Just bought an M-Audio Tampa

  • Thread starter Thread starter LemonTree
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LemonTree

LemonTree

Suck 'em and see!
After a lot of reading on here I went out and bought myself an M-Audio Tampa today. I own a medium frame Allen & Heath Saber 24/16/16/2 recording console and the pre's in that are pretty dam fine, but I wanted a different flavour and something I could go straight in digital with S/PDIF to the computer.

This thing totaly blew me away with its transparency! I'm still doing cartwheels over the compressor section which is 100 steps up from my Behri composer.

I tried some vocals with my SP B1 and it even made ME sound half way decent, and plugging the bass into it within minutes of twidling a few dials gave a nice fat, punchy warm sound.

I'm off to do some recording. I think I've made a great choice thanks to reading other peoples views on here. I'll report back later.

Alec.
 
now thats what i like too hear. someone that bought something and they love the first time they use it. how often does that happen. i got to get me one some day.
 
I just bought an M-Audio Octane and used it for the first time today and loved it too. :D


WATYF
 
what an amazing investment!

I thought the pre's were great on my Allen & heath Saber 24/16/16/2. The tampa is a whole different story. Ant the built in compressor....sweet sweet sweet! Take my word for it? BAH!

lemontree The songs PENNY and STAR were recorded with a Studio Projects B1 through the TAMPA. I used it for vocals and guitar (seperate takes). I can honestly say this is the CLEANEST recording I've ever achieved.


Alec
 
I've got a Tampa and love it. The compressor is great. I've said it befor. If you don't need a pre its worth the price for the compressor
 
great piece of kit Deepwater...... just took hold of some wharfdale diamond 8.2 pro actives today too. I know you're dealing them on here. Great monitors, I'm rediscovering all my old CD collection. The tampa brought things out in my Studio Projects B1 I never heard before, now I'm hearing amazing detail on the wharfs. Love this site. It's a goldmine!
 
Congrats on your Tampa. I use a Tampa quite often, and always enjoy it's warm clarity. Besides the compressor, the varible impedance is handy, too. I've noticed that the complaints I see about the Tampa are from people who have never used it...they just object to the marketing.
It's an excellent piece of gear!

Terry
 
Hi guys,

Do you have a suggestion on what ratio, attack, and release settings to use for recording vocals with the tampa? How much gain reduction do you guys usually get when compressing?

Lemontree; do you remember the settings that you used for the Penny song?

Thank you very much,

Dan
 
dannynyc said:
Hi guys,

Do you have a suggestion on what ratio, attack, and release settings to use for recording vocals with the tampa? How much gain reduction do you guys usually get when compressing?

Lemontree; do you remember the settings that you used for the Penny song?


I'm also interested in finding some basic settings to start with for this unit. As a compression newbie, I'm a bit at a loss.
 
Not long!

I am SO glad to see this post!

I've been putting my pennies aside for weeks and am now ready to get a pre amp. The Tampa was recommended to me before and I tried it out and loved it... I'm so glad that it is as good as I thought! I nearly gave up early and bought a Presonus Tubepre... I only record acoustic instruments through my Rode NT1000 mic directly into my computer.

... Please reassure me that the extra cash is worth it?!




...Far too excited!!
 
Lemontree...

That recording was done into a Delta 1010 correct
 
deepwater said:
If you don't need a pre its worth the price for the compressor

But the TAMPA lacks line ins, so it can't really be used as a standalone compressor, can it?
 
I thought it doesn't have make up gain ? Not sure, but if it didn't :confused:
 
chadsxe said:
Lemontree...

That recording was done into a Delta 1010 correct

Yeah it was, my setup is in my link.

Fishybob said:
I am SO glad to see this post!

I've been putting my pennies aside for weeks and am now ready to get a pre amp. The Tampa was recommended to me before and I tried it out and loved it... I'm so glad that it is as good as I thought! I nearly gave up early and bought a Presonus Tubepre... I only record acoustic instruments through my Rode NT1000 mic directly into my computer.

... Please reassure me that the extra cash is worth it?!




...Far too excited!!


I think the compressor alone is worth twice the money I paid for it.

Stefan Elmblad said:
But the TAMPA lacks line ins, so it can't really be used as a standalone compressor, can it?

It has a multijack Nutrik connector on the front......I use it as an insert all the time

Tonio said:
I thought it doesn't have make up gain ? Not sure, but if it didn't :confused:

No, it doesn't have a makeup gain but the +20Db gain and pad switches work well in conjunction with the input gain and the compression ratio. I got used to it very quickly.

...5 hits in one day to a 8 month old thread lol. I'm still using and loving the Tampa. I'll have a pair of them soon.

Alec
 
LemonTree said:
.

...5 hits in one day to a 8 month old thread lol. I'm still using and loving the Tampa. I'll have a pair of them soon.


Well, you guys are always saying, "DO A SEARCH"...I did a search. :D
 
LemonTree said:
what an amazing investment!

I thought the pre's were great on my Allen & heath Saber 24/16/16/2. The tampa is a whole different story.


I've been recording double bass (jazz) through an M-Audio Solaris and the Tampa, and I have to agree. It blows the pres on my Soundcraft M12 away for warmth and imaging. You know, it's funny - I keep hearing statements like "it's worth the money for the compressor alone", and I haven't been able to get anything out of the compressor that I like as well as with just using the pre alone. The whole "temporal harmonic alignment" thing may just be silly marketing BS, but the Tampa pre is a different animal from the DMP3, which I also like a lot for stereo recording of grand piano...the Tampa pre seems to get "hot" and "forward sounding" in a very interesting way when you crank it, but stays warm and juicy before that. Right now I like the tone of the gain setting right before the "hot" range, but I can see that last bit of "forwardness" being useful in certain situations. Great unit, thanks for offering your opinions on it.

Now if only I could figure out what to do with the compressor! Maybe on those rare occasions where I record some vocals...
 
I bow down to those awsome acoustic tunes lemon... nice work :) sounds great
 
dammit i have been wanting a tampa for like 6 months now.... i still havent got it.
 
I'd rather have a makeup gain knob then a variable impedance knob. I guess if I owned Vintage Mic's I would care but I don't. I'll wait for the next model to come out with the makeup gain. I've read the company has received allot of complaints about that.
 
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