Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp for
around four hundred clams?

--
*·.¸_¸.·'¨¨)
¸.·'
(_¸.·' Jonathan

Go to http://www.guestroomproject.com/ to
hear some music from my upcoming solo album,
the Guestroom Project. I play all the instruments.

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp for
around four hundred clams?

--
*·.¸_¸.·'¨¨)
¸.·'
(_¸.·' Jonathan


Used Peavey VMP-2, if you can find one.

--Wayne

-"sounded good to me"-

Used Peavey VMP-2, if you can find one.

Peavey? I don't like their amps -- is it pretty good? Why used? Do they
not make it anymore?

--
*·.¸_¸.·'¨¨)
¸.·'
(_¸.·' Jonathan

Go to http://www.guestroomproject.com/ to
hear some music from my upcoming solo album,
the Guestroom Project. I play all the instruments.


"Wayne" wrote in message
...

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp
for
around four hundred clams?

--
*·.¸_¸.·'¨¨)
¸.·'
(_¸.·' Jonathan


Used Peavey VMP-2, if you can find one.

--Wayne

-"sounded good to me"-

£ Î Z @ R Ð wrote:
Used Peavey VMP-2, if you can find one.

Peavey? I don't like their amps -- is it pretty good? Why used? Do they
not make it anymore?

It's good. It's not made any more. And it isn't under $400. If you can
find them for under $400, I'll take a dozen.

When Peavey does make good gear, they don't promote it well and they don't
seem to know how to sell it. So they wind up discontinuing it, like they
did with the VMP-2. Now the VMP-2 sells for more on the used market than
it ever cost new.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article , "£ Î Z @ R Ð"
writes:

Peavey? I don't like their amps -- is it pretty good? Why used? Do they
not make it anymore?


Jonathan,
The Peavey VMP 2 is actually a viable piece of audio gear despite the moniker.
Its one of the few moden low cost tube pres that doesnt use a starved plate
design as the ART and Aphex pieces do.

Garth~


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney

In article @ writes:

Used Peavey VMP-2, if you can find one.

Peavey? I don't like their amps --

This isn't an instrument amplifier. Besides, some of their amps are
excellent.

is it pretty good?

Would someone recommend it if it wasn't?

Why used?

Because new it costs more than you wanted to pay

Do they not make it anymore?

No, which means you may not be able to find a used one for the price
you're willing to pay, but you can try. There was some talk of making
it again, which may make the used prices stop rising.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

£ Î Z @ R Ð wrote:
Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp for
around four hundred clams?

No. You can't even get the power supply section and the case for that
much. Most of the inexpensive "tube" preamps are cheap solid-state preamps
with cheesy tube-based distortion stages.

Why not get a preamp that sounds good, and not worry about what technology
it's built with?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Why not get a preamp that sounds good, and not worry about what technology
it's built with?

like what?

--
*·.¸_¸.·'¨¨)
¸.·'
(_¸.·' Jonathan

Go to http://www.guestroomproject.com/ to
hear some music from my upcoming solo album,
the Guestroom Project. I play all the instruments.


"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
£ Î Z @ R Ð wrote:
Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp
for
around four hundred clams?

No. You can't even get the power supply section and the case for that
much. Most of the inexpensive "tube" preamps are cheap solid-state
preamps
with cheesy tube-based distortion stages.

Why not get a preamp that sounds good, and not worry about what technology
it's built with?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

£ Î Z @ R Ð wrote:

Why not get a preamp that sounds good, and not worry about what technology
it's built with?

Make it $475 and you could swing an RNP http://www.fmraudio.com/rnp/

£ Î Z @ R Ð wrote:
Why not get a preamp that sounds good, and not worry about what technology
it's built with?

like what?

Hmm... what is there under $400... there's the old Symetrix 202. There's
the RNP, isn't there?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

£ Î Z @ R wrote:

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp for
around four hundred clams?

I have a Rolls RP220 with beefed up power supply and better than stock
tubes that I'd sell for $200 and shipping. I'm in northern California.

Google has my comments on it.

--
ha

"£ Î Z @ R Ð" wrote

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?

Art MPA Gold - www.artroch.com
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTMPAGOLD

Powell wrote:

"£ Î Z @ R Ð" wrote

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?

Art MPA Gold - www.artroch.com
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTMPAGOLD

No. This is exactly an example of what is wrong with the whole "fake
tube mike pre" thing.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?

Art MPA Gold - www.artroch.com
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTMPAGOLD

No. This is exactly an example of what is wrong with the
whole "fake tube mike pre" thing.

How would you know?

nospam wrote:

"Scott Dorsey" wrote

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?

Art MPA Gold - www.artroch.com
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTMPAGOLD

No. This is exactly an example of what is wrong with the
whole "fake tube mike pre" thing.

