Basically I'm replacing a Firepod (circa 2006) with a Firestudio Mobile and I'm not overly clear on the difference between the two, mostly because the Firepod has been replaced by the F10 or whatever it's called and is no longer made, so I don't know what's changed between the two.
I do recognize that the gain ranges differ between the Firepod and Firestudio Mobile.
On the Firepod, the gain for the mic inputs ranges from 0 dB to 60 dB and -10 dB to 30 dB on the the instrument inputs.
On the Firestudio Mobile on the other hand, the gain for the mic inputs ranges from –10 dB to +70 dB; the high-impedance instrument inputs range from –30 dB to +50 dB of gain.
I don't know how this will affect my future recordings. I ask because I have songs which I have started recording on the Firepod and now need to finish on the Firestudio Mobile and wasn't sure if I should be re-recording the entire song on the Firestudio Mobile or if the sound quality difference would be negligible.
I'd love some feedback and answers here on this. Thanks so much.
Tags
Comments
The pres are the same, just more inputs on the Firepod. Don't g
The pres are the same, just more inputs on the Firepod. Don't get too caught up on numbers where gain is related, it's marketing hype for people who don't know any better. Is a 500HP car always faster than a 350HP car? Gain stage design can be a pretty intricate process and the calculation only takes into account one aspect of the process. Two completely different preamps can be setup differently, but have the same amount of dB gain and sound ultimately different. One may only have 45dB of "gain", but the circuit could be such that it sounds wider and more powerful per point of dB than one rated at 60dB. This is one example, not a generalization. The PreSonus pres at this price are ok, but they're not Hi-Fi pres by any stretch of the imagination, but they'll get you by because they're not terribly bad sounding.
Having a bit of experience with the PreSonus pre's, I agree with
Having a bit of experience with the PreSonus pre's, I agree with the 2 previous posts. They are bascially the same and db specs are misleading.
As for re-recording your songs, as long as your signal chain is the same with the only change being your PreSonue pre's then you should be just fine. There are other things that change that will effect your tracking from a day to day basis much more than switching between these 2 pre's: mic placement, humidity, different guitar strings, vocal performance, etc. But I would expect that all other things being equal you will have trouble telling the difference between these 2 PreSonus pre's.
If you didn't max out at +60dB you aren't going to max out at +7
If you didn't max out at +60dB you aren't going to max out at +70dB. Frankly, my ribbon microphones don't often even need 60 dB and I'm recording ants playing cello at 20 paces. Well, maybe 10 paces. Some microphones require a lot of gain but 60dB ought to be enough. The SM7B comes to mind in the non-ribbon moving coil category (dynamic). There isn't a condenser on the planet that needs even 50dB of gain to hear grass grow.
Basically, get the version with the features you like. For all intensive purposes, the Presonus preamps in that range of gear are all the same.