You seem to be pretty set on the AEA ribbon ... so I would suggest that the GR MP2NV is the best match because it has input impedance switching ... Ribbons usually require a 50 ohm load to get to a good level ... At higher loads, you have to push the pre harder therby bringing up the noise floor.

Hey Kurt, I'm hot on the ribbon because I'm a electric guitarist and really want to work on getting killer tones. I've heard so many times that the ribbon is the way to go and the AEA comes recommended over the Royer. The Great River would be a cool match, I guess I could do one GR pre and one GR eq with the ribbon mic. hmmm.

Ya, as Kurt suggests, the GR NV miic pre and eq would be agreat sounding tool and investment. But a single GR NV mic pre and another type of mic pre like a single API or Manley would give you more tone options up front.

Re: Here's a poll for ya.

J-3 wrote: If all you had was a Neumann TLM 103, Allen & Heath Mixer, Nuendo, Waves Ren, UAD-1, Pair of Oktava MK-012's, Rode NT-2, various small and large dynamic mics Mackie HR824's, decent sounding rooms AND had $3,000 to upgrade what would you do????.........Style...Rock, Alt Country, full band and acoustic mostly multi-tracking so a mic or mic pre can be used for most instruments. Also I know there is a wide range of gear listed in the poll but I'm just curious to see what others might suggest.....remember this is gonna be the only other gear you'll have for a while.....a long while. :(

The GR 2NV and AEA R84 will be a great combination for your uses. The GR will take those Oktavas to another level. The only other suggestions for pres I'd make that you might want to look into:

DW Fearn single channel
Pendulum Audio MDP-1a

Good Luck!

Hey guys good stuff, thanks so much. I'm really leaning toward the R84 and GR MP NV 2. Seems like that will be a combo (with my MK012's and TLM 103) that will be the most diverse. Down the road I could add either another pre OR an eq or two to compliment the NV 2. Do you guys think the NV 2 will "stack" to much if I use it for say overheads then all the other overdubs?? I know you can run it clean OR more colored. I will probably be doing both depending on what I'm tracking and what sounds best. Thanks again for the advice. J

I don't subscribe to the stacking theory ... Lots of really great records have been made using only one type of mic pre and many of them have been pres that exhibit a lot of tonal coloration like Neves and the UA 2-610. I think that is a good thing .... If I could have a rack full of MP2NVs, I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep ...

Sweet, the Great River is on it's way. THe R84 will be ordered later this week. If I dig these guys I think I'll add either a EQ or Comp that will go into the Great River or another R84 for drum overheads. Say, any advice on hooking up the Great River. What I've been doing is running the snake to my out board pre, then out of it to the insert of the Allen and Heath (mix wizzard 16) then to the Delta 1010's. This way I can monitor and eq with the allen and heath if I need. I belive the great river has two outs so I could go to the allen and heath for monitoring and direct to the 1010 for the actuall record signal. Suggestions??? Would it be wrong to cheap out and get a Speck EQ and RNC to go with the MP2NV? Thanks CYA

Nothing wrong or cheaping out with the Speck eq. But for not too much more, you can get the GR eq which was designed to work with the GR NV. The RNC has proven to be a very good comp yet alone compared to most in the under $1000 catagory.

If you have to use a snake (assuming it is of low to med quality), then you might try using the pre-amp before it if possible. Not as ergnomic as having it in the control room, but since you asked about options...

Hi audiogaff, I was thinking the Speck EQ was $550 or so per channel and the GR is more like $1100 a channel. Pretty big jump. With out hearing either I'd have to say the GR is probably nicer sounding but twice the ducketts. I just posted a question on this board reguarding if I'd be better off with one out board to compliment my GR or getting some higher end eq plugs such as the URS stuff. ( ursplugins.com) Any advice? Thanks

I haven't been keeping up on pricing as I thought the GR was less and the Speck was more. Good eq plugs can be surgical but don't match the musical tone of a very good analog eq. Many times you need both. I'd rather have one channel of the GR Eq than two of the Speck if I was relying mostly on good eq plugs.