What Preamp to buy @ $99 or less!

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bigj

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Well this is straight to the point... What i got so far?

M-Audio Firewire Solo
Studio Projects B1

My question besides the obvious is...Is it worth it to get me a mic pre amp considering i already have the one on the Interface???

What about monitors in the $150-$250 range? I was looking at the RPK8's ...what you think? could i get something similar for less $$$. Budget it's a must and if i can get both things really close to $250 i could get them a lot sooner!

Thanks for the info!
 
SP VTB1, Art Tube MP Studio, or a DMP3 if you're willing to go the extra few bucks - and it's worth it.

Jacob
 
BTW i forgot...this would be a traight vocal mic...if that would make a difference
 
Studio Projects VTB-1: an absolute bargain and has a relatively wide range of sonic options possible from gain staging and tube blending.

Rane MS-1B (used): a high quality, clean preamp that's as basic as they come (gain knob + phantom power switch) - sometimes less is more

Also, consider buying a nice small mixer (mackie 1202, yamaha mg10/2) as these will give you several decent mic pre amps and additional routing options for monitoring.

Regarding monitors, try and save up another $100 or so - many more doors will open at the $350-400 range.

Best of luck.
 
jkokura said:
SP VTB1, Art Tube MP Studio, or a DMP3 if you're willing to go the extra few bucks - and it's worth it.

Jacob
Click to expand...

What he said with my .000000002 cents added..........



Tannoy Proto-J passive monitors-$150





SM Pro Audio PR4V preamp-$75





Rolls CL151 Gate/Limiter/Comp mic pre-$70







Training your ears & saving for better gear-PRICELESS !!
 
LOL

Hey Hey, This is going to be at the most...for just recording vocals over hip hop or reggae tracks...no instrument rec or nothing fancy like that since i 've got people producing instrumental at high quality for me...now ...i've got to get good enough to track a decent vocal that i could slap on the track and mix/master/sell locally!

I really don't know if a mixer at this point is something i would make use of, all i need for now is a good decent mic signal IN and stereo out for the monitors...i think the outs for the Firewire Solo would require me active monitors...correct me if im wrong

Staying on track...

75-150 will get me a decent pre amp...'decent enough that i can hear the difference when compared to the Firewire Solo pre amps'?

some say get super dupper 300 dollar monitors, but thats completely out of my league for months and maybe years to come...to spend that amount in monitors considering the application of this Project/Home studio...very budget minded...4 kids...16-15-13-11 yrs old kids and a wife!!!!$$$$$

No beef with your response, cuz i could see if i wanted to in the future sell my services i would appreciate having at least monitors on that price range but I ain;t going in the near future (1-2yrs) do that...im focus on my song writting and vocal witth me and oldest daughter.

So looking at all this ...i say i would love to have RPK's price range, but the lower the better depending on how much lower is the quality...what can i compare to the RPK's 8, I have listen to them and liked them but wanted to know what is out there that would compare at the same price point or lower!

And how the hell im going to bypass, now that i think of it, the interface preamp?

cuz its mic-preamp-AI-PC right!?! what about if preamp get my mic sounding good and then AI comes with its preamp and takes the signal back to where it was? how does that work?
 
the preamp's outputs will be line level, so keep the gain on 0 on the board's pres
 
Keep in mind that this is my opinion...

bigj said:
75-150 will get me a decent pre amp...'decent enough that i can hear the difference when compared to the Firewire Solo pre amps'?
Click to expand...
Not really actually...75-150 will probably not 'wow' you...anything in that range will be different, but not neccesarily better than the solo. When it comes to pres, "Good" in most 'pro' recording opinions (that I've come across around here) start at more than 500 a channel (that's being conservative) - look at Toft, Mindprint, Focusrite, M Audio (anywhere between 400 and 1000 per channel). After that you're moving up to stuff like the 500 module stuff, the Avalon's, great river, (7-1500) and you can even move up from there.

HOWEVER - all this being said, if you get the right budget gear that has great bang for the buck (good value at a low price - like the DMP3 or VTB1 or Rolls or...see all the suggestions) and if you use it right, you'll get alright results for what you seem to want to do.

bigj said:
some say get super dupper 300 dollar monitors, but thats completely out of my league for months and maybe years to come...to spend that amount in monitors considering the application of this Project/Home studio...very budget minded...4 kids...16-15-13-11 yrs old kids and a wife!!!!$$$$$
Click to expand...
300 dollars on monitors is really, really cheap - and not really super duper. Depending on what you get, it's more likely to be "bang for buck" quality - good value at a low price. I spent 6 on my Event TR6's and that's cheap. Monitors are quite vital to mixing actually. If you can't actually hear what's in the music, than you can't mix it! It doesn't matter what pres you use if you're only using headphones or boombox speakers - it'll probably not sound like you want it to sound.

If I were you, I'd make sure of why you're doing this. If you're just doing it for fun, than it doesn't matter what you use really. If, like you said in your post, you want to mix, master and sell locally the tracks of your friends music with your vocals than you should first have good monitors and then when you can add a good pre. Do what lots of us do when we want gear! Save and scrape u[ the cash wherever- don't smoke, drink, eat out, gamble, rent movies, eat steak whatever it is that you waste money on - don't do it for a month or two. If I don't eat out for a whole month, I'd probably save myself between 75 and 100 bucks!

