Mixer vs. Mic preamp

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pkmusic

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Ok this is it. I would like the opinions of my fellow BBS's. For my my next purchase I am debating on whether to get a better mixer or a better mic-pre. My main applications are Rap/R&B, latin salsa, ballads. I was thinking of spending around $1000. I have narrowed it down to Roland VM7100 or the Great River ME-1NV Preamp. I am opened to any suggestions. All I record at the moment are vocals, acoustic guitars, and electric bass. Let me know if you guys would need more info from me. Thank you guys!!!

Here is a list of things I have:

Marshall v67g
Shure SM7b
AKG 4000B
SP VTB-1 Mic Preamp
Roland VM3100Pro w/ RPC-1 card
Yorkville YSM1P monitors
Mogami and Canare cabling (just in case you cared to know)

PC:
Athlon XP 2400+
512 MB PC2100 soon will add more
100GB HD
Vegas Video 3, Acid 4, Sound Forge 6, FL Studio 4.1, CD Architect 5.0
Waves Platinum 3.1 (C1 as my compressor)
Ozone 2.0
 
Simple question - do you need a mixer or just a micpre? If you only need the latter, get just a micpre.
 
I already have a mixer (VM3100Pro) and a mic preamp (VTB-1). I just want to know which should I upgrade first. A better mixer or a better mic preamp? I hear the mic pres that are under $1000 are nothing compared to the ones above that price range. Do you think it is a better investment to go with the Great River preamp than a better mixer of that of the VM3100Pro?
 
Again, a pretty simple question. Do you need a lot of better channels of preamplification, or just one or two of them? If the former, then get a better mixer, and if the latter get the mic pre. :D

If you don't know the answer, then wait until you do before buying.
 
My fault for placing this question (may be a stupid one). I guess what I wanted to know is which one of these would make a greater impact in quality and sound:
Upgrading from:

VM3100Pro ---> VM7100 or anything better

or

VTB1 ---> ME-1NV

At the moment I don't need more channels on a mixer, but I will in the future. I will be upgrading both equipments but just wanted to see which one I should get first.
 
It really depends on what you mean by "or anything better."

If "anything better" means a Neve, Trident, or API console, then I'd say you'd get a very significant step up in sound quality going that route.

If all you're looking for -- or need -- is one channel of something significantly better, then the Great River would be the way to go. It's a very simple concept. If you upgrade the mixer, then you get a lot of channels worth of upgrade. If you upgrade the mic pre, then you get one channel's worth of upgrade.

If all you need is to upgrade one channel significantly, then obviously, you could accomplish this much more practically going the Great River route. If you need to significantly upgrade your mixer, it's probably going to cost a lot more, because you have a lot more channels to upgrade.
 
what they're trying to tell you is that a mixer is a bunch of mic pre's in one "box", so if all your doing is recording one or two things at a time right now. get the better mic pre, because you can get one or two channels of really outstanding, for that much, or like a bunch of channels of pretty okay.

in other words. if you're just record guitar, vox, and bass... get a pre... because you dont need that many channels...
 
pkmusic said:
...what I wanted to know is which one of these would make a greater impact in quality and sound:
Upgrading from:

VM3100Pro ---> VM7100 or anything better

or

VTB1 ---> ME-1NV

At the moment I don't need more channels on a mixer, but I will in the future. I will be upgrading both equipments but just wanted to see which one I should get first.
Click to expand...

Don't forget that you can get a free up-grade by bypassing any unnecessary mixer circuitry, if you're not already doing that.
If the mixer is for monitoring, then the pre's would have more effect on the recording.(?)
Waytne
 
Chess - I have a question.
I have a drumset and I dont play the floor tom. I play the snare and need a really good one. But I have a dire problem. You see - I am trying to figure out if I should buy a better floor tom (because I will probably start using it in the future) or a better snare. Im trying to figure out which will make more impact on my sound. Im thinking that if I buy a floor tom, my sound will improve right now even though I dont need it and wont use it right now. Do you agree?
 
Well, in that case, Scinx . . .

I think you just need a better preamp. :D Perhaps a better a/d converter?
 
Will you ever record more than 2 mics at a time ? if you don't, you don't need a mixer. If you buy a 2 channel preamp for 1000$ you'll theoretically need 16000$ for a 16chnnel mixer with compareble qualities.

QUOTE]Originally posted by Scinx
Chess - I have a question.
I have a drumset and I dont play the floor tom. I play the snare and need a really good one. But I have a dire problem. You see - I am trying to figure out if I should buy a better floor tom (because I will probably start using it in the future) or a better snare. Im trying to figure out which will make more impact on my sound. Im thinking that if I buy a floor tom, my sound will improve right now even though I dont need it and wont use it right now. Do you agree? [/QUOTE]

well ... i'm not chess but ...
The kick and the snare (and hihatt maybe) form the basics of your drums. Floor toms are mostly used for fills ins. I said Mostly !
So If your snare is rather sucky, then get a good snare, cus your gonna hit it at least a 100 times each 100bpm 2minute song :D
and also, it's amazing what you can reach with tuning your drums you know. Try tuning it very well before you deside buying something else.
-greetz
 
If your snare sounds good and your floor doesn't, maybe you should learn how to tune or improve technique ...

....




Herwig ;)
 
My statement was overly sarcastic. If you read closely you will see it is the same idea as the question posed. And if you read closely, you will see the question isnt the brightest.
And thanks Chess - your answer solves all my troubles (right now):D
 
Scinx said:
My statement was overly sarcastic. If you read closely you will see it is the same idea as the question posed. And if you read closely, you will see the question isnt the brightest.
And thanks Chess - your answer solves all my troubles (right now):D
Click to expand...

No problem, Scinx. And don't worry about your humor going right over some of these guys' heads. :D They're a little slow sometimes. :D lol. Whooooooooosshhhhhh ! ! ! ! ! Was that a bird, or a large insect?
 
If you're using the Roland Studio Pack the weak link is really the preamps and ADCs. A couple good preamp channels would help tremendously and so would a few channels of convertors that you could SPDIF to the Roland.
 
Scinx said:
My statement was overly sarcastic. If you read closely you will see it is the same idea as the question posed. And if you read closely, you will see the question isnt the brightest.
And thanks Chess - your answer solves all my troubles (right now):D
Click to expand...

damn, and i almost thought i helped somebody :)
looks like you should give your jokes a little more of that sarcastic touch ... or maybe I should go get some sleep ...
 
Scinx,
I am still trying to figure out the connection b/t the snare / tom sarcastic example and my question. Again my question on this post may be not a good one. Sorry about that. But maybe the point you were trying to make with sarcasm is a good point but I don't see the connection. Help this rookie understand what you meant to say. Thanks

I will upgrade all my equipment in the future but one at a time since I am a poor boy. Just wanted to know if my mixer is limiting me more than my preamp is when it comes to my recordings.
 
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