Preamps

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Brennan666

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i'm a pretty novice recordist. one of my friends told me that when buying/upgrading equipment i should start at the sound source and work my way back. mics, then preamps, then D/A converters, and so on. right now i'm running a VS-880 with a decent enough mic selection for my needs (an sm58, an electrovoice dynamic of some sort, and an octava mk219. i'm saving for another condensor). i know absolutely nothing though about preamps. i'm aiming for the best quality for my dollar. i dont have the means to completely goto town on pre's, but dont want to end up with absolute crap either. what are some good preamps for someone on a budget? should i just go ahead and buy a new mixer with built in Pre's?
 
What size budget? How many preamps do you need to use at a time (how many inputs do you have?) What kind of music are you doing? What instruments are you micing?
 
dmp3 is mentioned a lot in this forum. i just bought one and it should arrive in 2 days. it is less than $200 and is supposed to be a great preamp for the cost. do a search on it.
 
I'm looking into one of those Joe Meek ThreeQ's that just came out. $180.00 gets you a preamp, a compressor, and an EQ.

Check it!
 
i'll be needing 4 of them. most of my recordings will be in the punk/hardcore/indie/metal varieties.....though there has been some talk of some friends and i recording a rap album with all live instruments (real drums, bass, etc. it'll be great). mostly i'll be micing drums, keys, bass, electric guitar and vocals...but i know there'll be some cases that i'll be micing hand drums, mandolin, violin, and acoustic guitars as well. my price range is kinda up in the air right now. i'd say about 200

i'll look into the 3q and dmp3. what company makes the dmp3?
 
Brennan666 said:
i'll look into the 3q and dmp3. what company makes the dmp3?
Click to expand...

The DMP3 is an M-Audio product. Two channels for $150.00.
 
just ordered my M-Audio DMP3.....

can some1 drop a review on this here that has used it...
 
bad news said:
can some1 drop a review on this here that has used it...
Click to expand...

I have not used it, but if you do a search you'll find very positive reviews from those who have -- many deeming it the best in this price category.
 
I own a DMP-3, and I continue to use it occasionally in spite of the fact that I own some far more expensive pres (DBX386, Joemeek twinQcs, Avalon AD2022) I use it as a mobile pre for a miniature remote rig, and for the preamp for my talback mic. It is based on the Burr Brown chip, like most of the current crop of < $1000 preamps. It is relatively transparent, and fairly quiet. The analog level indicators are mostly useless, but otherwise, it is a very good preamp for the price, and provides considerable clean gain (>60db).
There isn't a whole lot more to say. The DMP-3 isn't a cool vintage preamp that adds color or iron or anything else to the signal. It just makes the signal stronger, and doesn't change the sound much at all, which is one definition of a good preamp. The pots get scratchy after a while and require some contact cleaner.-Richie
 
if we are talking about recording using a pc i would say the convertors in the sound card are of prime importance. however i have been amazed what some extremely capable people have produced songwise even using on board pc sound chips. they key is cleaning up the tracks carefully maybe using some mild noise reduction.
 
Aphex 207

You can find em on ebay for under $300 for a tube stereo pre. they sound really nice for the cash.
I have 2 of them and they really soften up my Digi-002
 
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