no preamp vs cheap preamp

[TomBo777]

Maybe you should go to the attic, take some pictures and eBay that old stuff. Turn it into money to buy some new gear with. That's what I've done. I had enough gear stored in my garage to build a complete studio B with. But it was a waste to have it sitting there, basically money sitting in a garage. So I sold it off and bought a few great new pieces for my studio.

Im on the road right now but thats exactly what I intend to do. Sell nearly everything and simplify. as long as I can buy without going into pocket.
I really did not think the was a market for old prosumer and budget recording gear. Maybe there is.


from the Mackie boards to the old Drum modules.... its all going. Im keeping the Meek, the Rode, my modules,the Pro VLA, and my Yamaha REV500, The rest is going. I even have a double rack space old Ashly parametric EQ up there.

Im looking to buy the TAscam 1884 DAW possibly, some active monitors, (don't know which yet, (not genelec or that ilk) Perhaps MS5, Event, or Warfdale, MAckie....... I have a lot of old gear, even those old DBX compressors. Im an optical compression fan. I do have a couple of the Behringer compressors and exciter collecting dust, a few Midiverb 4s , DATS, Quadraverbs, Effextron Delta and MXR delays.....Vestax 4tk HD recorder LOL

Yeah Ebay here I come for sure. I will need a stereo pre amp as well. The Twin Q maybe?.....Its gonna be fun but the real reason Im doing it is to simplify the setup and slim down from a whole room of crap to a smaller workspace for the gear. 127 patch points to just a maybe 24. No snakes! LOL

 

[MISTERQCUE]

OK it's my turn to add my .02 cents worth.......

For the author of this excellent thread, a pre will be needed to attain proper line-levelling/impedance matching when recording. Pre's range in prices starting from $150 all the way up to "Bill Gates' " type-money.
Obviously expensive, upper-ended pre's yield top notch performance.However due to the need of hi-quality yet affordable audio/recording products for the ever-increasing/expanding owners of home studios, many major audio/rec'ding Cos. along with several new entrants in the field have produced quality gear at budget prices.
From the low end of the spectrum, an ART MP, street $50, distributes adequate results for the most basic of needs while the DMP3 is an excellent unit with little or no signal coloration with a db pad/gain of 65 and equipped with old-skool VU's ($145-200 dependant on location). A bit higher @ $500, the GraceDesign 101 is a superb unit especially on bass (I'm a biased instumentalist).
The solidly constructed exterior (designed to protect the unit's delicate circuitry and components) of the 101 is a direct contrast to it's clean output perf on acoustics and hi-sensitivity mics.

A few other notable mic pre's I've had the pleasure to audience not requiring a 2nd mortgage on your house are:

SEBATRON's VMP1000E-street $850/975-single chan pre with Class-A amp'ing,solid state circuitry passing thru a 12AT7 valve and a passive EQ path.

Joe Meek 3Q & TwinQ$185+(single chan) & $750+(dual chan) respectively with the latter offering dig connections via SPDIF with smplg rts fr 44.1 to 96 and more than capable of handling hi-sens signals of up to 20+ dbu's. Each comes with a compressor (though attack/release settings don't conform to norm of most dynamic processors>>>speed is bit slower) and eq.

DAVISOUND TB1 2 chan @ $550+ and AVALON U5 @ $640+ both yield quality results with uncolored signal translation.

Behringer!!?? Stay far away!!! VERY FARRRR AWAY!!!!!!!!!

 

[SonicAlbert]

Im looking to buy the TAscam 1884 DAW possibly, some active monitors, (don't know which yet, (not genelec or that ilk) Perhaps MS5, Event, or Warfdale, MAckie....... I have a lot of old gear, even those old DBX compressors. Im an optical compression fan. I do have a couple of the Behringer compressors and exciter collecting dust, a few Midiverb 4s , DATS, Quadraverbs, Effextron Delta and MXR delays.....Vestax 4tk HD recorder LOL

Yeah Ebay here I come for sure. I will need a stereo pre amp as well. The Twin Q maybe?.....Its gonna be fun but the real reason Im doing it is to simplify the setup and slim down from a whole room of crap to a smaller workspace for the gear. 127 patch points to just a maybe 24. No snakes! LOL

You might be surprised how much you get for some of that stuff. And how little for others!

