Preamp purchases

About $150. :D

The Rane's are kind of off-topic, as they would fall more in to the budget range, obviously.

But it is interesting you bring them up. I thought I was the only one on the planet who liked them. I've gotten some killer accoustic guitar tracks with them.

The 1B's are the one's you should be looking at.
 
Re: Re: Re: Preamp purchases

StevenLindsey said:
Since a lot of us doing the shopping are relatively ignorant when it comes to "geek" talk, it would probably best be omitted in public arenas, at least in the area of reviews.
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Bro, no disrespect intended... but the more you understand how to decipher 'geek talk' the more you'll see how shit like specifications are really pretty meaningless. Most of the reason they're meaningless is because they can be manipulated to say damn near anything you want them to say... and have less than no bearing on how the unit actually sounds...
 
Fletcher - no offense taken. I realize that I'm ignorant in relation to many many things, musical technology in particular. Doesn't bother me except to the extent to which it affects my small musical purchases. Thanks for your help.

The Rane looks like a nice little birthday gift. I'll have to mention it to my wife next year! Probably can get a used one for $75 by then.

I did a little more experimenting with my fine little blue tube this weekend, running it straight into my recorder instead of through my Behringer Virtualizer and Ultrafex and then through my mixer. :D (noise,noise - no wonder I needed a Denoiser) It does indeed make a pretty good bass DI - very quiet. Still really too dark for electric guitar though you can get it sounding ok with some tweaking ( eq). I may keep the BT just for bass if it does OK against the RNP.

Now all I've got to do is cough up $685.00 for the RNP (warts and all) and $800 for the Sytek ( ahh six nice channels) - and think of a way to avoid death at the hands of my wife. Gives me something to work toward in my old age.
 
StevenLindsey said:
F
Now all I've got to do is cough up $685.00 for the RNP (warts and all) and $800 for the Sytek ( ahh six nice channels) .
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wouldn't you rather go for a little variety? Aren't the RNP (wich is under $500 street) and the Sytek just different takes on the clean and neutral side of things?

Unless you need 6 simultaneous inputs, take the $800 (or 985 if you were planning on paying list) after the RNP and check out some color...
 
Quite a number of people have said that the RNP is colored. Ahhh who knows. Anyway I need the 4 amps for drum micing so I think these two units will do me quite well. The $685 I quoted was for the RNP and RNC with the faceplate for rack mounting.

Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Hmmmmm....

I was curious how this RNP pre compared to something like a universal audio pre amp. It seems like the price is sort of midddle of the road ($550) Can this thing stand up to the $1000 range pres? I have a few decent ones in a Presonus strip but am looking for a really nice one to have for all the overdubs etc. Does this RNP hold up? Thanks. cP
 
Re: Hmmmmm....

ChrisPrescott said:
I was curious how this RNP pre compared to something like a universal audio pre amp. It seems like the price is sort of midddle of the road ($550) Can this thing stand up to the $1000 range pres? I have a few decent ones in a Presonus strip but am looking for a really nice one to have for all the overdubs etc. Does this RNP hold up? Thanks. cP
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Before long I'll let you know how it compares to a Blue Tube and to Soundcraft Powerstation pres. Won't be able to help you with a Universal comparison, unfortunately.. I ordered my RNP/RNC from Mercenary Wednesday. 700 bucks with shipping. Still haven't gotten my tracking number though. Hope they aren't out of them. Oughta sound great with my new V-amp. :D ( Present from my wife. So far, sounds pretty good. )
 
dont' hold ya breath...i ordered mine with next day shipping it came in a week later....RNP is a HOOOOTTTTTT item...mark can't pump them out fast enough to all there distributors to meet the demand...

that should tell you how good it is....
 
Well, nearly a week. No emailed tracking number yet. It is supposed to be here the first of this week I was told. Was hoping for it today - I gave myself a birthday present. The lady said it was in stock. Maybe I hacked em off when I asked for the rack-face-plate to be assembled. Maybe the assembler is on vacation. Maybe they lost my order. Don't ya just hate waiting? :D
 
For what its worth,

When I ordered my M-1 from Mercenary, I had to email them for the tracking number. I don't think email you the tracking number by default. I could be wrong however.
 
jonathanl said:
For what its worth,

When I ordered my M-1 from Mercenary, I had to email them for the tracking number. I don't think email you the tracking number by default. I could be wrong however.
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The lady asked me if I wanted it emailed and took my address. Anyway, I got the invoice in the mail yesterday so I assume it's been shipped. I don't really care to track it as long as I get it eventually.
 
