Pre's with lots of gain

  • Thread starter Thread starter mandocaster
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mandocaster

mandocaster

non compos mentis
When I use my MD541 on vocals, I really have to push the onboard preamp on my Yamaha AW4416. I have heard that these mics need a preamp with a lot of gain.

Any recomendations for inexpensive (<$400) preamps that significantly beat the gain of the Yamaha pre's?
 
mandocaster said:
When I use my MD541 on vocals, I really have to push the onboard preamp on my Yamaha AW4416. I have heard that these mics need a preamp with a lot of gain.

Any recomendations for inexpensive (<$400) preamps that significantly beat the gain of the Yamaha pre's?
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I don't know anything about that mic or DAW, but based on specs alone, you might want to look into the Groove Tubes Brick or M-Audio Tampa. They both have max gains higher than the Yamaha pres and most reviews I've read are excellent. Perhaps the Old School Audio MP-1A would suit your needs as well.
 
M-Audio DMP3 has tons of clean gain. $150 for 2 channels of preamplification.
 
I record to a Yamaha AW16G and I own both the DMP3 and the Groove Tubes Brick. Either one of those should meet your needs.
 
From what I've read on the GT Brick it appears to be primarily a very high end DI and instrument preamp... with an XLR input and phantom power... not a lot of talk about it's capabilities as a Mic preamp... but a lot of mentions here as very capable for vox... would it be a first choice for vocals in it's price range... or just a bonus feature of a good instrument pre
 
I have a 4416 and have had similar problems with SDCs on quiet sources like acoustic guitars. I also have a Presonus MP20 which people assure me has plenty of gain, but I get little more than the 4416 pres. My other preamp is a Mindprint Envoice which I find to have much greater control of the input and output stages and I can dial up as much gain as I need.

Cheers
 
I also have a brick that I use w/ 2488 Tascam. Lot's of quiet gain. The beauty about a seperate pre is not so much about how much gain, but the fact that you can turn your trims right down on the inputs of your board and therefore clean up your sound, if you're using a quality outboard pre , like the Brick.
I also have a VTB-1 Studio Projects pre , which for around $100. is nice too, especially if you want that "low-fi", tube distortion...
I'd say it depends on 2 things. How experienced you are at engineering and what your budget is... I'm a newbie and I doubt at this point if I'd hear much difference between my VTB-1 and an Avalon or any other high end pre. I think all us newbies are getting in at a great time , when $100. will buy us a decent pre or mic... :)
 
The Brick is a good choice. That Rane MS1B does have enough gain for most situations.

War
 
You can gang the gain on the DMP3 or even the Audio Buddy. It means you only have one channel but it does work.

The Speck Mic Pre 5.0 is a decent high gain mic preamp that gets overlooked. It's one of my favorite sounds actually and it also possesses a decent DI.
 
ozraves said:
You can gang the gain on the DMP3 or even the Audio Buddy. It means you only have one channel but it does work.
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So you put a jumper between the output of channel one to the input of channel two?
 
ozraves said:
The Speck Mic Pre 5.0 is a decent high gain mic preamp that gets overlooked. It's one of favorite sounds actually and it also possesses a decent DI.
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Absolutely... unfortunately, a tad out of the budget window but absolutely stunning none the less... in that range of budget it seems to me that the "Brick" would be your best bet... if you decide to go the M-Audio route buy it used off of eBay or something... let someone else take the financial hit of growing out of crap equipment into stuff that will actually yeild somewhat professional results.
 
ozraves said:
You can gang the gain on the DMP3 or even the Audio Buddy. It means you only have one channel but it does work.
Click to expand...
The DMP3 has tons of gain. I can't imagine a situation where you'd have to do this.
 
Thanks Fletcher and CiS. I think I will keep an eye out for a used DMP3.
 
cominginsecond said:
The DMP3 has tons of gain. I can't imagine a situation where you'd have to do this.
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I agree. I use one with a pair of MXL 603's for drum overheads, and even with the gain all the way down I still need to attenuate the signals to my soundcard or I get clipping. That pre is hot hot hot.
 
If you have to gang a DMP-3, there is something seriously wrong with your gain staging. The little bugger does +66db. That's enough for any sane application I can imagine.-Richie
 
MOFO Pro said:
From what I've read on the GT Brick it appears to be primarily a very high end DI and instrument preamp... with an XLR input and phantom power... not a lot of talk about it's capabilities as a Mic preamp... but a lot of mentions here as very capable for vox... would it be a first choice for vocals in it's price range... or just a bonus feature of a good instrument pre
Click to expand...

The GT Brick's circuitry is based on the GT Vipre mic pre, one of the sexiest pres around.
 
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