mic pre recommendations

  • Thread starter Thread starter JTC111
  • Start date Start date
Fishmed_Returns said:
There is always: NPNG (Supposed to be the next best thing since sliced bread.)[/URL]
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Man, I read some of these reviews and I'm ready to plunk down my money without even hearing the thing. We'd probably all be better served to spend more time finding out what people DON'T like about a unit. You can always find someone to praise anything. I'm sure even the crappiest mic pre in the world has some fans. Where are the haters when you need them?
 
xstatic said:
For 2 Channel pre's only then, the Great River is a good solid start. The Hardy's are also pretty nice, although not quite as "flexible" as the Great River, but you can also add more down the road. If you went with a 500 series lunchbox, there are still places that will give you the lunch box for free with the purchase of 4 modules. This would give you a good way of having some different sounds in your arsenal as well as leaving 2 channels open for expansion. It would push your budget a little though.
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I did some looking into the Lunchbox. It does push the budget a bit, but it does it in a way that makes sense and in a way that while it might cost a little more now, it could save me a little down the road.

I'm now trying to find out how closely the 512 emulates the sound of the older 528. A guy at Mercenary told me it's the same sound but I can never fully believe a salesman so I wrote to someone at API and, without mentioning the 512, asked them to point me in the right direction. If API points me to the 512, that might just seal the deal for me.
 
Don't know if this is at all of interest, but AEA has an interesting thing going on now: they have a demo program for the R92 ribbon mike and the TRP dual channel mike preamp. Seems they will let you demo the pair in your studio at some point between now and July. The TRP is optimized for passive mikes such as ribbon mikes and dynamic mikes and has 83 dB of gain and plenty of endorsements, FWIW. Just something you might want to look into. That combo might be very pleasing on acoustic guitar and vocals and it sounds like they want you to demo the gear. I think the total price for both is less than $1900. I'm going to stop writing about this before I get tempted to call them up. :)

Cheers,

Otto
 
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I beleive Atlass pro audio has a deal where if you buy 4 500 series modules total (you can mix and match brands) you get a free OSA rack and power supply. I have an 11 space OSA rack currently and it came with a killer power supply that is set up to power 2 x 11 space racks in the event that I add another rack down the road. In the case of the Great River preamps, it is actually cheaper by $200 to get 2 of the modules and buy a 6 space API rack, leaving 2 spaces open. If you bought 4 channels of great river (500 series) and an 11 space API rack it comes out to be about $500 cheaper than buying 4 of the standard racked preamps and you would still have 3 open slots in the API 11 space rack.
 
xstatic said:
I beleive Atlass pro audio has a deal where if you buy 4 500 series modules total (you can mix and match brands) you get a free OSA rack and power supply. I have an 11 space OSA rack currently and it came with a killer power supply that is set up to power 2 x 11 space racks in the event that I add another rack down the road. In the case of the Great River preamps, it is actually cheaper by $200 to get 2 of the modules and buy a 6 space API rack, leaving 2 spaces open. If you bought 4 channels of great river (500 series) and an 11 space API rack it comes out to be about $500 cheaper than buying 4 of the standard racked preamps and you would still have 3 open slots in the API 11 space rack.
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From the website, it looks like you get a $50 discount from the rack price with each OSA, Purple or Buzz module that you buy. The Track Pack holds 8 modules and costs $675 - although apparently you can only buy it in combination with modules. So buying 4 modules would still result in paying $475 for the Track Pack and you would still have 4 empty slots. The 11 space OSA rack is $799.
 
Maybe it was not Atlas, or was a different promotion, but I could sear a few weeks ago (maybe even a couple of months ago) I saw a promotion where you could buy any 4 and get a free rack.
 
xstatic said:
Maybe it was not Atlas, or was a different promotion, but I could sear a few weeks ago (maybe even a couple of months ago) I saw a promotion where you could buy any 4 and get a free rack.
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Here is one of the deals at Atlas Pro Audio's wesite:

The OSA "Pack My TrackPack" Special:

Buy 1 OSA Preamp and an OSA TrackPack, get $100 off the reg. price of the Rack!

