External preamp for presonus firebox?

[RasLion]

I am about to purchase a small tube amp for recording guitar to my PC via a presonus firebox using an SM57 mic. My question is: will the firebox mic pre's be good enough to handle the job or will I need to buy an external preamp? If so which one should I get? I dont want to spend any more than $300. Thanks

 

[ericlingus]

I have a mesa boogie F50 amp and use the mic pres on my firebox. Sounds fine. I don't think buying a mic pre under 300 dollars will be any better really. So i'd so go for it

 

[shawntp]

late reply here ...but I dont find the firebox's pre's strong enough to drive the SM57's very well. The pre's are good for an interface at that price point ...but they are noisy when you have to crank up the gain.

 

[darrvid]

Can't say I'd really agree with that. I record using a firebox and a 57 and haven't ever had problems "driving" the mic. Just crank up the amp (you're not recording a tube amp at that low of volume are you?). I tend to use my blues jr, so it's pretty much the exact setup as yours Raslion.

From what I hear, you'd be better off saving up to around a $600 for a noticibly better pre than the firebox has.

 

[flamin-gitaur]

I use a 57 with my firebox no problem. Unless I crank the trim up past 80% there is no real noise issues. But like darrvid said, at that point you should crank up your amp a little more anyway.

 

[shawntp]

The tones I am trying to capture are more desireable at a mid-lower volumes. I record with a Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special 30. Its pure class A and I can drop it from 30 down to 5 watts and get some real nice tones doubling an SM57 up with a tlm103 back in the room. I am new to the Firebox and just find the pre's to not drive the sm57's to the level I want.

When I put the SM57 through my Eureka it sounds much cleaner/stronger/better but currently I am using that for the tlm103 ...I am probably grabbing the RNP for some stereo. The firebox WILL drive the SM57 but I don't think it does so without introducing more noise than I want.