How important are preamps? (Tascam 424MKIII)

  • Thread starter Thread starter SeaOwl
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SeaOwl

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Hi!
I am going to record a project on a Tascam 424MKIII with a Rode NTK vocal mic and (probably) one or two Oktava MK-012's for the acoustic guitar (any suggestions for good and affordable acoustic guitar mics besides this?).

I'm on a budget, but still want to get the best sound I possibly can.

I'm curious how important a preamp for the microphones would be in achieving this goal. In another post, I saw someone recommend a Mackie 1202-VLZ/1202-VLZ Pro as a very good and affordable preamp. Given the other gear I'm using, would it make a noticable impact on the overall sound quality?

Any opinions?

I must get the gear very soon so I sure hope someone here can help

Sincerely,
Dave
 
Some people rave about the virtues of outboard mic preamps,...

but I'm not one of them.

IMO, your best bet is recording with the 424mkIII's on board mic pre's. It's all self contained, and has a high enough quality preamp that should give you adequate sound recorded to tape.

The most compelling reason I see to use an outboard mic pre, is that if your mics require phantom power, of which the 424mkIII has none.

The Mackie VLZ mixers, although they're fine as far as I know, would be useful as a submixer, but as a 'main' mixer addition to the 424mkIII, IMO would be like a fifth wheel.

F/I, even if the Mackie VLZ mixer boasts >105db of headroom, remember that the cassette tape/dbx recording of the 424mkIII will capture appx ~95db onto tape, so IMO the added 10db of headroom from the VLZ mixer is superfluous.

It would be a nice addition to have the VLZ mixer with the 424mkIII, but is not absolutely necessary.

Bottom line is, whatever works best for you. However you end up recording, will require a minimum of experimentation to find your best configurations & settings.;)
 
thanks so much for your input
yeah, the mics require phantom power so if i decide to have more than two of them running on a take (i'd like to record the songs live), i'll need to get something. the question is do i get a simple phantom power setup or a bonafide preamp.
thanks for your advice on this'
dave
 
mic pre's?

... i agree with reel. a mackie mixer, although the pre amps on them are good, would be redundant (and an expensive way to go just for phantom power). you might consider an inexpensive stand alone mic pre like the studio projects vtb-1, an m audio dmp3, or a presonus blue tube. they all have phantom power, and the vtb-1, and the blue tube have the option of dailing in a little starved plate tube "funk" if that apeals to you. the dmp3 has balanced outs and is pretty nice. i've tried all of them with good results , mixing the gain on them with the preamps (trim) on my 244 portastudio. that's my 2 cents from my somewhat limited experience, but i hope it helps.
good luck- jv
 
oh yeah, by the way...

thanks reel. you helped me out a while back in deciding on a vintage porta. got me a 244 that needed a little work (a couple new switches was all), but its a great machine with very good pre's and overall sound. very happy, and i appreciated the help.
- jv
 
Way cool, man!

The 244 was my first Tascam, and you never forget your first!

It's a great unit, and I still use mine, too.;)
 
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