I use the Mackie HR824 monitors and like them. The big Events are the ones you should be looking at, not the smaller models. Some friends of mine have a pair and love them. They sound very good. The Wharfdales or MS5's, there are better options in my opinion. Another brand to look at is Dynaudio. Check out their BM6 or BM15. They come in both active and passive models.

I have a policy that if I don't use a piece of gear within a certain amount of time it goes. The amount of time varies, it's a judgement call sometimes, but if I don't use I get rid of it. I'm just trying to avoid that situation of having unused gear cluttering up my studio (or garage). I find it keeps the work flow much faster and more efficient if there isn't a lot of "legacy" gear in the way. So if it's in here, it's getting used.

Don't slim down too far or you might find yourself missing something! I have made a few mistakes in selling things that I later wished I hadn't, but overall I've missed very little of it.

The thing that has made me the most happy is selling lower quality gear and buying a few higher quality items. That has made an *enormous* difference. There's no question in my mind that better gear not only improves my sound, but it is more satisfying and enjoyable to use as well.

Stereo preamps. The TwinQ lists at $1,000 and streets at $800. Other preamps in that price worthy of consideration are the Groove Tubes BRICK, FMR RNC, the Sytek four channel unit, and the Malcolm Toft AFC2 or ATC2. If you like the general concept of the Meek, then the Toft ATC2 might appeal to you. I've heard good things about that Meek though too.

 

[regebro]

And for the budget of one of these preamps you can get a complete homestudio running. Without which the preamp is just a pretty heap of crap.

 

[SonicAlbert]

And for the budget of one of these preamps you can get a complete homestudio running. Without which the preamp is just a pretty heap of crap.

Okay, but I was responding to TomBo777, who already has the other stuff. And he may be able to get a lot more than $800-1,000 for his attic gear repository, depending on how much stuff he has up there.

I did really well once I finally cut loose and sold my old gear. Into five figures. It's totally worth it to turn over gear you aren't using and put the money toward something you will use, or to upgrade.

 

[TomBo777]

Judging what I have and what the stuff is going for on Ebay...Im thinking I can get around $3000-$6000 for all of it. I really have a lot of gear I don't use. Some of it is racked. Most f it is in the boxes in the attic.

I love the Joe Meek VCQ-1 so Im leaning towards the twin Ql for my Triton and other Modules. Thats all I need a Stereo Pre Amp for. The Dyn Audio stuff is more high end than I need to go. Events yes...... I do want an 8" min sized woofer although I have a sub, I recently had the opportunity to hear the Mackie HRs.vs Alesis MK 2 ..Thats where I have issues. The Mackies are another $600 and Im not sure they sounded that much better. IM used to the old Monitor Ones though. They have become my personal NSM's lol. Its really hard to change monitors after years of using the same no mattr what they are. I like the old RS Minumus 7's as well for small sized reference.

My biggest decision and expense is going to be the DAW interface. Fireface, Tascam, Motu, YAmaha, .....Thats going to be the heart of the system and the pre amps are going to have be be at least as good as the Mackies. Im leaning towards the Tascam as that is where I began 30 years ago on the 3340S.........Payback time!!

 

[SonicAlbert]

So you will be using the DI inputs on the preamp for your synths? My only thought about adding another Meek is that you already have that sound. It might be worth it to have a second stereo preamp that is a little different.

As far as monitors, check out the Event Precision 8's. I also used to use those little Radio Shack speakers as a sort of Auratone simulator. Then I went to Yamaha powered bookshelf speakers with 4" speakers. Now I'm moving over to KRK V4's as my second set of monitors. Haven't bought them yet, but I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to get.

As far as the DAW, don't rule out ProTools. A Digi 002R system might work well for you. The software is great in my opinion. Very mature design, with tons of input over the years from professional recording engineers. Maybe not as whiz-bang as some other stuff, but meat and potatoes, really solid.

I use a Digi 002R, and also a MOTU system with Digital Performer. Yeah, I actually use two DAW's!

If possible, you should visit other people's studios and check out their DAW's "in flight" as it were. I did that starting out, and it gave me a great idea of what I liked and didn't like without having to invest a penny first. I found people helpful and friendly, very willing to share some of their time in showing me how their gear worked. Of course I was hanging with friends, or friends of friends.

Nothing beats seeing the software and hardware in action. From there it is easier to pick out a system you will be happy with.

