The ULTIMATE Entry-Level Mic Pre Poll... :op

[littledog]

Re: Re: hmm

All the money that I would've previously had for booze and food i just spent on a new mobo and chip for my recording rig. *LOL*

What's a "mobo"? Is it short for motorboat? If so, I'm with you! Forget recording and go with the boat!

I just got a call from my marina. My boat that I cracked up on some rocks about two weeks ago is all fixed! Thank God for my $200 deductible insurance, or I would have been out 3 Grand!!! (That would be the LA2A or the Vipre I always wanted...)

See you later, guys. The ocean is a-callin'....!

 

[tf5_bassist]

Re: Re: Re: hmm

What's a "mobo"? Is it short for motorboat? If so, I'm with you! Forget recording and go with the boat!

I just got a call from my marina. My boat that I cracked up on some rocks about two weeks ago is all fixed! Thank God for my $200 deductible insurance, or I would have been out 3 Grand!!! (That would be the LA2A or the Vipre I always wanted...)

See you later, guys. The ocean is a-callin'....!

Haha... I can't afford a Rode mic, nevermind a moterboat... Mobo stands for "motherboard"... mobo is motherboard, proc (said "prock") is processor. for muh' computer. ^_^

That's cool on the boat, too... cheap fix there.

I want a boat.

 

[jeap]

hey mofo i wanna mobo 2 gogo!!!

i had a motorboat once...

yeah man you should avoid having your boats "on the rocks". straight up is much safer!

 

[jeap]

watyf has abandoned this thread.

he says i wanted him to drop the thread but i just wanted him to buy a preamp already!!!!

i always thought he would come back and tell us how he liked it...

well apparently he has been buying and selling meeks and making 60 or 70 bucks on each one!!!!

i went to ebay and saw he has sold a number of them there!

i think he says he doesnt like the meek. i wonder why. he has been strangely absent lately.

he seemed ok until i started being nicer to him and then he kinda weirded out. maybe i should be more sarcastic and insulting in the future?

 

[WATYF]

no... I have not "weirded oat"

I've been busy... buying preamps..

So... I now have an official announcement to make... (not that anyone cares anymore... )

I can finally vote in my own poll...

and my vote goes toooo......








































the DMP3



Here's what happened.... I did exactly what everyone was bitchin' at me aboot... I tried a bunch of them... And you know what...???




It was a big fat waste of time... My very first inclination (or "instinct") was to go with the DMP3,... purely based on what I knew I wanted, and based on what everyone unanimously said aboot it...


but nooooooooooo......


I had to go messin' aroond with tryin' other stuff just to make you people happy...


So anywhoo... I bought a Meek.. (and yes... I was gettin' em at GC and selling em for beaucoup profit... that is.. until they fixed the price in their computer... ) and I tried it oat and didn't like it one bit... it was noticeably worse than my behringer pre's... (yes.. I did just say that... ) The signal was "muddier" and much less crisp and clear... and that's withoat any of the Meek's compression or EQ added. The compression was horrid. The EQ was fine... but it didn't do too much to salvage the signal.

Then... I was gonna get the DMP3... like I knew I should have from the beginning... but noooooooooooo..... I saw that the Studio Projects VTB-1 was just oat.. and everyone was "a-buzz" aboot that... so I tried that one... welp... same story... much better than the Meek, mind you... but it still wasn't quite what I was lookin' for. Keep in mind... we're talking strictly aboot vocals here... it might have been great from drums of guitar or whatever (and so might the Meek have).. but on vocals.. I wanted a crisp... clear... amp'ed signal.. nothin' else. Anywhoo... I messed with the "toob" feature on the VTB-1 and didn't like that any better... it just didn't impress me much... so I sold that on eBay.. (once again.. for profit... mmmmuuuahahahahaaa!!!) and finally went and got the DMP3...

I tried the DMP3 oat today... and finally got what I wanted. Clear signal amplification... nothin' else.

