searching for a good pre-amp

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EVT

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1 or 2 channels of Great River would serve you very well.....
 
great river

Blue Bear Sound,
thanks for the reply.
I checked out the great river.. and it also looks amazing.. it's out of my range though. It's in my folder of pre-amps that I would love to have. I am going drum machine.. so I need 2 inputs, bass, guitar, keyboard, and vocals. For the guitar and the bass I've been using an eden WT400, which is amazing, but no good for vocals.. to much hiss. The Dan Alexander looks interesting, and more in my range.. closer to 1000, but there isn't too much info on it.
EVT
 
EVT - Go to www.mercenary.com and check out the stuff Fletcher's selling. FWIW, I've never heard of Dan Alexander. Then again he's never heard of me :o)

What pops in my mind is the FMR RNP. Two channels of that will set you back $900. Sytek is talked about here a lot. Buy direct from the maker on Ebay for $850-$900 and that's 4 channels, not two.

Good Luck picking one out!

Chris
 
WHOOOO! HOOOOO!!!!!!!! I just made it to 100 posts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry... Back to the subject at hand.
 
Fmr Rnp

Hi chris-from-ky,
Thanks for the info. I think the FMR RNP is probably a good choice for right now. The Sytek looks nice.. but, I can't pay that much right now. There are so many great pre-amps. I keep finding ones I haven't seen that look amazing.
EVT
 
I doubt that the FMR RNP is gonna "warm up" your tracks. Its know to be one of the cleanest combos, so it won't change your sound a lot.

Wouldn't you need sth with a tube that you drive slightly into saturation?
 
chris-from-ky said:
EVT - Go to www.mercenary.com and check out the stuff Fletcher's selling. FWIW, I've never heard of Dan Alexander. Then again he's never heard of me :o)

What pops in my mind is the FMR RNP. Two channels of that will set you back $900. Sytek is talked about here a lot. Buy direct from the maker on Ebay for $850-$900 and that's 4 channels, not two.

Good Luck picking one out!

Chris
Click to expand...

Actually, two channel of RNP is about $475, not $900. Correct ont he Sytek.
 
Hey, if you are on a budget (your first choices are kinda pricy, right?), check out the Hamptone!
 
Bass Punch

Giganova,
Before I used to do more electronic styles of music.. but, I'm focusing now more on live instruments.. except the drums... are programmed drums.. live bass has always been difficult to mix in .. it often gets lost/ muddy... but, recently.. things have been sounding really great because of the Eden we are running through.. It's helped bigtime. I even went through the eden with the guitar.. even though it's not really for that.. it sounded great. But, now I'm trying to focus on vocals, guitar, keys, and drum machine... although.. we would try the bass through the preamp.. and compare to the eden to see which one would be better.
I'm going into the Fostex Vf-16.. so I want to help that digital edginess..

From reading this... it seems like it's going to help... especially with the bass definition...

The Really Nice Pre-amp
(The RNC provides two modes of operation: normal and SuperNice?E Normal mode allows the RNC to be used for everyday compression tasks, like punchy snare drums or bass guitars, and is great for everything from gentle compression to serious squashing. SuperNice mode provides near-invisible signal compression for sensitive material where compression artifacts are less desirable (like vocals, acoustic guitar or the program bus).

Seems like many areas are covered.. especially for the setup of instruments.. and style we're doing.

Honestly, I WISH I could get some of the higher end pre's.. but, I need wait on that right now... I figured I should get something to improve the overall sound in the meantime.. in my price range..
evt
 
hamptone

Giganova,
I looked at the Hamptone site... It comes in kit form? I don't know.. how hard is that to put together... Can you tell me more about these, or send me any links of reviews? I'm going to see if I can find out more about them. But, I know nothing about putting anything together.. i'll probably destroy it by accident, or on purpose if it becomes crazy for me to build.

The FMR RNP looks good I think... my main issue is when I record live bass.. it gets lost/muddy in the mix.. and i wanted to just take away that edginess because i'm going into a digital 16... From what i've read, it seems like it would add punchiness to the bass.. and drums... and will be good to use with vocals.. and other instruments.

I also looked at the safe sound p1---Better for warming up tracks.. and what i mentioned above?? its analogue.... http://www.digitalprosound.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=21915
this review.. explains a lot for settings to use for different things...

so I have narrowed things down.. they both looks good...
hmmm???
thanks everyone for all the info...

