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anonymous 12 November 2004

Im searching for a decent Preamp the only thing holding me back from something 'great".

is Low budget!

price range is $600 max.

I seen a few cheap ones,but all of the stories of Behringer scare me!

I just need it for vocals i suppose...

something thats better than the digi 001's
inconjuction wth a AI3

thanks for any tips.

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inLoco Fri, 11/12/2004 - 17:20

like said here a zillion times... for that money the difference won't be that much! maybe save a little more for something like the sebatron or so... just don't expect too much... if it's around budget gear and project studios take a look at tl ivory 5051, the focusrite voicemaster... and so on...

Krou Fri, 11/12/2004 - 18:44

have to agree with InLoco here, as only recently did it start to 'sink in', that you pretty much get what you pay for. I had a Digi001 for a few years, didn't know much about preamps, I then bought a Focusrite Penta (same crap circuitry that's in all their Platinum stuff) thinking this was the ticket, and there was not much of an improvement at all. I even got the extra AD card (another $200 wasted) and the 001's converters sounded no worse, it's the honest truth.

I remember spending a good couple of hours doing all these tests, with guitars, synths, test tones, and by 1 am, I rolled up a fat one with my friend and said, "ok, now I know why good gear comes at a price", which, combined with good circuitry and design, also means experience of the person using that said gear. My ears know better now than they did 3 years ago, it's all the little subtleties you pick up over the years and don't even realize you're learning as it happens.

I mean, I'm not saying you won't find a good preamp for $650, and I certainly don't want to discourage your hopes that it will sound better than an 001, but imo, you're better off saving a bit more and do it right. Sebatron (although I have yet to hear them) is probably the best bang-for-the buck at the moment.

Myslef, I'm still waiting to buy my first good 'pre', as I'm still using my 002R pres (which are just 'ok', imo). I'm being patient and I've narrowed it down to a Universal Audio 2108. The reviews on it are highly positive, so I'm going for it, $1400 well-spent. If I don't like it, I may go with something else (it was a toss up between the UA and the Vintech Dual 72, I decided I'd try the UA first).

sdelsolray Fri, 11/12/2004 - 21:30

dexters lab wrote: Im searching for a decent Pre Amp the only thing holding me back from something 'great".

is Low budget!

price range is $600 max.

I seen a few cheap ones,but all of the stories of behringer scare me!

I just need it for vocals i suppose...

something thats better than the digi 001's
inconjuction wth a AI3

thanks for any tips......

The new Safe & SOund is in our price range. I haven't tried it, but all reports for far are very good. Single channel with other features IIRC.

Davedog Sat, 11/13/2004 - 00:23

Yeah Yeah Yeah...blah blah blah....sorry.

Everybody knows that ya get what ya pay for..

My inking in this matter is your ears are finally catching a drift of whats what...keep going there and when you do get a nice pre it'll be all that and more....

Skills are everything.

However...for the price you mention there are several ways to go.

The PreSonus Eureka can yield some very satisfying results...It is NOT colored, so your source will have to be pristine and be the tone you desire...The compressor in it is very good..the eq marginal, the mic pre clean and a bit robust...not thin as a penta series tends to be...

It is NOT a Vintech, but then very few are ...even at the same price range and above.This is a pre that you can stamp something with..

I know some about the UA's...But none of the newer things...I assume they'll be tanklike in construction and do everything you want it to do..

great choices....The ART Pro MPA is a surprising unit......a really good secondary pre...a flavor for sure and cheap ...different tubes can make a large difference.

anonymous Mon, 11/15/2004 - 16:21

People here might think I'm crazy, but for a home studio I'd recommend the Presonus Blue Tube. I've been using it with a 57 on my guitar and tiny gorilla amp and getting some pretty nice tones.

I have yet to try it with vocals though as I don't do those. I picked it up on ebay used for 100 bucks and have been very happy with my purchase.

To be honest I don't know much about mic pres (at the school I went to we had a neve console, and when I do live sound for the company I work for we have a midas board). I've been pretty spoiled on a lot of the gear I used and haven't touched too much else in this regard.