 

[TomBo777]

I thought i'd use the stereo pre for the inputs from the Synths unless I can get at least Mackie quality Pre amps on the DAW. I like the Meek stuff and I don't believe I have the ears to hear the sonic character between mid priced pre amps (or even higher priced ones for that matter). I'm kinda strange that way. I live in Las Vegas where there are dozens of supposedly really good italian resturants. I have one I love, for years, and no interest in even trying the others...unless Carluccios goes out of business.

Im not that much of a "micro" listener or mixer in these years. I have friends who will EQ and mess with a single track for hours. I'm not that anal, thank Goodness. In fact he is a Pro Tools MAC guy and we always debate the PC/MAc issue.

I have no desire to change formats now. I have been on the PC platform with Cakewalk since the first DOS version and I especially don't care for anything propietary...like TDM. I have a ton of Direct X plug ins, softsynths and all the VST softsysnths and stuff as well...Nah..No Pro Tools for me in this lifetime. The SOnar 4 Producer Package is so good now I can't see how anything can be much better. I also have and used Nuendo 1.5. Always went back to the familiar.

I have friends with a PC based Neundo system and another as mentioned with The BIg boy Pro Tools set up on a MAC in his "floating Studio". This guy is as anal as they come with his special caulking for his totally isolated floating isolated basement studio. They both seem to work well. Both users are fast and obviously know their software. But Sonar has everthing I need and much much more with it's Loop recording and creating and softsynth technology. Besides Im getting $900 software for $179 on the up grade path.

I need to take a look at Fire face and a Mackie interface combo, otherwise its most likely the TAscam and a stereo Pre amp. Im one of the few who really have no issue with Mackie Pre amps for general use. Not vocals or Ac GTr.

 

[SonicAlbert]

Sonar looks good. If I was on a PC that's what I would use (along with PT LE).

Way off topic:

I'll have to try Carluccios next time I'm in Vegas. I have a few favorite places I eat in the casinos when I visit, but I don't know what's outside of those very well. When I'm working in Vegas I usually end up eating wherever I'm playing. Carluccios, definitely will give that place a try. My grandpa was born and raised in Naples, Italy, so I have a soft spot for Italian food. Must be in the blood!

 

[dcomerford]

pre- amp A/b

I thought i'd use the stereo pre for the inputs from the Synths unless I can get at least Mackie quality Pre amps on the DAW. I like the Meek stuff and I don't believe I have the ears to hear the sonic character between mid priced pre amps (or even higher priced ones for that matter). I'm kinda strange that way. I live in Las Vegas where there are dozens of supposedly really good italian resturants. I have one I love, for years, and no interest in even trying the others...unless Carluccios goes out of business.

Im not that much of a "micro" listener or mixer in these years. I have friends who will EQ and mess with a single track for hours. I'm not that anal, thank Goodness. In fact he is a Pro Tools MAC guy and we always debate the PC/MAc issue.

I have no desire to change formats now. I have been on the PC platform with Cakewalk since the first DOS version and I especially don't care for anything propietary...like TDM. I have a ton of Direct X plug ins, softsynths and all the VST softsysnths and stuff as well...Nah..No Pro Tools for me in this lifetime. The SOnar 4 Producer Package is so good now I can't see how anything can be much better. I also have and used Nuendo 1.5. Always went back to the familiar.

I have friends with a PC based Neundo system and another as mentioned with The BIg boy Pro Tools set up on a MAC in his "floating Studio". This guy is as anal as they come with his special caulking for his totally isolated floating isolated basement studio. They both seem to work well. Both users are fast and obviously know their software. But Sonar has everthing I need and much much more with it's Loop recording and creating and softsynth technology. Besides Im getting $900 software for $179 on the up grade path.

I need to take a look at Fire face and a Mackie interface combo, otherwise its most likely the TAscam and a stereo Pre amp. Im one of the few who really have no issue with Mackie Pre amps for general use. Not vocals or Ac GTr.