EVT


:)
 
EVT said:
Giganova,
I looked at the Hamptone site... It comes in kit form?
Click to expand...
You can get it either as kit or pre-assembled. All the info is on the Haptone web site.
 
BTW: I bought NEVE clone modules a while ago (AMD), built a rack and hooked them up. Its amazing how these modules changes the sound of a synth when I use it, and how much "fatter" the sound gets. Ufortunately I must have done something wrong when hooking the pre and eq modules up, coz I have a slight "hum" in the signal, and hence can't really use it. Bummer!
 
I'd say A-Designs MP-2 , 2 channels for ~1665, for the money not sure you can do better!
 
EVT said:
The Really Nice Pre-amp
(The RNC provides two modes of operation: normal and SuperNice?E Normal mode allows the RNC to be used for everyday compression tasks, like punchy snare drums or bass guitars, and is great for everything from gentle compression to serious squashing. SuperNice mode provides near-invisible signal compression for sensitive material where compression artifacts are less desirable (like vocals, acoustic guitar or the program bus).
Click to expand...

whoa whoa whoa... before you go buying anything, know that the RNC is the really nice compressor... a completely different product. you may want to look into it though, if that sounds like what you want.
 
sdelsolray said:
Actually, two channel of RNP is about $475, not $900. Correct ont he Sytek.
Click to expand...

My bad... I was assuming that the RNP was a single channel but, I stand corrected.
 
I see that you are also looking at the chandler tg2. I can't believe that nobody else has backed up that choice. The chandler pres are amazing! Maybe not as versatile as a great rever me1nv, but bang for buck wise the chandler units are just stunning. Probably the best electric guitar pre ever created.

The 1272 clones are also very cool. There are a bunch of different companies making them for around the same price: Dan Alexander, Vintech, Brent averil. The Alexander model isn't your only option if you are going for the neve 1272 sound, but Dan does have a very good reputation. I would still pick the chandler though.

The sytek ($900 for 4 channels), and RNP ($500 for two channels) are both great pre's, but If you are looking for something to warm up your tracks then that usually means that you are looking for a colorful pre, which the RNP and sytek are not. They are very clean and transparent. If you want a pre that makes your tracks sound like they were smothered in ice cream, then go with the chandler or dan alexander stuff IMHO.
 
EVT, I think something like the A Designs MP-2 would be a better choice than one of the 1272/1073-based pres. http://www.soundpure.com/showProduct.do?id=355

You can get the price on the MP-2 by getting a "quoteback" on the site.

BTW, noiseportrait, the RNP is a nice pre, but it's not clean and it's not transparent. It's actually somewhat colored.
 
evt - while i think products like great river and the other preamps
folks have listed are all fantastic once you reach a certain price point.
i would respectfully suggest other options.
my question is what are your objectives ?? ive been on the gear treadmill for years. talked to lots of folks way more knowledgeable than i at AES engineering meets, used high end consoles, intermediate stuff , right down to low end garbage. and even built many different diy preamps. through these years and discussions ive found that theres more to it than having this or that great piece of gear.
my position is if your a MAJOR commercial studio with a big revenue stream attracting high end clientele then of course that clientele expects
top end equipment. however if you are not a top flight studio and doing your own stuff, a lot of lower priced gear these days can produce good results.
for example people are recording good tracks with a dmp3 preamp.
a cheap preamp. so - in summary i would say - certainly audiotion high end preamps - but also demo lower end , and i know folks will think me crazy for throwing this out, but i can get a nice clean or warm track out of
a diy mic preamp i can build for 20 bucks. NO - its not a neve.
but it uses the same high class op amps as high end console preamps would,
and does the job. in fact ive done blind shoot outs with lots of people who claim they can hear a difference between the diy and other approaches,
many couldnt hear much diff. we are talking here NORMAL folks.
not AE heavies.
in conclusion i would suggest yoiu throw in some ringers in your demoing.
for example listen to a fmr preamp, then listen and track using a behringer (no flames please) mic 100 (costs 40 bucks) or a dmp3. is there really a huge difference ?
all i'm trying to say is listen for yourself and decide.
and try a variety of options.
im not decrying the high end , i'm just suggesting you keep an open mind.
 
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