Preamp A vs Preamp B - Discuss.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Neeps
  • Start date Start date

Preamp A vs Preamp B

  • I liked preamp A best.

    Votes: 37 30.3%

  • I liked preamp B best.

    Votes: 52 42.6%

  • I couldn't tell the difference.

    Votes: 33 27.0%
  • Total voters
    122
Timothy Lawler said:
Hey Dogman, when you goin, heh? ;) I may actually be there this summer when I'm in the UK for a short bit. So fly on over, let's grab a pint and take the Owl with us. :cool:
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If you're coming to the uk Tim I wouldn't bother with Glasgow too much but I'd definitely recommend you take in the Scottish highlands.
 
Barn Owl said:
I wish I could say it was my pleasure Kevin but the negative rep kinda takes the gloss of things.
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100 votes was a tad optimistic but you weren't to know that. Don't worry about rep, there are people who have not made one post about recording music who have 100's of 1000's of rep points. I'm not dissing those people, just pointing out that the rep system has zero value on this board. (Most of my rep has come from people in the cave either ecause they've found something I've said funny or because they've agreed with something I've said, my number of rep points doesn't correlate with MY recording knowledge I can tell you :D ).

I thought it was interesting having owned a DMP-3 in the past and having considered the RNP. I still think these types of shootout are interesting as long as people understand they're not exactly scientific. Turned out well for the DMP-3.

Barn Owl said:
You a Will Oldham fan?
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Yeah, big time. :D
 
Barn Owl said:
If you're coming to the uk Tim I wouldn't bother with Glasgow too much but I'd definitely recommend you take in the Scottish highlands.
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Funny you say that...my wife loved the people of Glasgow...she loved the scenery she saw all around, but felt very comfortable in Glasgow, and felt the people were super friendly as a whole.
 
A glaswegian (weegie) can be trying to start a fight with you and still sound friendly if you aren't familar with the accent and the dialect.

That said the 99.999% of Scottish people are welcoming and i would totally recomend a visit to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a world class city in my opinion and could rival any european city for a short break. But a trip to the highlands with our lochs and our mountains does it for me.

In concusion come for a fortnight and do the cities and the scenery. But if you've only time for one city skip glasgow and do edinburgh and if you've only time for cities or scenery skip the cities.
 
A long weekend in Edinburgh is my only experience of Scotland; I loved it!
 
I can pretty much relate to the sentiments thus far expressed.

At least in the sense that ... if you were to be of any other nationality, and were visiting the US for the first time ... I would highly recommend a stop in my home city of Chicago.

In the summer time of course. :D Do yourself a favor. Between the months of May and September, I honestly can't think of a better city on the planet, although I have to admit I've thoroughly enjoyed my visits to Tuscon, Arizona in the winter months and San Francisco, California area in the spring / fall.

And speaking of fall ... it doesn't get much better than a trip to the Upper peninsula of Michigan or northern Wisonsin during the fall color season. I've never personally been to Scotland, but I feel a certain connection to it since I am basically of Scottish descent for the most part.

.
 
chessrock said:
I am basically of Scottish descent for the most part.

.
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You and 3.5 million other Americans. I just got back from at trip to NYC and Ellis Island. That's almost as many as we have living here.
 
Couldn't you tell by my name?

Chessrock is the name of a legendary Scotsman. Translated, I believe it means "a rock of chess."

.
 
I'm leaning more toward preamp B but only because I'm listening on earbuds in a hotel and that's what sounded good in them...so grain of salt. There did seem to be a little more life and sparkle to B.

BUT

IF this is a trick-comparison.

Here's my hypothesis:
I believe that the preamp is the same for A and B but the same model mic was used. B is of an older mic and and A is same-model newer mic recenly purchased.

If not, I'd still be interested in the results.
 
That confirms what a studio tech told me about preamps: ther is not a big difference between a 200$ preamp (M_audio) and a 500$ preamp (FMR RNP) (he actually told me there is no big difference between a 200$ preamp and a 800$ preamp)

I voted for A but didn't really see a difference, honestly.

At this link http://www.record-producer.com/learn.cfm?a=3062#subscribe you see a bigger difference between a 5$, 500$ and 1500$ preamp, but you still see by the replies that all tastes are in nature.

Thierry, now saving for Avalon preamp, (or manley???)
 
I listened through some not so great monitors, (Roland MA 8s) and then through my AT headphones. I was leaning towards A with the mp3 files and then chose B again with the wave files.

Then I read that Preamp A was the RNP. I have mixed emotions about this. I have an RNP and I love it with an SM 57 on my voice. I am not getting anywhere as good a result on acoustic as you are though. I am using an SM81 on a Martin Shenandoah D2832 and I just can't get a good sound through the RNP compared to some cheaper preamps I tried. It is boxy. Now that I hear your clip, I realize it has to be either the guitar, my mic technique, the room or all 3 combined. I have work to do and more to learn I guess.

I have to say that although I leaned toward the RNP, I think I would have been satisfied with the DMP3 as well. It may not have worked as well on my vocals, but it sounds great on the acoustic guitar to me. If I could get a sound that good, I would be satisfied.

bilco
 
Sm57 over vocals is not the greatest choice! And for the guitar, Sm81 is small diaphragm...

You should have bought a large diaphragm microphone with your RNP.
Audio-technica at3035 is really cheap (I paid 175$CDN on ebay) and gives good results on both guitar and voice (for voice scotch tape a wood pencil vertically on the front of the mike just in the center of the diaphragm, it sounds AMAZING) If you got more money, at4033, at4040 are excellent microphone for both utilities.

Thierry
 
I chose B, some sparkle I liked. But it was near nothing and some EQ probably could have matched both of them.

So its a great post for HR, and saving a few hundred can be big positive in HR land..imo.

money for other gear! like a RNC.. :D
 
COOLCAT said:
I chose B, some sparkle I liked. But it was near nothing and some EQ probably could have matched both of them.
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"Sparkle" is one of those things that's hard (if not down right impossible) to recreate if you miss it on the way in... one of the best reasons for a great preamp...

EQ after the fact helps... but can't really emphasize what's not captured from the original performance. There's no way that any software plugin is going to replace a hardware pre-amp... never... not ever
 
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