Buy 4 OSA Preamps and a TrackPack and get $200 off the bundle!

Buy 8 OSA Preamps and get a FREE OSA TRACK PACK & PSU!! (A $599 Savings)
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Fishmed_Returns said:
Here is one of the deals at Atlas Pro Audio's wesite:
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Elsewhere on their site, under Purple Audio, they only say that you get a $50 discount per module towards an OSA rack. They don't have the "buy 8 modules and get a free rack" language. It probably does apply, but I'd check and be really clear about it before proceeding. Oops, my paranoia is showing again. Damn.:D
 
pohaku said:
Elsewhere on their site, under Purple Audio, they only say that you get a $50 discount per module towards an OSA rack. They don't have the "buy 8 modules and get a free rack" language. It probably does apply, but I'd check and be really clear about it before proceeding. Oops, my paranoia is showing again. Damn.:D
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You are right too.

The deal I posted is for buying the OSA modules.
 
Vintage King appears to have the best deal:

Buy any (2) 500 Series modules - get the A Designs HR500 2 Slot Rack 1/2 off-save $150!
Buy any (4) 500 Series modules - get the API 500B6 6 Slot Lunchbox FREE!-save $424!
Buy any (8) 500 Series modules - get the API 500V 10 Slot Rack & L-200 PSU- FREE!-save $1313!

Choose from API, A Designs, AL.SO, Buzz Audio, Chandler, LaChapell, Purple Audio, Shadow Hills, Speck.

But you have to be careful about compatibility. For example, here's what it says about the Chandler Germanium...
"It is compatible with third party racks, but Chandler ****DOES NOT RECOMMEND USE WITH API 500B6 LUNCHBOX**** for lowest noise floor and best performance, use Chandler PSU-500 (5 pin version for API 500V rack or 4 pin version for Averil 11 slot rack)"

Why can't it just be simple?
 
JTC111 said:
Vintage King appears to have the best deal:

Buy any (2) 500 Series modules - get the A Designs HR500 2 Slot Rack 1/2 off-save $150!
Buy any (4) 500 Series modules - get the API 500B6 6 Slot Lunchbox FREE!-save $424!
Buy any (8) 500 Series modules - get the API 500V 10 Slot Rack & L-200 PSU- FREE!-save $1313!

Choose from API, A Designs, AL.SO, Buzz Audio, Chandler, LaChapell, Purple Audio, Shadow Hills, Speck.

But you have to be careful about compatibility. For example, here's what it says about the Chandler Germanium...
"It is compatible with third party racks, but Chandler ****DOES NOT RECOMMEND USE WITH API 500B6 LUNCHBOX**** for lowest noise floor and best performance, use Chandler PSU-500 (5 pin version for API 500V rack or 4 pin version for Averil 11 slot rack)"

Why can't it just be simple?
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Good. Settles that. Some of the vendors have such sprawling websites that there are inconsistencies between pages. Have at it!:D
 
This is true about the power on some racks and modules it seems. It seems like the larger racks should be OK, but the Lunchbox may not have a beefy enough power supply for stuff like the Chandler Module and the LaChapelles.
 
pohaku said:
Good. Settles that. Some of the vendors have such sprawling websites that there are inconsistencies between pages. Have at it!:D
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I wish that settled that. Clearly the lunchbox limits future options. I'm sure I'm better off in the long run trying to find a different module rack. It would be a beautiful thing if a used one showed up somewhere.
 
xstatic said:
This is true about the power on some racks and modules it seems. It seems like the larger racks should be OK, but the Lunchbox may not have a beefy enough power supply for stuff like the Chandler Module and the LaChapelles.
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Exactly. And that could turn out to be an issue for me at some time. This is starting to feel like someone trying to decide between HD-DVD and BlueRay. Who the hell wants to be the last person to pay full price for HD-DVD?
 
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