I'd short that out with drool in the first few minutes.

Also take a look at the NPNG DMP preamp

Hi rick-slo,

Welcome to RO. The NPNG DMP looks like an excellent preamp for acoustic guitar. Thank you!

NPNG preamp

I've done an extensive search for the company website and find nothing but dealers. Looks like this is one of Mercenary's own? Odd, there is no company profile anywhere.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://recording.or…"]rick-slo[/]="http://recording.or…"]rick-slo[/], I see you have one? You are using it for acoustic guitar?

Way over kill for just guitar. It is a great sounding mic pre and worth owning. In that same tube vein is the DW fearn and the Groove Tubes ViPER.

Which one or both?

I would use something like this for all acoustic music.

audiokid, post: 344372 wrote: I've done an extensive search for the company website and find nothing but dealers. Looks like this is one of Mercenary's own? Odd, there is no company profile anywhere.

[="http://recording.org/members/rick-slo.html"]rick-slo[/]="http://recording.or…"]rick-slo[/], I see you have one? You are using it for acoustic guitar?

Sorry for the slow response (do not visit this forum often).
The NPNG preamp is built by Karl Diehl and is available through Mercenary Audio. [url=(dead link removed) Microphone Preamplifiers
Comments there and on threads on some other forums got me interested so I bought one last year. My other preamp which I have used for a few years is a Great River MP-2MH which is another great but now discontinued preamp.
If interested here is a guitar recording (in mp3 format) I did at home (recording chain was pair of Gefell M295 mikes, NPNG preamp, Mytek AD - post recording just a touch of Lexicon reverb)
http://dcoombsguitar.com/Guitar%20Music/SayItOut.mp3
PM if interested in links to some other guitar recordings I made with the preamp

Ah, that was very nice. No sparing sound quality with a beautiful acoustic instrument. The attack is really sweet and quick. What Lexicon is that? I may be getting a Great River MP-2NV. How does this compare / opinions?

Thanks for chiming in.

audiokid, post: 345302 wrote: Ah, that was very nice. No sparing sound quality with a beautiful acoustic instrument. The attack is really sweet and quick. What Lexicon is that? I may be getting a Great River MP-2NV. How does this compare / opinions?

Thanks for chiming in.

The reverb was from the new Lexicon Native Reverb. I could not say regarding the Great River MP-2NV as I have not used one. You might ask Rick Ruskin about that. [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.liondogm…"]Seattle - Northwest: Professional Audio - Great River, Speck[/]="http://www.liondogm…"]Seattle - Northwest: Professional Audio - Great River, Speck[/]

This is something my co-worker replied to on a another forum
"That's about the toughest decision to make between two completely different sounding units. The Great River has traditionally been the "if you can have only one" preamp since it is so versatile and packs a lot of value, functionality, and great sound into one box. However, any time I have used a LaChapell, I've been pretty amazed at just how great everything sounds. There is just a smoothness there that really helps rid your tracks of "digital" sound without compromising fidelity. Pretty awesome and the bottom is huge without being hypey or out of balance - a pretty neat trick if you ask me. Scott LaChapell is a seriously talented designer as is Dan Kennedy at Great River."- Alan Moon
if you would like to read the original post here it is
[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.studioau…"]LaChapell or Great River - StudioAuditions.com[/]="http://www.studioau…"]LaChapell or Great River - StudioAuditions.com[/]

Cheers,
Nicholas

The LaChappel is on the way to me.. I am quite excited... New here....first post.

I have other great acoustic guitar pre recommendations too... as well I just wanted to mention that are specific to that kind of source.
Buzz Audio , DACs Clarity, Forssell SMP2, and Grace 101, 201, for strumming.. Of course mics..KM84 and U87, and AEA's ribbons, if wanting a bigger sound.
Don't know why I haven't joined here yet... I am a GS veteran.. Just thought I would say hello.
My two cents.

Lou

Completely different animals! Both over and above fantastic!

The Great River NV Mercenary Edition series was designed to be more "open", and "clearer" than the Neve discrete transistor type it is inspired by. It has less "build up" in the low mid region and won't ever give you a problem when stacking large amounts of dense tracks, YET it still presents the attractive IRON tonality because of the custom transformers that are employed. It always seems to keep the "space" of the instrument together in the mix that proves useful to me as an engineer in several ways. We have three channels of this pre in our studio and I think Dan's stuff has TOP GRADE build quality and achieves impressive results on all levels. I like it on acoustic GTR very much!!!!

The NPNG is a radical design that we really love here at Mercenary. The design is a 2-discrete 13-Transistor stage with a 7 discrete transistor front end per channel. It is a certain shade of "clean" and "soul full" that words fail in describing. Karl Employs a custom Jensen Output Transformer, and I love the attenuators on these preamps as they do not change the sound and allow you to finely trim the inputs with precision. It uses a very home brew topology design that is remarkably ingenious. I'm pretty sure no one else is doing anything like what he is - but I gotta say - the NPNG a tool worth checking out if you seek the ultimate "clean" texture with soul and bigger than possible result like no other.