How would you know?


oh boy.








some chick singers at:
http://home.comcast.net/~amostagain/sw_mix.mp3
http://home.comcast.net/~amostagain/sw_talk_mix.mp3
http://home.comcast.net/~amostagain/sw_trouble_mix.mp3

How would you know?


oh boy.



LOL!!!!!

Powell wrote:
"Scott Dorsey" wrote

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?

Art MPA Gold - www.artroch.com
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTMPAGOLD

No. This is exactly an example of what is wrong with the
whole "fake tube mike pre" thing.

How would you know?

I had one for audition. Same thing as the original Tube MPA inside,
really. IC front end, cheesy tube stage with 50V on the plate. Very
smeary sounding... totally eliminates midrange detail.

With a real tube preamp, the tube stages actually don't have much coloration
and most of the actual coloration is the result of the audio transformers.
If you make a solid state box without any transformers in it and add a
tube stage running in starvation mode, it doesn't sound very much at all
like the real thing.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article , (Scott Dorsey)
writes:

I had one for audition. Same thing as the original Tube MPA inside,
really. IC front end, cheesy tube stage with 50V on the plate. Very
smeary sounding... totally eliminates midrange detail.

Scott,
Is there anything that could be done inexpensively to improve the Pro MPA? Is
there a "real preamp" in there waiting to come out or would it be a substantial
rebuild? I have one laying around and it hardly ever gets used except for
scratch vocals etc. It would be nice to be able to use it. Any way to goose up
the plate voltage or something?

Garth~


"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney

"Scott Dorsey" wrote

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?

Art MPA Gold - www.artroch.com
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTMPAGOLD

No. This is exactly an example of what is wrong with the
whole "fake tube mike pre" thing.

How would you know?

I had one for audition. Same thing as the original Tube
MPA inside, really. IC front end, cheesy tube stage with
50V on the plate. Very smeary sounding... totally
eliminates midrange detail.

" I had one for audition"... ok.

I've used the MPA Pro for over a year with Sure KSM 27's
for voice over work only. In that environment I found the
combination to be quite accurate. You can back off on the
tube gain with the low efficiency KSM 27's and still achieve
a satisfying flat frequency response when recorded digitally.

First you wrote "Why not get a preamp that sounds good,
and not worry about what technology it's built with?" Now
you've put in biased qualifier to it "IC front end, cheesy tube
stage with 50V on the plate." And now somehow the
component parts "IC front end" and "cheesy tube stage" make
a difference.

So, which is it "preamp that sounds good" or "not worry
about what technology it's built with" or IS IT the
technology "cheesy tube stage?" All mixed signals to
the consumer (original poster).


With a real tube preamp, the tube stages actually don't have
much coloration and most of the actual coloration is the result
of the audio transformers.

"With a real tube preamp"... what "real" anything? The
discussion is the sub $500 pre-amp price point, BTW.

"coloration"... all manufactured audio equipment has a
sonic signature. Your equating "coloration" to you own
biased preference and stereotype about equipment design,
which is uniquely your own.

Consumer don't have companies like Audio Research,
CJ, VAC (tube examples) or Levinson, Krell, Classe (ss)
to choose from. With few exceptions, the base of electronic
of manufactures building microphone pre-amps produce
shoddy goods (SS/Tube). I think the real question at the
sub $500 price point is how does it sound? The proper
implementation of electronic components is the
manufacture’s constraint not the consumers.

If you make a solid state box without any transformers
in it and add a tube stage running in starvation mode,
it doesn't sound very much at all like the real thing.

Well, that's nice. What are your recomendations on
specific makes and models of mic pre-amps under
$500 price point?

In article , "Powell"
writes:

"Scott Dorsey" wrote

No. This is exactly an example of what is wrong with the
whole "fake tube mike pre" thing.


How would you know?

One way would be to listen.

Garth~



"I think the fact that music can come up a wire is a miracle."
Ed Cherney

"Powell" wrote in message
...

"Scott Dorsey" wrote

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?

Art MPA Gold - www.artroch.com
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTMPAGOLD

No. This is exactly an example of what is wrong with the
whole "fake tube mike pre" thing.

How would you know?

You're new here, aren't you?

Glenn D.

"Glenn Dowdy" wrote

How would you know?

You're new here, aren't you?

I’ve posted a few times on r.a.o over the years. We have
a different accent in our conversations over there .

Powell wrote:

"Scott Dorsey" wrote

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?

Art MPA Gold - www.artroch.com
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTMPAGOLD

No. This is exactly an example of what is wrong with the
whole "fake tube mike pre" thing.

How would you know?

Is that your head in your ass or are you just hiding a football? If
you're not kidding, then either you can go to Google and find out why
Scott Dorsey would know or you could shut up and not make a complete
fool of yourself. Any other questions?