Well, just opened up the Box. Mercenary actually has boxes printed with their logo on them. Impressive. Very well packed also. Very neat. The stuff I've been getting lately has come in used boxes that look like they've been kicked around. Since I had them assemble the face plate before shipping, I didn't have to look at the ugly little faces of each unit. The plate looks classy. Ready to take em home and try em out!
 
the face plate makes it look like some $2000+ peice of gear...shits awsome...
StevenLindsey said:
Well, just opened up the Box. Mercenary actually has boxes printed with their logo on them. Impressive. Very well packed also. Very neat. The stuff I've been getting lately has come in used boxes that look like they've been kicked around. Since I had them assemble the face plate before shipping, I didn't have to look at the ugly little faces of each unit. The plate looks classy. Ready to take em home and try em out!
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Observations from a weekend at play with the RNP/RNC:

Took some getting used to. Almost too clean, if you know what I mean. I was so used to hearing distortion apparently that the clean sound almost sounded clanky at first. But man, after it kinda settled in...... ahhhhhh! I was getting some fairly decent recordings with my mixer pres. I used the Blue Tube for bass and electric guitar DI, but was never satisfied with the sound. Mushy sounding and couldn't get a clean mix. The RNP brought the old Peavy bass to life. Unbelievable. Clean and snappy..dead quiet. The pickups in my Mustang even sound good unless I run em through the effects in my recorder...that just muddies the sound back up. The comparison to the Blue Tube and Soundcraft Powerstation pres - it really does sound like taking the proverbial blanket off the sound. I really wasn't expecting that much of a difference. CLEAN mix. I'm going to have to get some EQ though. I always use the high pass on my mixer and low cut on a lot of stuff. I need EQ for my NTK. But now I'm loathe to run the RNP through the mixer to get the filters and eq. It's just too fine by itself. But I can't record drums without the mixer. Oh well. Another benefit - I can now get some use out of my dynamics..SM57 & 58. Man they sound good with this amp. I'm not sure I don't like the 58 better than my condenser mics on acoustic guitar. Thinking now about getting a nice dynamic like the Senn..441. With the ECM8000s, tremendous on drum overhead with the gains set on 30....and the 8000s are quiet there. On an old Yamaha acoustic that I've set up like a dobro through the piezo..RNC on super nice.. astounding! dead quiet. Recording sounds like it's in the room with you. I surely wish someone would come out with a little 4-6 channel mixer with pres as good as the RNP, some good eq, high pass, direct outs, inserts.... about what?... $2000? I'd buy one in a heartbeat. Bummer, now I'm going to have to retrack everything I've ever done. Ready for my Sytek now, and then a better recorder ( with more than two inputs. ) Life is grand. I'm almost tempted to get another RNP first. Thank you for reading my rant. :D
 
Steven,

I'm glad you're enjoying the RNP. Is there a particular reason your getting the Sytek with the RNP. I'm sure it is a great value with 4 pres, but you've got the "clean" department covered with the Sytek. I would think that you need something with a bit of dirt and bite to it, like the Great River MPNV or the Vintech 1272 (Neve clone) for example. It may be a bit more for less channels, but in the end you would be able to do so much more in terms of variety. What do you think?

The 1MPNV is one channel with a lot of variables. The 1272 is a bit more at ~$1100. But that's two channels of Neveish sound.
 
I've thought about that but I'm not even sure what "color" would do for my simple music anyway. I'm mainly trying to get 6 channels of good amp so I won't have to run throught the preamps on my mixer. I need at least 5 for drums. Right now I can only record two tracks at a time but I'm going to upgrade pretty soon. The Sytek would give me enough channels to do what I want to do. Wouldn't the optional amps on the Sytek give some "color"? I would like to have some pres with high pass and some eq with them.... maybe some inserts....compression.... :D ( That's why I was looking at the Toft ATC-2 ) But I don't really want to spend that much more money on pres. I can always color with compression or other effects can't I? This is really just sort of an expensive hobby to me. I doubt seriously whether anyone who would ever listen to my music would be able to hear any differences among my preamps anyway. I really appreciate the suggestion. I will ponder before I make the next purchase. You may be right!
 
Originally posted by StevenLindsey Well, dang it. That 1272 looks pretty good. Maybe I can just learn to mic my drums with 4 pres......
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You may want to use the RNP for overheads. Use the "dirty" 2 channel pre for Kick and snare. Use pres from a mixer (e.g. inexpensive-but-decent Soundcraft E-series mixer) for the toms (since they are not super critical with good overhead placement). This may get you by with great results until you are able to do better.
 
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