So.. the moral of the story is.... go with your GUT feeling... and don't waste your time messin' with a bunch of junk that you already know you're prolly not gonna like... (unless, of course, you can sell it on eBay for profit..... mmmmmuuuahahahaaaa again )

Now... I will admit one thing I learned from this.... and that is... these entry level pre's are all pretty limited... none of em are gonna give you a "great" signal. I would go so far as to say that the DMP3 is the "best" (for my taste) of them all, but you know what... it's really not all that much "better" than the pre's in my behrenger that I had been using all along... fortunately it only cost me 150,.. so it’s no big loss.

so... my next pre purchase will definitely be something that is a real step up... like the Grace 101 or something similar. (read "even better")

WATYF

 

[Middleman]

Thanks WATYF,

I had been waiting for your response. I got the DMP3 and wanted feedback against the VTB-1 which will save me a trip on the buy and sell circuit. The last stop on the cheap mic pre train will be the RNP when it ships...... On goes the never ending quest for that Avalon-Neve sound for under $500 bucks.

By the way, if you haven't already added the RNC to the back side of the DMP3 you are in for a treat.

 

[WATYF]

Yeah... I'll consider the RNMP too.. but I'm thinkin' for the same (or similar price) I can get a Grace 101 (like on eBay... there's one right now for $450) so the RNMP will have to be pretty nice for me to pick that over the Grace.

I wouldn't discount the VTB-1 or anything... there were a couple factors that steered me away from it though.. I really do sorta need at least two channels.. (that's all I ever used on my behringer) so the DMP3 had that advatage. Also... I seemed to have trouble getting a "hot" signal out of the VTB-1 without it getting too "colored"... now,... this may well be from my on incompetence.. but nonetheless, the signal from my behringer used to run right below peak level (just so I could get my tracks loud enough without having to turn the levels way up) but with the VTB-1, my monitor VU's were sittin' at -21 thru -15 and if I got much more than that, it would get "colored". (I actually think this was a result of how it "meshed" with the soundcard.. when I looked at the levels on my Delta 44's "Monitor Mixer" I could see that they were going into the red... but for some reason, the signal in n-Track wasn't that loud at all...) anywhooo.. I don't seem to have this problem with the DMP3, so I'm just gonna leave well enough alone....... for now.

WATYF

 

[alanhyatt]

so I could get my tracks loud enough without having to turn the levels way up) but with the VTB-1, my monitor VU's were sittin' at -21 thru -15 and if I got much more than that, it would get "colored". (I actually think this was a result of how it "meshed" with the soundcard.. when I looked at the levels on my Delta 44's "Monitor Mixer" I could see that they were going into the red... but for some reason, the signal in n-Track wasn't that loud at all...) anywhooo.. I don't seem to have this problem with the DMP3, so I'm just gonna leave well enough alone....... for now.

WATYF

Sounds like you used the 1/4" output and not the XLR. Max gain out is 72 freakin dB on the VTB-1!!! So how you could not get enough gain is beyond me. Sounds like you were pushing it out from the 1/4" -10 output, because colored is not what the VTB-1 is all about. You sure you were not wearing ear muffs when you did this test? :

Something tells me, with all due respect that you are not using the VTB-1 correctly because I have a Grace 101, and yes, it is a fine product, but the VTB-1 hangs with it all day long, so I just question your entire set up as what your hearing. Especially when you say the Meek is muddy. It is colored, but it is far from muddy!

All I can say is this is the beauty of peoples ears, everyone hears different, so I will not fault you for hearing what you heard, but all the reports on the VTB-1 are far from what your experience was.

Sorry it did not work out for you!

 

[WATYF]

yeah.. "colored" is what I meant on the Meek, not "muddy"...

and I was using the XLR's... the only testing I did was with my C-1. I don't doobt it was something stupid I was doing... but for some reason, when I did get the signal nice and "hot", (which wasn't hard to do, as you said) it took on some "character" I didn't like.. lol... I dunno... maybe I had some bad pizza that day... I really don't expect anyone to give any credence to my "take" on this... I really don't know jack dookey... but I just figured I should finally post my "results", flawed as they may be.

