mic pre advice for my situation

  • Thread starter Thread starter estobaby
  • Start date Start date
E

estobaby

New member
hey all, i know this question has been asked and its all relative to each user anyways but i was hoping for at least a general direction. first off, i have the cakewalk power studio which is the edirol fa 66 firewire interface, i have sonar producer 7 in the mail coming in the next few days. i have a fast computer and everything is stable. looking to get a mic pre with an instrument jack to make above average demos in a jazz/indie/blues area of music but nothing is out of bounds. i ll be playing guitar direct and also singing with an akg perception or at2020,,havent decided on that yet either lol, one track at a time, maybe a bass in the future, also a classical guitar once in a great while. i would really like to warm up the sound. i record everything clean, i ll use clean gain for a crisper feel for guitars and vocals but not really for distortion. i have some money for a pre which is great but on the other hand i have to make a sort of blind decision since if i dont use the money my wife is gonna take it lol~.

so i ve looked at some

art, i know id def have to switch tubes,

sp vtb 1, heard that was a better option tube/ss option, has an insert which could be useful to warm up a channel strip like trackmaster pro

presonus eureka another solid state channel strip
the focusrite twintrack, which looks like it could be useful in alot of situations.

like i said before, i wont be doing any drums, male vocals, electric guitar and classical guitar direct and possibly a bass down the road. my desire and range in vocals is kind of like the range and rasp of the singer of Fuel, with some soft highs like coldplay, though im not really a fan of both groups and thats not really the kind of music im making.

i really like the warmth of a tube but i cant spend 1000 on a decent tube pre, i like the idea of a channel strip, esp like the focusrite twintrack or trackmaster, where it has a light eq and musical compressor so i can get a strong signal and the use amplitube 2 for my guitar effects/sound. i like a minimal eq/compression option when recording just to get a nice strong signal.

i dont know if the solid state pres or channel strips would be a huge upgrade from the edirol pre's, they are clean but there kind of cold. i know "pro mic pres" are 1000s and since i already have preamps on my audio interface i dont know if getting a channel strip or mic pre in the 300- 600 range is worth it, especially if its not a tube. alot of the channel strips seem to be made before many of the sound cards had preamps in them, i definately wouldnt want it to be the same quality or maybe even worse.

i thought of getting the twintrack pro and putting the output signal to the sp vtb 1 insert where i could control the "tube saturation" of the vtb and output that to the edirol interface. i guess i could do that with any non tube pre to give it some warmth,,,would i be better off just getting a compressor and an art tube mp???

well sorry for the length, but i thought i could narrow it down if you all knew what my goals are, music isnt my job, but im hoping with this new home studio it might. also, im not nieve, im not looking to be rich and famous, but i ve played for 15+ years, been in bands and gigged, and have a music degree, so i could be a professional, definately poor lol, musician if i chose, but im not willing to give up my family life and stability. thanks for reading and looking very much to some answers. have a good one
 
These pres are worth a look at :-

ART MPA Gold
M.Audio Tampa
M.Audio DMP3

I wouldn't bother with the ART MP at all!
I used to have a VTB1 which was replaced by the DMP3! Didn't find the tube part particularly useful. The DMP3 is slightly cleaner and quieter than the VTB1 which is what I like. The DMP3 sounds great on acoustic guitar and certain other acoustic instruments and vocals.
The Tampa is more coloured than the DMP3 and is capable of some tube-ish sounds. I like the Tampa on vocals, bass and electric guitar!

I bought my DMP3 for £99/$200 (new) and the Tampa was £96/$190 (s.h.)!!

I haven't tried the ART MPA Gold but it gets a lot of good reports over here.

I chose the DMP3 / Tampa route because it gives me the flexibility of both clean gain (DMP3) and a more character sound (Tampa).
 
Back
Top