I have Cubase SX and nice set of Waves plugs among others so I was only interested in front end.
I almost went down this road and even ordered an Avalon 737sp just to kill the debate in my mind. Sweetwater and everyone else has a back order so cancelled and a studio friend loaned me a UA 6176 which is a proper peice of
kit. History first:
1)I was happy tracking with my mackie1202 through the summing buss and into a 2496 till I read the summing buss and 60 feet of internal wire weren't helping things.
2) there was 20% improvement in top end using the VLZ to 24/96 m-audio card, joy !!
3) then I bought a light buld tube ( prosonus BlueTube DP) which sounds like
a modern mackie transparent IC pre with the tube not engaged. Tube in is good for effect but not vox and no roundin.
4) My friend bought a Fire POD for band practice and tracking ( it did sound better than the mackie /M audio combo.
5) I went to buy the FirePod and changed at the last minute to the new Mackie 400F for repued better convertors and the New Onyx pre-amps.
6) the biggest gain was in the Mackie convertors over the 2496 audiophile and Delta 66 ( noticably darker and less tight, but an esoteric 5-6 % improvement) but the mackie doesn't have consumer line option so you'll
use up some pre's on your keyboards and POD among other things cause the +4 isn't hot enough ( glad I kept the1202 mixer with the 4 extra pre's to bump up my MS 2000 or any other keyboard you have)
7) now we could test the Pro kit A/B/C

a) UA6176 pre- vox, bass tracked to cubase with 4:1 compression and
3db reduction
b) Bluetube (tube off, clean) Renn. Waves Compressor with same reduction levels
c) Onyx with Renn, Waves compressor with same reduction.

I could not here the difference ( the UA is less harsh in sylbiss hi-eq) but its
so, so, so tiny

So it went pre to pre
a) UA 610b portion of the 6176
b) Bluetube ( tube off) trust me tube on is a fuzz box no rounding
c) Onyx

the UA pre is drivable and prints hotter, darker than both the Presonus and Onyx ( less harsh hi-eq....but this is esoterically slight)
The onyx was brighter and seems like maybe it might make nylon gut, strings click a little more. with bluetube being a hair less bright than onyx.
But, after everything got a little mild transparent compression in Waves it sounded ...well the same. I think thats fair as the nature of driven tubes in a
$1000 channel is that it does a little compression on its own.
I don't track drums so I couldn't tell you and it might show up more here.

All differences where so slight I spent many sessions returning to my Tannoy passives and scratching my head.
More testing with different mic's and Bass dirrect. Days of testing and wanting to love this big UA6176 and glowing on my desktop; well, not $2400 worth of love.
Now, changing mic's made tangable differences. The new 400F convertors also made a real difference in clarity, spend your money on a RME or Apogee
AD/DA box for gitter free line or your not gonna hear the very subtle diff. in pre's anyway....well before somebody ripps it MP3 ..ha ha

I'd spend my money on mic's and pluggins !!! And, for $2400 bucks you can
buy a lot of sonic variation ( Waves, UAD, a few dynamics , mic's and a couple of Condensor mics) These pluggs have harmonic saturation and analog sound modeled into them!

The proof is in the fact that if you go to the Univeral Audio web page they have demos A and B of they're LN1176 vintage conpressor and the womans vox is tracked through a Mackie 1604 VLZ .....why not a 610B pre or 110 pre.
and it sounds good.

If the performance isn't there no pre-amp will save it.!!
If you need a varitey of good mic's and pre's rent the space from
a professional studio after you've worked up all your tracks a home.
$400 will buy you a block of time, songs tracked in a good space ,
a demo of 15K worth of kit and education on how to mic up the thing your trying to record.
Here is a guy who has a dozen pre-amps, top flight mic's and experiance
placing them. Then bring it all home to your personal studio DAW and over dub your perfect tracks.. you with probably discover the perfect Grace 201
ribbon mic combination that does what you want and then save your money for that cause after I started borrowing this UA 6176 I started looking over $1000 mic 's to go with and then slapped myself.
Going to this board and asking opions before dropping $2400 is a shot in the dark. After you get baseline Mackie pre's or PreSonus firepod, or DMP 2
its like spending $700 on a good moutain bike verse $2500...4% better competitive advantage for 3 times the price.
I'll be giving the UA 6176 and the Manely Refernce gold mic back and live happily with the Onyx 400F and GT 55 Fet mic.
I'm gonna spend that money on a good Convolution reverb plug , AT4060 tube mic and an M-160 ribbon first. Things that make a differnce.

