Focusrite Trakmaster or Penta?????/

[H-man]

Hey guys, I'm really working on upgrading my signal chain and I have narrowed my choice for a new preamp down to the focusrite penta or trakmaster. I have done searches on both and read quite a bit. The Penta has the stereo I/o and the Trakmaster the eq. I'm on the fence and just can't decide. I really just want something as an all in one preamp, since I do alot of tracking by myself. Lead me to the light guys....oh, and anyone know the best deal on one of these units. Thanks DUC'ers...... [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Sabe]

Hi H-man,

I use the Focusrite Trakmaster (8 of them actually) to do my live drum mixes. I couldn't be happier with the sonic quality, transparency and LOW noise floor. I have tried a pair of them in front of a Marshall 4x12 with a couple of AKG 414's and was delighted with the tone.

I have only used them via analog into the 001 (I didn't opt for the digital interface). But of course, had I purchased the digital interface for each unit I would then have to find a digital router to interface with the 001 to achieve all 8 inputs, so I decided to go analog in. By the way, there is very little (if any) line loss going analog. I kept my cables under 3 foot for connections to help minimize line loss effect. ..and properly grounded too with ground taps to eliminate ground buzz/hum.

I, however, have not used the Penta, but I would not be surprised if it was an outstanding piece of gear too. Focusrite is known for "quality" products.

I got a very good quantity price for my Trakmasters thru Sweetwater.

The Trakmaster has a nice feature which allows you to swtich the sequential chain of the EQ and Compressor. I find this to be handy when mic'ing a snare drum to get rid of unwanted ring, or to punchup a bass drum. I did plug a "stock" strat direct into the Trakmaster with reasonable results, if you like that dry, flat outta' phase sound. I suspect a POD or Guitar preamp of some kind would fare well direct with the Trakmaster as well.

One more thing, you probably noticed this in your research, but the Trakmaster has mic, line and direct input connections which makes it very versatile. Ex: Mic in, Guitar in, Keyboard in.

Hope this helps somewhat [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[H-man]

Sabe- thanks so much for the info, the Trakmaster is looking better and better. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[pedrohead]

sabe,
out of curiosity, what did you do to ground your trakmaster and get rid of hum? i've got a voicemaster and when i plug bass into it, i get a horrible buzz.

[gavinchan]

If you are one of those guys who think that most EQ should be done pre-DAW then you should probably go the trakmaster. Or have you seen the brand new Voicemaster model... Looks sooo sweet. I have a penta and I love it. Especially on Vox and Bass. The compression presets are so well thought out, and for a small studio, the fact that it doubles as a stereo line compressor won me over. This means that it will always have a place doing something in the studio, not just a dedicated pre. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Sabe]

Originally posted by pedrohead:
sabe,
out of curiosity, what did you do to ground your trakmaster and get rid of hum? i've got a voicemaster and when i plug bass into it, i get a horrible buzz.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Hi pedrohead,

To ensure proper grounding on my Trakmasters I put them all in the same rack, attached a grounding strap (in this case a small wire with washers on both ends) to each Trakmaster and ran all the straps to a common ground post within the rack. Then that ground post is connected to the ground post that is in my DIGI001 rack. A little deeper however is the way I wired the electricity in my studio. All 110volt lines are wired thru an isolated distribution panel (breaker box) which is earth grounded and all my racks go to a common ground post within the distribution panel.

In your case the hum/buzz could be several things. Firstly, does your Bass Guitar have a single coil pickup (if so, you need to make sure it is properly shielded within the guitar body, and grounded correctly) Sometimes single coil pickups can be silenced by simply turning away from offensive things like flourescent lights, PC monitors, etc...

If your bass guitar has humbucker style pickups then your hum/buzz is likely to be found elsewhere. A simple fix to try is to plug the bass rig into the same outlet as the Voicemaster and 001. If this doesn't help you need to reverse the electrical phase by getting a three prong adapter and simply turn the plug over and plug it in.

If your Voicemaster only hums/buzzs with your bass guitar and not with a mic it would be safe to say it is your guitar with some room interference (single coil, PC monitor, improperly grounded guitar cable, guitar cable shielding breakdown, etc..)

Hope this helps [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[da BaSsTaRd!]

Originally posted by pedrohead:
sabe,
out of curiosity, what did you do to ground your trakmaster and get rid of hum? i've got a voicemaster and when i plug bass into it, i get a horrible buzz.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">everything sabe said is cool... i just wanted to add that i had the very same problem - lots of buzz. the solution was to turn the lights off and back away from the computer monitor to the side (90 degrees). awesome punchy double-bass-like tone from my (mexicano) fender fretless jazz with lots of attack on the voicemaster compressor and the neck pickup at 3...

[vonbleak101]

I use a trackmaster and have never had any trouble with buzz or noise. I use it with an NT1000 for electric & acoustic guitars and vocals, as well as using the instrument in for recording electric Bass, and it rocks the eq and compression are powerfull but not overbaring, i love it! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[H-man]

Thanks guys, I scored a focusrite penta used from sweetwater for $249 out the door, some guy had it for about a month and returned it. I snapped it up for that price and just beat someone else to it. Oh darn I won't get the original box, hahaha. So, thanks again for all of your help.

[img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[ajazzie]

H-man,
\Although from the mac side, i have the penta and I am seriously considdering more focusrite stuff as the penta is excellent.
Be carefull with the image width control, can tend to thin things out a bit too much, and the preset for crunch is a bit over the top and can cause you a jump if you are m onitoring loud and skip thru it. latency can be an issue on aux sends but you get that with outboard.
All aside, I love it and recommend it to anyone on a budget, hell, I am amazed alot more dont own it.
I also bought a m300 from tc electronics, very impressed as well. Cheap.

Enjoy.

AJ