Any low budget mic preamps out there that are any good?

 :

2/11/2003 7:17 PM
Dave B.	Any low budget mic preamps out there that are any good? I see alot of these new companies like ART, or Beringer making tube preamps. Are these any good?   What is the critical component that makes them junk or a good buy? I'm sure it's more than just being a "TUBE" preamp. Any thoughts or expiriences?     DB

 

2/11/2003 8:26 PM

CharlieTheBeast

I have an ART Tube MP Studio V3 that works good. As advertised it has a tube sound. The regular old tube MP is even less expensive and works as well I've been told. In fact the tube circuitry in the V3 is suppossedly similar to the MP.     Mine works great. I swapped out the chinese 12ax7 for a NOS Telefunken 12ax7. The telefunken sounds better but not by much. In other words, stock out of the box the ART sounds good.     The only complaint I've heard about them is that some people claim they can be noisy. I don't have this problem with mine and contribute those reports to operator error. If you turn the gain up on the MP too high, then you will introduce noise as with even the best preamp. Run it the way it was intended and you will be fine.     For the price the ART is a great deal as far as I'm concerned. I have an Avalon VT-737SP on order and will post some notes on how it compares with the ART in a few weeks. Obviously the MP does not have compression or EQ, but these can be added as plugins in most digital recording systems anyways.       -c

 

2/18/2003 1:46 AM
gary oliver	i had a art tube MP was ok then i made a altec 1566a valve mic pre and it blew the mp away i had hardly any experience at this before it would be well worth looking into, i got the bug now ive made another 9 tube pres and a tube compressor its bin fun watch out for hi voltages though have a look round on the web for info and the people on here are so helpful and no there stuff good luck

 

2/18/2003 5:02 PM

Dave B.

Thats Cool Gary, I've built some tube amps and two power supplies for tube mics. I curious if you built point to point or did you make pcbs?     I guess the reason I'm looking into a manufactured preamp as opposed to building one is the time and effort required to purchase all the parts. By the time you get it all together it doesn't seem cheaper than buying a new product.     I've got three or four guitar amps I've got to finish. The hardest part for me is the faceplate labeling for a powder-coated chassis. If it wasn't for that I'd be done by now. Plus I'm getting woodworking gear together to build my own cabinets   and I'm just finishing a tube mic kit.     Do you see why I don't want anymore projects!   To think about making my own pcbs, getting all the equipment, chemicals, supplies,...AHHHH!!!     DB

 

2/23/2003 11:57 AM
gary oliver	hi dave b can see why you dont wanna start yet another project ha ha im a bit lazy never done the pcb thing, i did hear that its best not to use pcbs if you can get away with it & and the pre amps were quite simple

 

2/18/2003 5:37 PM
CharlieTheBeast	Gary, great on the DIY altec. How did it blow the mp away. I'm just curious. Was it marginal or wasit something that even untrained ears would notice?     -c

 

2/23/2003 12:39 PM

gary oliver

hi charlie the beast i wont ask my ears are untrained the altec sounded just better hard to explain il try, bigger clearer had more life sweeter, i sold the tube MP as soon as i could not that it was that bad but never wanted to use it again. Im a singer and i sing alot i just sounded better thru the altec i done some AB tests singing the same line thru the 2 pres thru good sound card onto PC and the altec came out on top everytime.I then started to wonder what other circuits would sound like ive since made 3 different RCA pres a jenson a pultec MB1 thanks to the guys here got another 4 on the go, so far they all sound great dont no which i like best yet tho 1 of the old RCAs does sound really sweet.There ya go i dont really no what im talking about but i no what i like the sound of.

 

Page 1 of 3

Next>

Last Page>>