So to summarize - don't skimp out - get good monitors first, and then add a better pre than you have now...Hope I've helped, and not made you mad at me...

Jacob
 
Hey Big Ray!!!! lol that was funny. Whenever i have my daughter on the mic and start setting up the levels for her...i tell her sing me something...and she always starts with saying really slow...spoooongeeee booooob!

Anyways...thinking about what you said about monitors make sense...so in reality i wanted to spend around $300 between both things and i really should at least spend that in the monitors which should be more benefitial than having both the monitors and pre's for the same $300...

I really can't go a lot higher than that...looking at stuff in that level i have found

1) M Audio BX5A Powered Studio Monitors (5-1/4 inch, 70 Watts, Biamp) for 299.00
2)Samson Resolve 65a Active Reference Monitors pair for 299.00
3)M Audio BX8 Powered Studio Monitor Speakers (Pair, 130 Watts) 329.00
4)KRK V6 Series 2 Powered Studio Monitor (6 Inch, 120 Watts Biamped, Single Speaker) 349.00
5)Event TR6 Tuned Reference Biamp Powered Studio Monitor Speakers (Pair, 6.5 Inch, 100 Watts) 399.00
6)Samson Resolve 80a Active Reference Monitors Pair 399.00

and these one's for 29.00 over

Samson Rubicon 6a Powered Studio Monitors (Pair) 429.00

This is all in www.americanmusical.com the only way i could get to buy this kinda stuff at this price...
They will divide your total in 3 payments to a CC# as long as the total is more than 249.00 that means that for the more expensive ones i would make 3 payments of 143.33 which is more convinient to me...and this is were i ordered my stuff and they came thru their free shipping in 3 days.

So what you think about those players listed on top???? Thanks people...
 
As far as monitors go, check out Tapco (Mackie's intro brand) S-5's. I've been quite pleased with mine. I may step up to a pair of S-8's....or I might just plunge and upgrade to Mackie HR8's next year. You can find the Tapcos brand new on eBay for as low as $350/pr. As far as $99.00 preamps. I would go with the DMP3 for $159.00. But, don't overlook the Presonus Tubepre. The sound is a small step up from the Firebox built in pre's. Listen here for my Tubepre/Firebox sample (used Tapco monitors)
 
My Event Tr6's are great like I've already said - and I too wish I could spend more...I think everyone does.

Jacob
 
I would also recommend that deal at FullCompass on the bx5's. As for the pres, try the yamaha mg 10/2 mixer. It will give you four decent preamps for $100.
 
If there are any of the M Audio BX8 (not BX8a) you should not be paying more than $300 a pair, I got 'em for that much last summer, and they were discontinued then.

They are decent for the money. Try eBay, people are constantly upgrading monitors, so you can either go a level better with your budget, or save some money on the suggested monitors above.
 
go with the monitors first

the biggest impact on your music will be monitors
and a great test is turning on the EQ in your DAW.
if you move a freq. a couple db and don't hear the difference you need
monitors cause you did something and when you play it back on another system you'll hear it. The biggest change ever to my studio was a friend that sold me some used Tannoy PBM 6.5's. I could then hear all my EQ moves
and compression adjustments.

a used Blue Tube DP ( not Blue tube) the newer DP version allows you to cut out
the starved plate tube for same pre's that are in the FirePod.
1202 Mackie has 4 pre's ( think base line transparent) after that you need to spend real money with pre-amps being the last thing.

starved plate tubes don't do anything but add noise ( fuzz box effect)
no clean round presence like a $1000 tibe pre...your better off with
a clean track and sending it though a Voxengo plug like Warmifier
or Lampthuster that add harmonic and hi-defusion based on models of
tubes. It will still sound clean but it will add third order harmonics based on the tube type.


Read EQ, Sound on Sound and Pro-Audio review. Now some folks will say night and day but, reprutable industry greats review things like Firepods and MAckiesand say " it stood up very well against my butique pre-amps. You won't hear anything if you don't have $600 worth Monitors first.
 
Thanks guys!!! very helpful in here like i always have seen. You know, just becuase im in a budget doesn't mean, im not serious about getting into it. Just need guidance on "What's more important than what".

Ie. When i make a PC I buy the best motherboard I can buy for AMD systems, Then I choose what CPU i can afford, I prefer cheap samsung memory and lots of it, well I know were to skin the pig in that sort of ways...but for what everybody is saying in here...monitors is the motherboard in Studios...don't skin that pig too much cuz too much depends on that piece of equipment.

Going back to the list on top...of monitors...from that list...is there any besides the BX5's that you guys would recommend...like i said...I would prefer to shop with these poeple as i may be able to afford 100-150 taken from my card for 3 months and get me a 300-450 set of monitors...NOW not in a month or two from now...

What u guys think of them samsung's....my buddy has them and i think they are pretty decent...ofcourse im not one to be called a pro in this....

Anyways, thanks guys...as far as monitors...i understand the fact of not hearing what is there...I posted on the mixing forums a clip of three songs...too see what people thought of what the vox track might need and most replied "They seem buried on the intrumental...when in my little basement they seem just a tad low!
 
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