WATYF

 

[jeap]

aboot is something you wear on your foot!

as for oats,

mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy!

poor alan. 0 - 2.

 

[darrin_h2000]

The Dmp3 is alot simpler just like my Yamaha MLA7 just adjust a gain knob and forget about it.

But Color is what I like for vocals.

 

[littledog]

"doobt"?

your wannabee "Canabonics" were borderline amusing at first. They are rapidly approaching annoying. How about speaking English for a change, just for the hell of it.

 

[tf5_bassist]

haha... i hate to agree.... but...

I do agree.. *LOL*

 

[Lame Thrower]

Hey WATYF!

When you adjust the gain on your DMP3, does it make any noise?

Mine does, and I'm wondering if I should take it back or if I'll just have to live with it.

 

[alanhyatt]

poor alan. 0 - 2.

Nah, Alan is not 0-2. Did you see Harvey's Review???

Read it at :

http://www.recording.org/cgi-local/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=000032

 

[darrin_h2000]

I cant wait to hear that peice. with Harvys endorsement (I could trust him to tell me if its shit, or THE SHIT). Its gonna be Great getting rid of the blue tube finally. Now if one of these could get to KC....

Well It will take a few weeks to save for it (I paid off my truck in a lump sum recently) but I will have one. Im wondering what my Mullard 12ax7a will do for this unit.

 

[chessparov]

WATYF, the Meek compression takes a while to understand.
It took me a bit of time to learn how to get going with the
VC3Q. MORE than worth learning how to do it though.
Many artists and producers today INSIST on having a Meek compressor available for us on their material.
(Black Crowes, John Mellencamp, to name a couple)

Having excellent hearing can be sort a curse in addition to being a blessing. My voice is moderately prone to sibilance so a dynamic microphone like a Shure SM57 is a good choice for "close up"
vocals as in a ballad as otherswise it drives me nutsss.
(imagine Letterman's dental "gap" at about 1/5th scale!)
Anyway...

The VTB-1/SM57 combo has been simply stellar! (IMHO)
The 'ol 57 is being used more since the mic pre arrived than the
six months (or so) since the 57 first came home.
On brighter microphones like the new edition 421's (421 MKII),
the tube blend feature enhances it-if you stay at or below around
9'o clock (discovered this BEFORE reading Harvey's post BTW).
Still sounds excellent detailed on the condensers at home too,
that are used for more uptempo material.

Chris

P.S. Was gearlusting for an RCA ribbon someday, Harvey's post
is adding fuel to the fire!

 

[chessparov]

Meant "sort of a curse" and "excellently detailed" in the last post.

Chris

 

[WATYF]

"doobt"?

your wannabee "Canabonics" were borderline amusing at first. They are rapidly approaching annoying. How about speaking English for a change, just for the hell of it.

lol... well man.. I guess it's a good thing that I'm not here to amuse you..

all these nice people aroond here... just makin' me wanna come back for more...

Lame.. no.. I've noticed no such noise with my DMP3 at all. Sounds like a defect... or.. something... er... I dunno.


and I really don't want anyone to get the impression that I'm discouraging the use of a VTB-1... I know the alan hyatt cavalry gets called oat when someone says anything that's less than "praise" for his stuff... (then of course,.. the anti-spam police get called oat when anyone does give praise for it... ) but I really didn't mess with it enough to get to know it... same with the Meek.. I just found that I had a better immediate experience with the DMP3, for whatever reason... all I said aboot the VTB was "it still wasn't quite what I was lookin' for"... I couldn't even tell you why... I don't have the whole "I'm hearing a slight coloration in the 5kHz range" thing doon yet..

WATYF

 

[regebro]

I haven't tested very many of the preamps in the poll, but I can say this:

The Art Tube MP sucks monkey butt.

It has a serious hi end roll off. And although this often can be beneficial to a sound, you don't want to have it there if it's the only mic-preamp you have. So the Tube MP may be a nice *second* preamp. But not the first one you get. That it doesn't have any good metering, but has a design that requires it doesn't make it any better.