NTK and 002 or other pre-amp

[mikeW]

I have a small budget, but am buying an NTK mic, nonetheless.
How's it going to perform with the 002 pre's? Is there a low cost ($600 or less) pre that I can get for use with the NTK that will blow away the 002 pres? or is the closest competitor in the $1000-1500 range?
Thanks!

[3JDamon]

The Presonus MP20 and FMR RNP will offer better performance than the 002's pre's.

[The Weed]

Myself and at least one other person on the DUC send our NTK's straight into our 001 pre's with a sound that is more than acceptable. The advice I received on the 002 - thanks Phil O'Keefe - was that the 002 pre's are excellent and as good or better than a separate low end pre. I will be following Phil's advice soon and upgrading my 001 to an 002 Rack.

Cheers,

[The Weed]

Here's what Phil had to say in another thread asking about the 002's Pre's:

"The Microphone Preamps

There are four mic preamps, with 48 V phantom power (defeatable in pairs of two). Contrary to what some people apparently think, they're not Focusrite preamps. They are reportedly based on the R&D that went into the new high end Digidesign "PRE". The sound of these preamps can best be described as "neutral" in character. The preamps have up to 65 dB of gain available, and a gain knob is provided for each preamp on the top of the Digi 002 control surface. An individually switchable 12 dB / Octave high pass filter at 75 Hz is also included for each preamp. I found these mic preamps to sound better (WAY better) than those that are included on the Digidesign Digi 001 unit, with a generally clean, smooth, detailed amd transparent tonal quality. With the Digi 001, I wouldn't have considered using the preamps for anything much beyond the occasional scratch vocal - but if / when the need arises, I'd use these preamps without hesitation. I don't often find myself doing that (since I have several outboard preamps), but it's nice to know that they're useable if you want / need them. The mic preamps can be used instead of the first 4 analog line inputs, but not in addition to them. You can use any combination of mic or line inputs on these four channels, so if, for example, the situation only calls for a single mic preamp along with 7 line inputs simultaneously, you're covered.

While I would agree that they're not quite as nice as the PRE's mic preamps, I consider them to be closer to those than to the 001's preamps."

Phil's entire review is available at the link below:

http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/u...c;f=1;t=010252

[Phil O'Keefe]

Thanks Bruce - glad I was able to help.

As far as the RNP and MP20, I don't know that I'd say either would be "better" than the 002's preamps - both are good, but better? I would have used the word "different". YMMV

I don't own a RNP, but I've heard it - it's nice. A bit noisier than the 002's preamps, but not horrible and definitely a nice preamp. I have a MP20, which I hot rodded a bit, so it's not exactly a fair comparison considering the Jensen transformers and new op amps added considerably to the price of the unit... but even in stock form, it's a pretty good preamp... but again, I don't know that I'd consider it to be significantly "better" than the 002's preamps, just different. Of course, with the Jensens and 627 op amps, it's a whole 'nuther beast, and is what I normally use for drum overheads. But if I had to just use the 002's preamps, I don't feel like they'd be a hinderance to acheieveing excellent results.