 

[warble]

go buddy sdgyznstyer,yhfdzhgfzh,rezghrneTg

Huh

 

[dcomerford]

pro pre-amps verses mackie, FirePOD, VTb-1

to clarify the ramble....words like, open, full, tighter in refernce to pro preamps
seem to imply massive gains in audio quality...and when I got to compare a piece
with newer base level pro-summer pre -amps its really suble shades of fuller, tighter, open. Also, download the John Hardy PDF on how to evaluate pre-amps.
(mic-pre-amp-speaker ") to hear the diff. rather than most (people mic-pre- convertor AD- into computer- out the summing DAW - back through your convertor DA- out the summing buss on your control room amp - to the studio amp- and out the studio moniters.)
Maybe these other guys on homerecording BBS have perfect rooms with HR 824's
and a pure path Natilus level matching monitor amp; but I don't. I think the Art and Beringer are thin but the diffence in a VLZ to $1000 per channel is subtle and maybe lost on someone who owns a Delta 66 breakout box,no conversion at box ( some Caps and 6 feet of cable sapping all the hi-freq out of your tracks ) down to a PCI card that is 2 inches from five other beating clocks in the'electro-magnetic" hell thats in a computor. Just getting a Firebox with firewire and having an outboard clock with DA
conversion at the rack made a big change in open fullness and detail.

So when someone ask about getting an expensive pre over they're $69 Art box ( which kind of indicates they are recording through a pro-summer card) advising the $1000 channel pre-amp isn't the first place to start.

For the price of (one) premium channel strip you can buy an RME fireface with 4 good pre-amps and convertors good enough to hear any future exotic purchases. If you blow $1700 on an ISA430 Focusrite blue mic pre and run that into some M-audio box.........man you'll have blown a lot of cash and maybe not hear what you think.

dc

 

[BigRay]

id rather save my money and buy decent mid to top shelf stuff. Potted meat and spam will fill you up but steak tastes better and has higher nutritional value.

what kills me is seeing posts like "what is the best equipment..." there IS no such thing..jeesh/...

 

[cactuseskimo]

Pre Amps are one of the most over rated pieces of gear...The Preamp is the holy grail on the recording message boards.............BS.......You will get great results with a mid priced pre amp. Save the big bucks for your monitors. There you will hear whats right or wrong with your gear or music.

The Pre Amps on the SoundCraft Folio are nice, even the Mackies and the Art stuff is not bad for those on a lower budget. You will sell your CDs if your music is good and most people will not know the difference. Hell most people cannot tell synth horns from real ones and most people don't listen to a CD as an only activity either in an anacholic chamber....more likely a noisy car or on a pocket player though $10 earphones.

I use a Joe Meek VCQ1 and also have a couple ART MP'a and an ART VLA. I have been a gear whore for 25 years and of all the CDs I have produced and sold I never got a CD back becaue it did not technically sound quite right or I used a terrible pre amp lol .........content is another thing..LOL

I wish I had the quality/price ratio today you younger guys have....I have spent less time trying to get decent equiptment and noise from my studio and more time making music.............Guys on this board are making nice recordings with Octiva Mics and ART MP 's Check out the mic forum.

This is all very true, and I think in a similar fashion. BUT, if you're trying to do more than to sell CD's out of the trunk of your car, or at the "merch" table, then unfortunatley you will have to produce something that is also "industry standard" to give to the industry execs in your press kits.

I know you hear that it doesn't matter - that you could give them a cassette, and as long as the song idea is good , yadda, yadda, yadda. The fact is, those guys go through 100's of CD's a day, and their ears are more fine tuned than the average fan. If your recording sounds like garbage right off the bat . . I'm sure that's where it will end up.

 

[rsolinski]

Don't kid yourself...It is ALL about the mic, the pre and the room (if the performance is good to begin with)...if you can't hear the difference between a 1073 and a vtb-1 then perhaps another line of work is in order...no meaness intended as I can't afford a 1073 either BUT..I don't pretend my mackies are gold...when one hears a good chain it freezes you in your tracks ...and makes you buy that lottery ticket!

