Tube Mic vs Reg Condeser w/ Tube Preamp
- Thread starter Les W
- Start date
c7sus
Disenfranchised Member
What pre are you talking about? What is a "tube setting" knob? Sounds like something on a cheap "tewb" pre.........
In which case I'd say a well-made tube mic through a well-designed and constructed SS pre would probably sound better.
And probably so would a decent SS condensor.
In which case I'd say a well-made tube mic through a well-designed and constructed SS pre would probably sound better.
And probably so would a decent SS condensor.
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I mean tubes like the Presonus TUBEpre and the DMP3 is the same way I THINK...
Treeline
New member
The DMP3 has its own sound - I like it because it is quiet, consistent and extremely versatile, and its bang for the buck quotient is head and shoulders above anything else I've seen out there. I think of it as "the SM57 of preamps." I don't think I'd ever use the word "tube" in the same paragraph, though - except perhaps for this one.
darrin_h2000
Banned
Good as it is the DMP3 is a chip pre...solid state implies transistors.
BlindCowboy
New member
I have yet to have a single good experience with the Presonus Tewbpre. The one thing I can look at in my stuff and say, "That was a waste of money."
Les W said:
Yes, I would a agree that if your gonna put one tube somwhere in your studio, it will be more versatile in a pre than in a mic. For one, it can then be used with different mics. For two, it has a gain knob to drive the tube harder or softer as you wish. A tube in a mic is biased and driven to be totally in the linear portion of the curve. In a pre you can drive the tube however you want.
RD
phaqu
gone and forgotten
For what its worth
I only have 1 tube mic to base my opinion on so....Seems to me that a tube mic will soften up,round out, a harsher(brassy...cant think of a descriptive term) vocal track before it gets to the pre to be amplified. SS mics have a little more of a tendancy to be less......forgiving (even when ran through a good tube pre). If Im tracking someone with an edgy voice, I grab the tube mic first. ( Thats if they have a decent singing voice, otherwise I put a 57 or 58 or RE20 on them)
I only have 1 tube mic to base my opinion on so....Seems to me that a tube mic will soften up,round out, a harsher(brassy...cant think of a descriptive term) vocal track before it gets to the pre to be amplified. SS mics have a little more of a tendancy to be less......forgiving (even when ran through a good tube pre). If Im tracking someone with an edgy voice, I grab the tube mic first. ( Thats if they have a decent singing voice, otherwise I put a 57 or 58 or RE20 on them)
Richard Monroe
Well-known member
Yo Les! To summarize the above, There are "real" tube preamps that use big mucking power tubes, and "tewb" pres, which send part or all of the signal through a little tube in the front end of the amp, usually with an adjustable amount of tube effect. Tubes are used in preamps and mics to introduce distortion. In a guitar amp, that effect is obvious. In a mic pre or mic, the effect is intended to be more subtle. It decreases the accuracy of the signal, like airbrushing a Playboy centerfold so we don't see her stretch marks. There's lots of things in sound that you really don't want to hear. This effect is called "warmth" when we like it, and "muddy" when we don't. Once upon a time, *all* preamps and *all* condenser mics had tubes in them, and the world got along just fine.
In general, if you are buying a cheap preamp, a solid state pre is a better choice, and very few serious audio enginerers have much use for a "tewb" amp of any description. At best, it's an effect you use occasionally for something unusual, usually meaning that you can't get enough gain without dialing up some distortion. At worst, the signal is always running through that tewb, and you always have useless, nasty, distortion (and noise).
Real tube amps are often wonderful things, and they don't come cheap. The Groove Tubes "The Brick" is one of the cheapest real tube amps, at about $500. Really good ones are more likely $1000-$2500 per channel, and are to die for. If you aren't ready to spend at least $500 per channel on a preamp, I recommend solid state. I agree with a lot of people that the DMP3 is one of the cheapest preamps that doesn't basically suck. I'm saving my dinero now for a real tube pre, most likely a Pendulum MDP-1, which I love. Best of luck.-Richie
In general, if you are buying a cheap preamp, a solid state pre is a better choice, and very few serious audio enginerers have much use for a "tewb" amp of any description. At best, it's an effect you use occasionally for something unusual, usually meaning that you can't get enough gain without dialing up some distortion. At worst, the signal is always running through that tewb, and you always have useless, nasty, distortion (and noise).
Real tube amps are often wonderful things, and they don't come cheap. The Groove Tubes "The Brick" is one of the cheapest real tube amps, at about $500. Really good ones are more likely $1000-$2500 per channel, and are to die for. If you aren't ready to spend at least $500 per channel on a preamp, I recommend solid state. I agree with a lot of people that the DMP3 is one of the cheapest preamps that doesn't basically suck. I'm saving my dinero now for a real tube pre, most likely a Pendulum MDP-1, which I love. Best of luck.-Richie
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soundchaser59
Reluctant Commander
Robert D said:
Ok, I'll sign up for Electronics 101 here.....
Then why have I recently seen a (guitar accessory) described by the manufacturer as "discrete analog"?? Is it not possible to have a "discrete" circuit that does not have any transistors in it?
And you are saying it is possible to have a solid state circuit with no transistors in it? If "solid state" implies only "non-tube" and "discrete" implies "transistors" then what is it that replaces the tube in a solid state device?