mic preamp or new soundcard?

[Bas van Dijk]

Hi there,

I currently doing home recordings on my laptop using my shure SM58 that I perform with. I want to upgrade the sound a bit and decided to buy a Studio Project B1 or B3.
I have a question:
I'm using a Terratac USB soundcard (106 dB SNR/96 kHz, 24 bits, so it's quite good). The problem is it does not have phantom power. I can't spend too much money so my options are: upgrading to, for instance, the edirol USB with Phantom, OR buy an additional mic- preamp and connect that to my current sound card. I've seen cheap pre-amps from Studio projects (VTB-1) or Behringen (Ultragain pro mic 2200).
I have the feeling the second option is the better (cheaper, more versatile, better quality??) but I'm not sure. Any advice?


thanks,
Bas

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

If you're happy with your current soundcard from an A-D conversion point of view then it does seem a bit OTT to upgrade that for the sake of P power.

Are you happy with the preamp in the terratec from a quality point of view or would you want to upgrade in that area anyway? Because you could always just buy an external P power supply for not much money. (Here's one at thommann for €35 clicky).

Another thing to consider, does your current card have a line input? That's what you'd need to go into if using an external preamp.

The VTB-1 is pretty good for the money if you wanted to go that route.

 

[Bas van Dijk]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the reply.

I did not realize that you could buy just a P power supply. How much would that be? I have the feeling (but maybe I'm wrong) that it may be better to buy a pre-amp since recording with my shure the input is sometimes to soft for the soundcard, but more importantly, I still have to go in unbalanced (the Terratac has a large jack mic input only, no XLR). Does this make sense? I'm assuming that if you pre-amp the mic that after that the unbalanced signal is not a problem anymore.
I'm very happy with the quality of the soundcard, it sounds great when I just use the line input (yes, it does have 4 line inputs) with my GT3 guitar effect processor.
So I guess a pre-amp on the line input would be the right choice from what you are saying.

Best wishes,
Bas

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

I added a link to my original post for a €35 p power unit from thomann.

Now i'm not 100% sure on this but I believe you'd be OK with just the standalone p power supply. You'd need an xlr to xlr cable between the mic and the power supply. This cable would carry the required 48 volts up to your condensor mic. You'd then just go from the output of the power supply to the input of your card (female xlr- 1/4" jack).

Maybe someone can clarify this?

I don't have experience with the terratec soundcards but I'd bet that the VTB-1 is a better quality preamp. For the price maybe it would be better to just go with this anyway?

Just thought you might like to know that seperate p power units are out there.

 

[Bas van Dijk]

He Kevin,

Thanks again.
I've always understood that changing from balanced to unbalanced (read XLR to Jack) before the pre-amp is a loss of quality, not sure why.

I'll go for the VMB-1 option anyway, you convinced me

Cheers,
Bas

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

He Kevin,

Thanks again.
I've always understood that changing from balanced to unbalanced (read XLR to Jack) before the pre-amp is a loss of quality, not sure why.

I'll go for the VMB-1 option anyway, you convinced me

Cheers,
Bas

It'll be a drop in gain but not quality. If it was a long cable run then the unbalanced cable would be more susceptible to external inteference. Just a short run from power supply to soundcard wouldn't cause you any problems though.

Good call on the studio projects pre anyway.