pre-amp with interface

[musicman1234]

hey all, a new member here.

i have pretty good studio experience, but this is a question for people who know more than me.
i recently purchased a tascam us-1641 interface, and a ART tube mp pre-amp. my question is:

when routing my condenser microphone thru the tube pre-amp (which takes care of phantom power), should i output the pre-amp via its XLR to one of the interface's 8 xlr ins, or should I 1/4" it out, and plug it in via TRS to the interface. is there a difference? the interface apparently has a built-in preamp on the 8 xlr's- would that make a difference?
thanks!

 

[JohnBJohn]

I have the exact same setup as you and as far as I can figure (I'm no expert), you don't really want to preamplify the signal twice, so what I do is send it to input 9 or 10 which also have preamps but are meant for line level signals (when their respective buttons are depressed). The output signal of your ART is line, so you'd do best to send it to a line input.

 

[KineticSound]

...you don't really want to preamplify the signal twice, so what I do is send it to input 9 or 10 which also have preamps but are meant for line level signals...

Correct. You don't want to run through both pre-amp circuits; the only way around that is to run balanced (TRS) line-level between the preamp and the interface.

Just a thought - you might experiment with running your mic directly to one of the preamps on the Tascam, bypassing the ART altogether. You'd be surprised how clean the Tascam's pre's are...

 

[musicman1234]

kudos for the help, guys!

 

[jaz49]

I'm using an outboard pre with my emu 0404 usb interface. The 0404 however, has the combo inputs which accept either line, mic, or instrument level signals. If I run a balanced TRS cable from the preamp to the 0404 will that bypass the emu's preamps? I don't think it does, since turning up the gain on the 0404 results in a stronger signal. I'm a little confused about this. I usually set the gain on the 0404 to unity, however.

 

[muzaco]

pre-amp

I am in agreement with everyone here. I use a Studio Projects VTB1 into an M-audio Mobile Pre, a real basic set up just to get some decent tracks into SONAR.

I am no guru, but using the XLR out is not necessary. a simple balanced 1/4" will do it, as you don't need any phantom power to boost the the pre-amp signal.

Correct me if I am wrong guys but the XLRs primary use is to transfer phantom power, for instance to a mic or some other device requiring a signal boost. otherwise a balanced 1/4" could be used in most other situations.

 

[GuptRX]

I am no guru, but using the XLR out is not necessary. a simple balanced 1/4" will do it, as you don't need any phantom power to boost the the pre-amp signal.

which is why you can use xlr to trs adapters with noncondenser mics, right?

 

[KineticSound]

Correct me if I am wrong guys but the XLRs primary use is to transfer phantom power, for instance to a mic or some other device requiring a signal boost. otherwise a balanced 1/4" could be used in most other situations.

which is why you can use xlr to trs adapters with noncondenser mics, right?

Sort of. Both XLR3 and 1/4" TRS carry the same type of balanced signal: hot, cold, and ground. When phantom is used, it typically runs on the ground pin (pin 1) of an XLR3 cable. Believe it or not, there are devices out there that run phantom power on the ground line of a TRS cable. In common practice, most folks would use XLR in place of TRS when: a) they want to use ordinary phantom power systems, or b) they want a more robust, latching connector.