Phantom Power Question

J

jimmiebananas

New member
I record using a Boss br-864 standalone recorder. There's only one mic input and it's not powered. I'm new/poor/blah blah so I'm getting a Studio Projects B1 as a condenser. (I have an SM58, but I'd like a condensor for acoustic guitar) I was looking at this to power the mic:

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--ARTPHANIII

My question:
-Does the quality of the power supply matter or will any 48V supply do the trick?

The reason I ask is because it's my understanding that different pres make mics sound different(good quality vs. poor quality). I'm just wondering if that same principle applies to power supplies since you're adding one more thing to plug the mic into before it gets to the recorder. Or does the power supply simply do it's job of providing juice for the mic and nothing else(affect the sound)?

Thanks
 
Thankfully, electricity is more "by the spec" than analog sound. So when something says it gives 48V (and does so without introducing "dirty" power, which changes the game), you should be OK.

The differences you are (correctly) worried about are largely because of analog sound circuitry in pre-amps, typically the "starved tube" valve designs. Both Behringer and ARTS manufacture such beasts, and yes, quality of sound changes subtly, and sometimes dramatically.

I use a MIC200 from Behringer for some applications - http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--BEHMIC200 - and am actually quite pleased with it, though I will be the first to admit that I have used better equipment. :)

But in this case, you are only dealing with the pre of your recording unit, with injected power, so you should be OK.
 
Yeah, that will work. But, for $10 more, you could get this. It's not a great preamp, but it's probably better than what you have built into the boss. At minimum, it would give you a different flavor of preamp for recording. Just a thought.
 
dinorocker:
Thanks for the help, what you said is what I was expecting. Just wanted to make sure

scrubs:
Thanks for the help as well. What you suggested I had already tried with this unit: http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--RLLGCI404
For the rolls interface I ran the RCA line outs from the interface to the RCA line in on my recorder. The result was a much worse sound than using the mic pre direct on my recorder (I'm guessing it's just a shitty pre).
The reason I tried this was because I wanted a better pre for recording than what is built into the Boss unit. I asked a friend of mine and he told me to make sure I connected it to the line in on the recorder. The Rolls interface was pretty much the only one I could find for my budget with RCA line outs.

This leads to another question:
-If I were to get a better preamp would it screw things up if say I ran the mic through the pre and then the pre to the "guitar in 1/4" jack" on the recorder?

To me it seems that might cause problems because then I'd be double-preamping (for lack of a better term) and might mess something up.

Am I wrong or would I only be able to connect a pre through the line-in on the recorder since a line level input doesn't amplify the sound like a preamp does?

Thanks again
 
jimmiebananas said:
-If I were to get a better preamp would it screw things up if say I ran the mic through the pre and then the pre to the "guitar in 1/4" jack" on the recorder?

To me it seems that might cause problems because then I'd be double-preamping (for lack of a better term) and might mess something up.
Click to expand...

I tried that. Once. The wife threw me out of the house for the day, the dogs bolted and the cat had kittens. OK, the latter was because it was time anyway, but I believe the noise had something to do with it.

The pre-amp will have a line-level output, that goes into the live-level input of your recorder. No issues about double pre-amping.

Guitar, like MIC, is a MIC level input. if using outboard equipment, do LINE to LINE.
 
jimmiebananas said:
scrubs:
Thanks for the help as well. What you suggested I had already tried with this unit: http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--RLLGCI404
For the rolls interface I ran the RCA line outs from the interface to the RCA line in on my recorder. The result was a much worse sound than using the mic pre direct on my recorder (I'm guessing it's just a shitty pre).
The reason I tried this was because I wanted a better pre for recording than what is built into the Boss unit. I asked a friend of mine and he told me to make sure I connected it to the line in on the recorder. The Rolls interface was pretty much the only one I could find for my budget with RCA line outs.
Click to expand...

I'm not really familiar with that Boss unit, but I imagine you could either run an external preamp into the 1/4" guitar in, or the 1/4" mic in (with the input trim/gain all the way down). Whichever sounds better. I'm not saying you have to buy an external pre, just that a standalone phantom power unit seems like a waste of money when you can get a whole preamp with phantom for just a few dollars more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top