--
hank alrich * secret__mountain
audio recording * music production * sound reinforcement
"If laughter is the best medicine let's take a double dose"

"£ Î Z @ R Ð" wrote in
:

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic
preamp for around four hundred clams?


Call the folks at Tape Op magazine and get their back issue on building
your own tube preamp. I haven't built one, but several here spoke highly
of it. Parts would be well under $400 if you can handle a soldering iron.

Carey,
Is that the PAIA build, or something else? Got an issue #?

George Reiswig
Song of the River Music

"Carey Carlan" wrote in message
. 203...
"£ Î Z @ R Ð" wrote in
:

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic
preamp for around four hundred clams?


Call the folks at Tape Op magazine and get their back issue on building
your own tube preamp. I haven't built one, but several here spoke highly
of it. Parts would be well under $400 if you can handle a soldering iron.

A. & G. Reiswig wrote:
Carey,
Is that the PAIA build, or something else? Got an issue #?

No, the PAiA thing is a starved plate design. I asked the designer why,
and he said that it would be too dangerous to let people play with high
voltages at home.

The Tape Op design is a decent one. There are a few things I'd do
differently, but it's a pretty conventional design that you won't go
wrong with, I don't think.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"£ Î Z @ R Ð" wrote in message
...
Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic
preamp for
around four hundred clams?

Yes, I know it's a matter of opinion, but the last place I'd consider
using tubes is a mike preamp, where noise is a principal
consideration. Instead, warm it up in some sort of line level device
where the signal/noise ratio isn't so important.

Norm Strong

Yes, I know it's a matter of opinion, but the last place I'd consider
using tubes is a mike preamp, where noise is a principal
consideration. Instead, warm it up in some sort of line level device
where the signal/noise ratio isn't so important.


admittedly I am a newbie, I like tubes in my guitar amps, and so I thought
they'd go well in a mic preamp. I'm not married to the idea.

I am recording with a Yammy AW4416. I am unimpressed with their preamps --
too clinical for my taste. I'd like a good warm preamp to make up for it..


--
*·.¸_¸.·'¨¨)
¸.·'
(_¸.·' Jonathan

Go to http://www.guestroomproject.com/ to
hear some music from my upcoming solo album,
the Guestroom Project. I play all the instruments.


"normanstrong" wrote in message
news:0H_8c.100509$_w.1311926@attbi_s53...

"£ Î Z @ R Ð" wrote in message
...
Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic
preamp for
around four hundred clams?

Yes, I know it's a matter of opinion, but the last place I'd consider
using tubes is a mike preamp, where noise is a principal
consideration. Instead, warm it up in some sort of line level device
where the signal/noise ratio isn't so important.

Norm Strong

"£ Î Z @ R Ð" wrote in message ...


I am recording with a Yammy AW4416. I am unimpressed with their preamps --
too clinical for my taste. I'd like a good warm preamp to make up for it..


I know with say an SM57 into my aw4416, I have to turn
up the guitar amp pretty darn loud just to get a decent level, and I
didn't like the sound much either (going for a metal sound). I had
MUCH better luck at lower volumes with a Marshall MXL 603s, captured a
sound that was much closer to what I actually heard coming from the amp
than I could with the SM57. (All I have is cheap mics. I'm strictly
amateur.) What mics have you tried? (Maybe you don't really need a
new preamp.)

A bit offtopic: Just FYI, in case you don't already know about it,
there is a yahoo groups mailing list for the AW4416 with a whole
bunch of people on it that really know that machine pretty well.

For instance, I vaguely remember seeing a message or two on there
some time back about chaining the mic pres on inputs 1 & 2 together
to get more gain. Something like that. Don't really recall the details
though.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AW4416/

-- steve

Stephen Cameron wrote:

"£ Î Z @ R wrote

I am recording with a Yammy AW4416. I am unimpressed with their preamps --
too clinical for my taste. I'd like a good warm preamp to make up for it..

I know with say an SM57 into my aw4416, I have to turn
up the guitar amp pretty darn loud just to get a decent level, and I
didn't like the sound much either (going for a metal sound). I had
MUCH better luck at lower volumes with a Marshall MXL 603s, captured a
sound that was much closer to what I actually heard coming from the amp
than I could with the SM57. (All I have is cheap mics. I'm strictly
amateur.) What mics have you tried? (Maybe you don't really need a
new preamp.)

SM57's want to see a preamp with a transformer front end. Most cheap
condenors work better into most pres that have solid state front ends,
unless you get to the Millennia level, which sounds prety damned good
with a 57.

A good preamp is a worthwhile investment, IME.

--
ha

Tubes can be a good thing, but you can't even get a decent single
channel tube pre at your price level let alone a pair.



Twist Turner
http://tinyurl.com/ul70

£ Î Z @ R wrote:

admittedly I am a newbie, I like tubes in my guitar amps, and so I thought
they'd go well in a mic preamp. I'm not married to the idea.

