Brick vs RNP

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:07 pm

I went out today looking for a new pre and would like some input on these products. First, I"m looking for bugget gear and what I"ll come down to is the Brick or the RNP. Both products have good names in the ind. The RNP is going for about 80.00 more than the Brick. Is it worth the extra money? Is there any major diff. between the two?

Thanks.

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 4:10 am

Two different sounds. But I'd still pick the Brick.

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:59 pm

They do sound better, and it's hard to say if you'd find that one sounds better than the other. What type of sources are you going to be recording, and what style, and what microphones will you be using?

Also, keep in mind that it's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison price-wise as the RNP is a two-channel unit while the Brick is only a single channel.

-Duardo

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 2:58 pm

I will be using a cad 179 for vocals and a Audix 02 for any amp mikeing and my style is fairly mellow.

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 5:22 pm

I haven't heard the Brick yet but the design really peaks my interest. It is all class A and discreet beffy construction with a very adiquate power supply ... unlike the RNP which feels like it weighs less than a pound and has a very small wall wart line lump for a power supply.

I would consider the Brick based on that criteria ... and I would not bother with the RNP, based on the same.

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 7:28 pm

Quote:

It is all class A and discreet beffy construction with a very adiquate power supply ... unlike the RNP which feels like it weighs less than a pound and has a very small wall wart line lump for a power supply.

The RNP is Class A as well, and while the chassis isn't nearly as heavy-duty as the Brick, it's still sturdy. The RNP's power supply is very adequate as well...it may look like a standard wall wart, and it is an 8-volt supply, but it's a fairly high-current (1.5 amp) supply as well.

Quote:

I would consider the Brick based on that criteria ... and I would not bother with the RNP, based on the same.

I wouldn't accept or reject either based on that criteria...the sound should be the only criteria. If you have the chance, check them both out and go with the one that is more to your liking.

-Duardo

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 10:24 pm

I'm not sure about this ... perhaps someone who knows for sure will help .... but I think it's volts ... not amperes that is what makes headroom for transients the forming of a good bass signal and correct phase response .... and that's why you will hear pre amp designers / manufacturers speak of voltage swing ... not ampere swing.

To boot (and I'm sure of this) any conversion process with electricity always results in overall loss of energy ... so if you take 8 v dc and convert it to a higher voltage, somewhere in the conversion something is lost ... if it were the other way around, energy would be free. You have to have a good power supply for a pre amp ... there's no getting around this.

The brick has a transformer on the input unlike the RNP, and yes ... it is one channel of "real pre" rather than 2 channels of "sort of pre" ..

I had a RNP here ... and unfortunately it took a small 4 foot tumble off the top of my rack and landed on the carpeted floor .... the volume knob snapped right off! I thought I had bought the thing ... but Fletcher (who was very cool about it) told me to forget it, that they knew about the problem and were going to address it in later versions of the RNP .. On the other hand my one of my 9098 eqs pre amps (one of the first off the line, and handled by Rupert himself) took a similar tumble on it's face onto a hardwood floor parquet (over cement pad, very hard) without any damage at all. I do not recommend this as a test ... but it does show the difference in construction quality of a real pre vs an RNP or other less expensive electronics.

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