Mic Preamps....PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[M Lawrence]

M Lawrence, where are you buying your gear? the Octopre runs just under a grand; with the lightpipe option it's $1,225.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">oops! sorry, my mistake. i thought they were originally sellin' for around 2 grand. but at that price, i'd be even more concerned with the lack of quality. you've really gotta trust me on this one; if you wanna improve on digi's mic pre's, you ain't gonna be able to do it on the cheap. you're just throwin' yer $ away! i gotta let you'ze guyz in on sumfin'. i just purchased a 2nd hand (unused! in pristeen condition, still in the box!) lucid ad9624 for $500 bloody bucks! i'm surprised you all let this one slip by; it was listed right here on the duc's buy & sell forum. these little gems sell for $750, brand new, at mercenery audio, and i gotta tell you, even at full price, these converters improved my setup by what sounds, to my ears, to be an improvement worth several thousands of dollars. quite astonishing! this is no joke. the one word that describes it sonically is depth (for days!). and clarity. the diff between lucid's and your guitar-mart variety converters is quite literally what seperates the professional recording industry's product from what every home studio/computer daw scenario churns out. it's like someone turned the lights on. this investment alone should be at the top of everyone's list here. so why would you then want to take a giant step backwards by muddying your signal path with a subpar micpre? if you're gonna use inferior equipment in your setup, why waste the money on adding another 8 channels of it when you've got products like fmr's really nice pre which, for only $499, will give you 2 channels of proven, professional grade audio? and there are a few more choices in that price range, like earthworks' lab 101 & grace design's model 201, both of the transparent pre variety. even the vintech dual 72, at a little over $1000, is a step up, if yer lookin' for "colour." and there's all these great api lunchbox clones (like old school audio & brent averill) where the initial outllay for the box & power supply might run you $800 or so, but the pre's can be added at $400-500 a pop, as you can afford to add 'em, but you'll eventually end up with a lunchbox of 8 or more killer mic pre's. but right now, for $1250, you can get yourself a lucid ad9624 and an fmr rnp, and you will be pinching yourself silly (as i am, at this very moment!) to make sure your ears are really hearing something that exquisite, and kickin' yerself in the head for ever having considered purchasing a focusrite platinum this, or joe meek/art that.

btw, that oram/trident 8ch thingy:
http://www.tridentaudio.co.uk/s100rack.html
looks REAL sweet! that's what i'd call a vast improvement over digi's pre's. killer price, also! good luck!

ml

[Percustard]

TAMPA from M-Audio looks interesting indeed.

Is it just nice PR or doe sthis box do what the spiel says.

[Mikchek]

well I'm not looking for tha board to really do any processing....To be honest I really don't know what to look for in a "good" board.....I can do most of that in PT.....I just want good mic pres.....at least 8 direct outs......at least 8 channels.....perferably 16......what else is involved or should I look for......Basically what I'm trying to do it run what ever I'm doing weather it separating my tracks or recording vocoals......into tha board.......and then into PT.......

[gargoyle]

Does anyone know if the Fat Man 2 Rad 5 sounds like the Rad 10. If so, that Pre with it's built in comp would be great for a small studio. I love pre-sets

[tantejo]

i've ordered a focusrite voicemaster pro with digital
outboard. i think it'll arrive this weekend.
it looked a good choice, but i haven't heard it yet.
that's a bit scarry, but i'll give it a try.
greetings, tantejo.

[where02190]

[quote]Originally posted by M Lawrence:

i thought they were originally sellin' for around 2 grand. but at that price, i'd be even more concerned with the lack of quality. you've really gotta trust me on this one; if you wanna improve on digi's mic pre's, you ain't gonna be able to do it on the cheap.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thinking tha spending more money is getting better quality is ridiculous thinking. Saying we have to trust you on tis one is like listening to the salesman with dollar signs in his eyes. Sorry but I trust my eaqrs, not what the pricetag says.

First off, at $1000 it's already more than the cost of the 001, so you are spending more money... there goes that theory. Secondly the AD conversion and analog quality of the Focusrite Octapre is vastly improved over the 001, just listen.

Bottom line is listen and compare. Don't buy according to price, thinking (paying) more is getting more.

Hope this is helpful.

[Lowfreq]

Mikchek, check out Mackie's classic CR1604-VLZ. You mentioned 16 channels and 8 channel direct outs. This board has them as is fairly cheap. It seems you need simplicity and this board has it and the Mackie pre's sound great. I am assuming you don't need the direct outs to be in a digital format (ADAT, for instance) and you mentioned no need for processing so a digital console may be overkill for you. Good luck!

[batti]

Speaking from experience, Using Avalon 737 and Octopre. Anyone who bashes the sound of the octopre probably hasnt heard it or tried it out themselves. Contempt prior to Investigation is a Disease of our culture.

[M Lawrence]

Thinking tha spending more money is getting better quality is ridiculous thinking. Saying we have to trust you on tis one is like listening to the salesman with dollar signs in his eyes. Sorry but I trust my eaqrs, not what the pricetag says.
First off, at $1000 it's already more than the cost of the 001, so you are spending more money... there goes that theory. Secondly the AD conversion and analog quality of the Focusrite Octapre is vastly improved over the 001, just listen.
Bottom line is listen and compare. Don't buy according to price, thinking (paying) more is getting more.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">you're misunderstanding me. i'm not basing the quality of the octopre's mic pre's on the price diff between it and a digi001. i'm basing it on the fact that, 1, you won't be getting a good pre for $125 (1/8th the price of the octo), and 2, if focusrite can't make a good pre for $500, what makes you think they can for $125? anyway, if for $700-800 dollars, digi makes the 001 with 2 pre's and everything else the box does, and the a/d/a converters stink, what makes you think a box with 8 pre's for only $200 more is gonna have "vastly improved converters?" a lucid ad9624, which has great converters (and only in, mind you) sells for $750. a rosetta is $900. after the 8 pre's, how much you reckon they spent on the converters? really good converters cost $ to make; that's just a fact. and i don't shop for a mic pre by it's cost. i do that by ear, and guess what? when my ears go wow!, it usually turns out that the maker of the pre has spent the money on good components, which means, you guessed it, it won't be priced similarly to a presonus blue tube. there is pricey gear on the market that fails to hit the mark. but companies that skimp on quality tend to make junk. and i know this because of a lotta time spent "listening" and using. and it just happens to be on more occasions than not, that with pro audio gear, you get what you pay for.

ml

[where02190]

I think that because I have hear and used it and it blows away the digi preamps and converters.

I've used other Focusrite products that also are great.

So have many others. It's not about how much it costs, it's about how good is sounds.

Hope this is helpful.