Which Budget Preamp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter emomusician
  • Start date Start date
Electro-Harmonix 12AYZ Mic Pre. I record everything through this: drums, Elec. guitars, acoustic guitars, drums. I've formerly owned Mackie VLZ series board and an FMR RNP. This one beats 'em both, for less than two hundo.
 
birthday boy said:
Still, the learning curve isn't really all that steep. I mean, if it's just a matter of gain staging, it's really not all that complicated. Someone would have to be a complete retard to fuck up using a good preamp to the point where it sounds worse than a crappy one.
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The point wasn't about making a good one sound bad it was about making the most out of an entry-level pre or just getting to know how the pre really effects the sound.
 
I realize that. I was making a reference to what emomusician said earlier, "I don't think an expensive pre is gonna make that sound any better than it already does." While it may not make a huge difference, I don't see why a good preamp shouldn't make it sound any better.
 
I understand your point as well..

I was just really stating..


ok.. think of it like this..

ever see those cats who ride around in piece of crap cars, with 500.00 rims on them?

same idea here..

why would I put a 500 dollar preamp, into a setup that didn't cost that much all together?


I'd be riding in a pinto with 20" chrome "dubs".. it would look silly.
 
emomusician said:
I understand your point as well..

I was just really stating..


ok.. think of it like this..

ever see those cats who ride around in piece of crap cars, with 500.00 rims on them?

same idea here..

why would I put a 500 dollar preamp, into a setup that didn't cost that much all together?


I'd be riding in a pinto with 20" chrome "dubs".. it would look silly.
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Well, it's better than upgrading nothing. The important part is upgrading the things that have the most effect, and the things that need to be upgraded the most. Room, instruments, mic, etc.

It's not like it's pointless to get it. If I were you I'd get a new mic first (unless that one is giving you the results you want). Once you have a mic that fits your voice/instrument perfectly then find a good preamp for it.
 
I agree about getting a better microphone before getting a more expensive preamp. It's probably a good idea to work on the signal chain in that order.
 
emomusician said:
I'd be riding in a pinto with 20" chrome "dubs".. it would look silly.
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Hey... you need good tires, to outrun the flames after you're rear-ended...
 
birthday boy said:
The Electro-Harmonix 12AY7 preamp is quite good for a budget tube pre in my opinion...
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Yep.

Funny thing about it is... though it's a tube preamp it doesn't sound "tooby". It just sounds sweet and clear. Unless you drive it really hard, then it gets saturated sounding.

But probably because of its price it hasn't been broadly recognized as being any different than the fake-o starved plate toob pre's. Well, that and the fact that some have complained about it online - usually because they didn't understand the balanced/unbalanced thing. It's a pre you have to use intelligently. That translates as "use the balanced output for recording, and go into a balanced input". :D

You've gotta RTFM with this pre.
 
asking "which budget preamp" is like deciding which fast food place to go eat at

yea it might be cheap, and it might work for the moment, but in the end you aren't really going to get any satisfaction from it

...unless it's the teriyaki burgers from carl's jr. - i tried one of those today, and holy shit it was great
 
Ironklad Audio said:
asking "which budget preamp" is like deciding which fast food place to go eat at

yea it might be cheap, and it might work for the moment, but in the end you aren't really going to get any satisfaction from it...
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Ironclad, your analogy is humorus, except it really isn't true--at least not for me.

My analogy for the DMP3 would be that it is more like a good home-cooked meal compared to an expensive dinner at a fancy restuarant. It may not be as prestigious as the high-end resturant, but it is still very satisfying. :)
 
Timothy Lawler said:
But probably because of its price it hasn't been broadly recognized as being any different than the fake-o starved plate toob pre's. Well, that and the fact that some have complained about it online - usually because they didn't understand the balanced/unbalanced thing.
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that and the fact that is has a fairly poor signal to noise ratio, it adds audible hiss to the recording, not a problem with anything other than:
- soft ballad vocal part or soft instrument parts
- multiple tracks of the preamp in anything other than a loudish rock mix.

but it's tone overall is great, their terrific devices.

Don
 
dkelley said:
...poor signal to noise ratio... adds audible hiss
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Not here. Mine are pretty quiet on acoustic guitar. Not as quiet as my Great River, and I wouldn't use it with an M160 ribbon that needs mega-gain, but with any condenser I have they're fine.
 
emomusician said:
I used to have a rolls mini mic pre I used to use..

not looking for professional quality.. but something better than a live sound mixer's pres.

www.myspace.com/silenceduntilnowrock

this is what we are working with now.. and the vocals sound horrible.
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I'm new here and don't want to offend, but it sounds like at least a good part of the issue with the vocals in the recording on your myspace is either the reverb/delay that was used, or the room it was recorded in.

Were the vocals (I heard 2 separate vocalists) recorded in the same room? If so, you have some mid-high build up in the room that is causing a nasty slap back.....

If you did not record in the same room, then it is likely the settings on your reverb or delay.
 
emomusician said:
Question,

of the Art Preamps in the 50-70 dollar range, you've got the ART tube MP (49.99) and the ART tube MP project series (69.99)

is there much difference in the 2?
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The ART Tube MPs are noisy and you aren't going to get any actual tube saturation at the plate voltages they are running. A better bet is the Audio Buddy, since it is notably quieter and sonically like the Focusrite Trackmaster (very clean), but at a fraction of the cost. In fact, I did a side-by-side comparison of the two and found the Audio Buddy had more output and was every bit its equal soundwise.

Ideally, I would urge you to look into a DMP3 and forget low budget tube pres, instead focusing on a clean sounding pre with a good signal to noise ratio and decent gain to drive a dynamic mic.

The Audio Buddy will fit your needs for your price range and you can pick them up new on ebay for a very reasonable price, especially on auctions, instead of "buy it now."
 
My cheapest Mic pre-amp is also my best sounding pre-amp ..... I built a 6 Ch Mic preamp a couple years ago with some Mic preamp modules I bought off of e-bay....
I got all 6 Mic preamp modules for $6 amd racked them into a wooden box and added RCA outs and a regulated 24v DC PSU which were all salvaged from other equipment ......

So it cost me $6 for 6 Channels and maybe 2 hours work, they have from 20db to 54db of Gain , High and low cut filters , Unballanced RCA outs and nice sounding Input Transformers .... I use them for everything and they are dead quiet and sound really nice ......

A Very good investment ......

Cheers
 
I had the Art Tube MP and it was not good AT ALL. I might have assumed that the ART Tubepac (pre and comp) was the same ciruitry, but, alas, it sounds great and works for me. Clean, quiet and does the job well.
 
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