Ray

 

[on3wingangel]

I don't think the Rolex is a good analogy. I think people tend to forget that this is home recording. I'm not saying that the pres don't matter but telling someone not to use a cheap preamp and to save up for an expensive preamp is not going to cut it. The beginner will buy this preamp and be very very very upset to find that to him-- the novice home recordist-- that his preamp sounds no different than a mid entry level preamp. He does not know all the buttons and stuff and when you are a beginner you can't even tell if you like home recording yet. I know if I would have saved my money and never bought a cheap piece of gear I would not know any of the stuff i do now, because I would probably not have that 4k preamp/whatever yet. I think what he was trying to say was that the average fan who buys the artist's cd is not going to be able to tell a significant difference in the pres. I don't think many people buy gear to look cool or whatever, that is what diamonds and shrimp are for. I think the best way to educate people on gear is to list exactly what you have and post mp3 examples. I would loooove to hear someone really skilled post a sound clip of a good song recorded with a bad room and next to nothing equipment. This would show you not that the expensive gear is worthless but that you can get alot out of what you have with the right skills. Why else do we still look at oldies recordings and wonder how the heck they did that with that stuff?

 

[Reilley]

If he's on a real budget and looking at the DMP and the ART preamps, then the rest of this thread is pretty much meaningless. Of the two, I'd pick the DMP3. Mine is like a crescent wrench - I use it all the time. Nice pre at a killer price.

I don't have much experience with better pres, but I prefer the DMP3 over the ART and both over the low end Presonus. I've gotten distracted with the Mackie Onyx pres lately, though; I just bought a big Onyx mixer and now I'm lugging the damn thing everywhere just to use the preamps.

Good post.

 

[sound125]

Save the big bucks for your monitors. There you will hear whats right or wrong with your gear or music.

You can throw all the money you want at studio monitors, but most folks listen to music on inexpensive sound systems with cheap speakers, so everything you hear won't necessarily translate into what they hear.

 

[MCI2424]

Your buddy Gary has a pretty impressive list of gear. There are two Behringer pieces on his list, one a denoiser and the other a T1952 compressor. He also has a Manley Vari-Mu and a bunch of DBX, Aphex, Valley, etc. To imply that this guy proudly displays his "garbage" is to miss his entire point I believe.

He doesn't use Behringer preamps, and has a pretty killer mic collection. Let's not even mention his 9 foot Steinway concert grand, the D&R console, and on and on.

I agree with your idea of putting big bucks into the monitors, as that is crucial for a studio. However, I've compared $1,000 a channel preamps to the stuff in low cost boards like those made by Mackie and TASCAM among others, and I've also compared them to low end outboard pres. *No comparison*.

As far as your Rolex comment: you don't record through a wristwatch but you do record through a preamp. The better the preamp the better the sound. It's not about impressing, it's about the sound.

Me personally, I want to be impressed by the sound. I don't spend money on high end gear to impress others, the gear has to impress *me* for me to pull out the wallet.

There's a whole mentality going around on some of these message boards that somehow people that spend heavy money on expensive gear are doing it to impress others or be snobs. I can only speak for myself, but the only reason I buy expensive gear is because it sounds great. I don't care about impressing anybody with a gear list. I don't advertise my gear list, and it's not up on my site. If I could get the same sound in cheaper gear, you bet I would do it, in a split second. But that is just not the way it works. Quality costs money.

That's why I would advise the original poster of this thread to save up for some real preamps rather than waste the money on cheapies. The difference between a quality preamp and a low end model is startling. I personally wouldn't go below a Grace 101, GT BRICK, FMR RNP. From there on up you have some good options. You get into another level at $1,000 a channel.

This post makes too much sense, You, sir, should be flamed to death. Get your suit on.

 

[Doug H]

Ive heard good and bad things about the cheaper preamps. I am not super picky, but I cant have things distorting and stuff. Most of the stuff I will be recording is metal. Is it absolutely necessary to have a preamp? If so, what should I get? Im on a budget (arent we all ) and Ive been looking at some of the ART preamps, and the Delta DMP3.

Also, would a "good" solid state preamp be better than a cheap "starved plate" tube preamp?

Do you guys think it would be worth it just to go without a preamp for a while and save up for something in the 6-800 dollar price range?

Any help/advice is appreciated.

That's what I'm doing. Don't blame me if this short ciruits your gear, but I'm currently running my amp mic straight into the board, no pre. If you have a balanced input and the source in loud it could actually work pretty good. I'm living with a bit of a noise floor right now, I'll still use my dmp3 when I feel like it.

A big reason for me is I don't want to fry ny ribbon mic making a mistake with the phantom switch on my dmp3, and I hate switching cables all the time.