Presonus MP20 or dbx 386?

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Grotius

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Background: I plan to record classical piano on a 7-foot grand piano in my living room. Tentative signal chain: condensers (maybe two AT4033s or even KM184s), preamp, audio interface, PC or laptop running Cool Edit. I have searched this forum for opinions on the two preamps in the subject line, but I want to make sure I have a handle on the pros and cons.

Presonus MP20: Pros: Class A solid state (presumably cleaner sound for classical music); nice, solid 'feel' to the controls; sounds nice to me; I can get it for around $430 new, which seems like a good price. Cons: as with most preamps, no ADC or digital out.

dbx 386: Pros: ADC and digital outs; also nice controls; also sounds nice to me; I can get it for $465 from a nice local store (or $420 from Guitar Center, a place that makes me nervous). Cons: One tube (may actually be a plus, but I play classical). How big a plus is the 'onboard' audio-digital converter? Will it significantly cut down on noise? Are the A/D converters on this unit better than those on audio interfaces like the Tascam US 428 or M-Audio Quattro or the Aardvark thingie or whatever?

Thanks!
 
Thanks for your reply. I just returned from that very web page! While we're on the subject of that company, do you know anything about the preamps in the M-Audio Duo?
 
can you order the units from a place with good return policy? It will be the only way to determine which one works for you. What is your recording medium? If you already have medicore converters like the akm's used in most of the mid priced audio interfaces, there would be no reason to buy another pair of those.
I have the mp20, and I am pretty impressed by it for some sources. It wouldn't be my choice for (classical) piano, though. For things with fast transients I normally use my trusty studio technologies, very solid unit, extremely transparent. goes for 615$ new, I found a used one for 270$.
 
All I know about the Duo is what I read in June Home Recording Mag. It is a USB unit. The reviewer felt both the Quattro and Duo had a "well thought-out design," all the "necessary features," and "excellent sonics."

He also cautioned that USB audio "still has a few kinks to be worked out" and that USB interfaces don't have the same "high-end multi-channel" recording capabilities as PCI cards.

His end impression seemed to be very favorable if the buyer is looking for something that can be used with a laptop or can travel with you to be plugged into any PC.

If I were going to use something just in the home, I'd stick with a traditonal mic pre, myself. And you might want to take a look at the Davisound stuff--supposed to be very nice, and I think they will build a two-pre version of the TB-6 of about 25% off.

www.davisound.com
 
This is a strange question IMO, or maybe no question at all.
The dBx 386 is a truly awful sounding unit, and the tubes in it reminds me of putting the vocal tracks through a RAT distortion box. The whole prupose of puttin a tube in there is to get the very popular "warmth". But just having a tube inside the box don't do it, you gotta use it in a way that enhances the sound too. Unfortunately, the 386 is way more sterile and dull sounding than most solid-state pre's.

Go with the Presonus if you only consider these two, but there is a lot of preamps that perform better than the dBx 386. In fact, almost every preamp there is out there.

If you want clean the Presonus will do fine, if you want color, go with a JoeMeek.
 
I STRONGLY disagree with Stefan. I went through 5 mic pres in the $300-$700 range befroe settling on the 386. I found it much better than the presonus. The tubes are average (not great), but if it sounds like you're going through a distortion box, you've probably got a defective unit.

I recently swapped the onboard tubes for a pair of Telefunken and it sounds like buttah. Good deal for 2 channel, tube AND digital outs.
 
Load the Presonus with a pair of Burr Brown op amps in each channel and it'll burn anything mentioned so far, and you'll greatly prefer the sound. I have 4 of the BB's I'll trade for something... a Behringer ECM 8000, or maybe a BLUE mic cable, a boom stand... anything useful...... or, just offer me some cash.
 
tubedude said:
Load the Presonus with a pair of Burr Brown op amps in each channel and it'll burn anything mentioned so far, and you'll greatly prefer the sound. I have 4 of the BB's I'll trade for something... a Behringer ECM 8000, or maybe a BLUE mic cable, a boom stand... anything useful...... or, just offer me some cash.
Click to expand...

I have tried the opa627 and did not like the sound. I prefer the LT1468, which is also cheaper.
 
I think the Burrs sound WAY better than stock. Are you using the analog devices opamp or the stock ones?
 
tubedude said:
I think the Burrs sound WAY better than stock. Are you using the analog devices opamp or the stock ones?
Click to expand...

I am using the linear technologies LT1468. I didn't care enough about the opa627's sound to measure wide open gain, but it seemed to me that it even gave me less gain compared to the LT1468. I think when you are looking for a cleaner "sound", these are the way to go from the 5532.
But i am thinking of building some nice headphone amps with these Burr Browns.
 
Have to second completely octruss' comment about the 386. I too switched out the stock tubes for a pair of Amperex and the clarity and depth of the preamp really shines now. It's no Neve but for the money you can't beat it especially if you want digital I/O.
My $.02
 
tubedude said:
Load the Presonus with a pair of Burr Brown op amps in each channel and it'll burn anything mentioned so far
Click to expand...

Throw in couple of Jensen tranformers while you're at it (or see if you can land one of the earlier models that already have them). Now that might be worth a listen.
 
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