whats the difference from my 100 dollars pre amp than those....

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bad intentionz

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that cost 300 or something and will i find better quality moving to mixers instead of amps
 
You must read

You've got a lot of reading to do... But at least you're asking the right questions.
 
Sound quality in some cases, but not all. Flexibility, in some cases. 'Bling' factor in others.

Sound quality comes in many flavors. Words like "clarity", "granular", "sweet", "agressive", "open", "warm", etc. I don't know how much difference you'll find between a $100 pre and a $300 pre, but...

When you combine 30 tracks of low quality pre it builds up it signature of funk. A better pre will build up less funk. If that makes any sense...

You'll probably find better preamps for less money than buying a whole mixer as long as you don't need the other features a mixer offers. Its economics: why spend $2000 on a mixer with 12 preamps, a bunch of EQ modules and whatnot when you can get all you need in a killer preamp for $1000?

At the $300 range you're buying a compromise of features and quality. A $300 preamp will probably kick the pants off a $300 mixer. Its not really that simple, but its the best answer to your question that I can give you.

From my experience, the Alesis Studio 24 sounded TONS better than the onboard pres of the cassette 4-track I was using, but it was in turn beaten (in most cases, but not all) by the Dual Tube MP I bought when I switched to ADAT. The MP was *easily* out-classed by the old Soundtracs board I bought a while back, but the RNP does a good job of showing that up most of the time when I need a track with something special about it.

Take care,
Chris
 
bad intentionz said:
that cost 300 or something
Not much - budget pres are all variations of mediocre - a few are downright awful. Same with cheap mixers.

I mix for a lot of clients with homegrown tracks, and the biggest problem with most of them is their lack of understanding of their signal chain and its impact on what they're trying to capture.
 
I don't think the differences are worth the bother between the $100 and the $300 pres in general. There are some exceptions here and there. I know the guys at Aphex strongly believe their model 207 is an exception.
 
What preamp do you have?

In the $100 - 300 range, it's kind of hard to beat the DMP3 from M-Audio, mostly because it is pretty quiet and neutral. It doesn't do a lot of violence to the signal. Until you're in the market for higher end stuff, it might make sense to collect these little suckers.

For mixers, the Onyx range is probably the next move up where you will hear a difference over the DMP3 preamps. That's way out of the $300 range. The next price point beyond that is where your options really open up.
 
maybe i should have stated this but im only powering one mic so if id get a mixer it prob be that 200 yamaha one and the mic pre i got right now is the samson C valve is that one good ?
 
bad intentionz said:
maybe i should have stated this but im only powering one mic so if id get a mixer it prob be that 200 yamaha one and the mic pre i got right now is the samson C valve is that one good ?

Good and good for the price are 2 different things. In your case probably decent for the price ($100ish). But it isn't GOOD.
 
ozraves said:
I know the guys at Aphex strongly believe their model 207 is an exception.


Don't all the companies think their product is exceptional? Just like all moms think their babies are the cutest?

:D
 
dude save up another hundy and get a Groove Tubes Brick for $400, it sounds awesome. Also, what mic are you using? Mics are more important than preamps so if you don't have a nice one you should probably spend your money there.
 
bad intentionz said:
samson C valve is that one good ?
If it says Samson, Behinger, nady (except the wirelesses) bellari, etc... it isn't good.
 
bellari is half decent..i've seen it on many "real" studio's gear list.
 
Farview said:
If it says Samson, Behinger, nady (except the wirelesses) bellari, etc... it isn't good.

Nady makes a decent ribbon (RSM-2). By contrast, the Nady wireless hardware I've had to put up with kind of sucks, IMHO.... :D
 
chessrock said:
Don't all the companies think their product is exceptional? Just like all moms think their babies are the cutest?

:D

Well, they had a certain pathos when they were telling me this where I thought maybe it wasn't the doting parent thing.

Anyhow, I thought you liked the Aphex 107.
 
FALKEN said:
bellari is half decent..i've seen it on many "real" studio's gear list.
I have a 3630, doesn't mean it's a great piece. It just means I have it.
 
i have a samson CO1 condenser soon to be a audio technia the one thats silver and 199.99 i forgot the product model anyone got any ideas
 
FALKEN said:
bellari is half decent..i've seen it on many "real" studio's gear list.
Sorry - no... Bellari is complete junk, IMO.
 
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