-maz

maintiger Mon, 11/15/2004 - 16:39

Davedog wrote:
great choices....The ART Pro MPA is a surprising unit......a really good secondary pre...a flavor for sure and cheap ...different tubes can make a large difference.

wow, I've never had any luck with Art pres but if daw dawg is recommending it, it must be worth a second look! What tubes you use to improve these, dave?

Anyway, there are a couple on ebay for just over 2 bucs...
:D :D
http://search.ebay.com/art-pro-mpa_Musical-Instruments_W0QQfromZC3QQsacategoryZ619QQsosortorderZ1QQsosortpropertyZ1

David French Mon, 11/15/2004 - 17:28

I'm pretty confident that it will replace the Sytek. The Sytek is a great pre for the money, very clean and transparent, and the only budget pre that i've heard that I thought was actually good; however, it does not impart any character to the sound (aside from the gentle sheen of the Burr-Brown modded channels) and i've heard theat the Sebatron is very versatile in that way. I'd ideally like to keep the Sytek, but I need to keep as much cash in my wallet as I can, so it will almost definitely be going. When the Sebatron arrives in early December, I will be taking it to a great studio with all kinds of mics and great acoustics and I will be recording everything through it that I can get my hands on. Perhaps I will bring the Sytek as well.

AudioGaff Mon, 11/15/2004 - 21:08

Im searching for a decent Pre Amp the only thing holding me back from something 'great" is Low budget! price range is $600 max.

I thnk that you will find that for the $600 there really is no decently good mic pre. What you end up seeing is cheaper and half-ass mic pre's that also include other features such a compressor and eq in the same box in the $600 price range. If you can wait, and it is often wise to wait a little longer to obtain the real good stuff and instead of jumping on the half-ass stuff now, you will have a lot more options to choose from in the very good to great catagory instead of the very few options you have in the half-ass catagory.

Cucco Tue, 11/16/2004 - 05:37

I pretty much agree with everyone here, that you will most definitely get what you paid for. But here are a few examples of "good" preamps for under $600:

-Summit 2BA-221 (single channel, well built, good full sound)
-Groove Tubes "Brick" (well built, no-nonsense, great DI too)
-Grace Model 101 (very well built, extremely transparent, Wall Wart ;-( )
-PreSonus MP20 (decent unit with clean gain, not the best out of this bunch but better than most 2 channel pres in this price range)
-FMR RNP (pretty damn good unit for the money - I have a list of gripes against this unit, but truthfully, it can't be beat for the money. Get in touch with Mercenary and they'll get you a RNP and an RNC rack mounted in their Funk-logic enclosure for $685. For that money, it would be hard to beat!)

Cheers,

Jeremy

maintiger Tue, 11/16/2004 - 08:24

David French wrote: I'm pretty confident that it will replace the Sytek. The Sytek is a great pre for the money, very clean and transparent, and the only budget pre that i've heard that I thought was actually good; however, it does not impart any character to the sound (aside from the gentle sheen of the Burr-Brown modded channels) and i've heard theat the Sebatron is very versatile in that way. I'd ideally like to keep the Sytek, but I need to keep as much cash in my wallet as I can, so it will almost definitely be going. When the Sebatron arrives in early December, I will be taking it to a great studio with all kinds of mics and great acoustics and I will be recording everything through it that I can get my hands on. Perhaps I will bring the Sytek as well.

Have you tried your sytek with a Rode K2 tube mic?- I'm real happy with that combo. I've also like an U87 through it but heck, 87's make everything sound good! If that studio you are going to try the seb at has an RCA d77 or dx77 ribbon please try it through the seb and let me know. I've been wanting to get a pre that will do ultimate justice to my D77 - its such a silky mic and I think a tube pre will just fatten that sound forever :D

David French Tue, 11/16/2004 - 08:40

Xavier,

The studio doesn't have a D77, but it does have an AEA R44 :shock: and a couple royer 121s.

I have a R0DE NTK and yes, the combo with a sytek is a good one, but I don't think the Sytek has much to do with it.. i'm sure that other clean pres would give similar results.

I'm not technically selling right now, but since I will almost definitely be selling after I get the 2000e, I figured i'd let someone lay claim to it early if they wanted.

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