didnt work id get a simple cleam pre say a m-audio dmp3
 
Alright, so that's one vote for accurate . . . one vote for dirty . . . and one for, uh, something else.

You probably realize I'm going to have to chime in sometime with a recommendation for the Triple-stage Tube Exciter combination from Behrlari (derived from combining the names Behringer and Bellari). It is going to take over the preamp world as we know it and turn all crappy mixes everywhere in to nothing but silky cream "wow-I-can't-believe-it" triple-faux tube excitement, smooth as butta slama-jama bing-bamma bonanza in your buhandsa.
 
chessrock said:
Alright, so that's one vote for accurate . . . one vote for dirty . . . and one for, uh, something else.

You probably realize I'm going to have to chime in sometime with a recommendation for the Triple-stage Tube Exciter combination from Behrlari (derived from combining the names Behringer and Bellari). It is going to take over the preamp world as we know it and turn all crappy mixes everywhere in to nothing but silky cream "wow-I-can't-believe-it" triple-faux tube excitement, smooth as butta slama-jama bing-bamma bonanza in your buhandsa.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even bother recording drums. Bands with drums are on the way out they say.

Save that preamp cash for something useful, like stocking the studio bar.
 
TexRoadkill said: "Spend the dough on better drums."
...and players.
Now there's the killer isn't it? But for that, the rest is for not.
Wayne
 
chessrock said:
And for extra coffee.
Click to expand...

Don't forget a good coffee maker. ;)

You can send that dough to me, and I'll be your personal consultant.

Really though, your board pre's are excellent. If you're micing your kick with a condenser, then maybe consider a better pre for a particular "colored" sound, but if you're just using a dynamic for kick and not getting the sound you want, you're just going to have to spend a lot of time tuning, re-tuning, mic placing and re-placing - if all else fails, you may have to consider a different mic as some kick mics have a kind of "signature sound."
 
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jitteringjim, bands with drums are on their way out? Who says that? Will everything become electronica? What is to happen to all the drummers? Someone save them! Quick! .....................Sorry it has been a long day at work.
 
electronica is overrated and aging quickly


the pres on your mixer should be fine really. as others asked what mike are you using on your kick now? That will make the largest difference.

Also on your board I would run a compressor on the aux send/return and really pump up the compression on the kick channel. Htat is wher eyou are going to get alot of power

Or do like me and buy a DM5
 
or like me... the DMPro! woohoo (alesis: maker of the world's most inexpensive drum modules. roland:maker of good drum modules:D)
 
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