I am recording with a Yammy AW4416. I am unimpressed with their preamps --
too clinical for my taste. I'd like a good warm preamp to make up for it..

You really do want to audition an FMR RNP. I'd go so far as to say just
get it and learn from using it. It will take excellent care of you, and
it's also a good instrument DI.

--
ha

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp
for
around four hundred clams?

The only inexpensive tube *circuit* with a healthy plate voltage is in the
DBX silver-face stuff, which is quite well designed, but unfortunately some
jackass executive decided to use cheap parts like aluminum electrolytic
capacitors. I have a DBX 386, which is a dual mic preamp (solid state dual
servo, possibly class A), with tube circuit (2 12AX7's with 200V plates),
and a 24/96 A/D converter based on an AKM 5383 chip, same as in the Digi002.
The preamp section is somewhat trashy on treble, but I've used it just for
its tube circuit before and it achieves the desired effect without
butchering the treble. The A/D is pretty clean too, and has a digital peak
limiter that simulates tape saturation, though I generally avoid it. 386's
generally go for around $300-350 used.

Sugarite wrote:
Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp
for
around four hundred clams?

The only inexpensive tube *circuit* with a healthy plate voltage is in the
DBX silver-face stuff, which is quite well designed, but unfortunately some
jackass executive decided to use cheap parts like aluminum electrolytic
capacitors. I have a DBX 386, which is a dual mic preamp (solid state dual
servo, possibly class A), with tube circuit (2 12AX7's with 200V plates),
and a 24/96 A/D converter based on an AKM 5383 chip, same as in the Digi002.
The preamp section is somewhat trashy on treble, but I've used it just for
its tube circuit before and it achieves the desired effect without
butchering the treble. The A/D is pretty clean too, and has a digital peak
limiter that simulates tape saturation, though I generally avoid it. 386's
generally go for around $300-350 used.

Check out the Bellari. Around $200, and also has a 250V plate. It's not
all tube, though, since there is a (rather poor) IC-based output stage,
and the transformer is sort of doubtful. It sounds like a real tube preamp,
though. Not like a good one, but definitely a huge step up from the
starved-plate crap like the ART.

As I recall, the 386 has a solid-state input stage as well as a solid state
stage after the single tube gain stage. And no transformers. This might be
a good thing considering the price point makes it difficult to do a good
transformer input section.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp for
around four hundred clams?

--


Doesn't exist.
Richard H. Kuschel
"I canna change the law of physics."-----Scotty

In article writes:

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic preamp for
around four hundred clams?

I think that if I was recording 400 clams, I'd want more than two
microphones, so a 2-channel mic preamp wouldn't be of much use.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

writes:
Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube,
2-channel mic preamp for around four hundred clams?


"Mike Rivers" wrote ...
I think that if I was recording 400 clams, I'd want more than two
microphones, so a 2-channel mic preamp wouldn't be of much use.

Depends on the acoustics of the venue and how you arrange them.
They're pretty small, after all! :-)

Sometimes when I am out doing a "classic" 2-mic (or stereo point
mic) recording, I imagine Ansel Adams out hiking around with his
big view camera and tripod with a single film plate.

In article writes:

Sometimes when I am out doing a "classic" 2-mic (or stereo point
mic) recording, I imagine Ansel Adams out hiking around with his
big view camera and tripod with a single film plate.

Right, and here we have people looking for something they can put in a
pocket to record in the great outdoors.

Something I remember from an interview with Ansel Adams is that he was
talking about how he worked differently from so many hobbyist
photographers. He said that when he focused his camera, he turned the
knob until it was in focus and that was that. It was done. The typical
hobbyist will rock the focus in and out and in and out and never
really be sure he has it right. Kind of reminds me of searching for
the best piece of a recording chain.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Mike Rivers wrote:

dy writes:

Anyone have a good recommendation for a warm, tube, 2-channel mic
preamp for around four hundred clams?

I think that if I was recording 400 clams, I'd want more than two
microphones, so a 2-channel mic preamp wouldn't be of much use.

What's the best mic for less than ten bucks that will get me that
steamey, buttery sound when recording 400 clams? I'm willing to shell
out for the good stuff and I don't know much about this. Lots of folks
just keep their heads in the sand, but I want to learn from the pros.

Once I get a good take, should I compress and limit it with something
from Waves? Most clam recordings I hear are kind of washed-out sounding.

Thanks for your help, Mike. I know you're experienced because there are
lots of clams around Seattle and you wrote some Mackie manuals. Next
thing you know I'll have to ask you what's wrong with my ol' studer.

--
ha

In article writes:

What's the best mic for less than ten bucks that will get me that
steamey, buttery sound when recording 400 clams? I'm willing to shell
out for the good stuff

Groan!

I recorded a guitarist once who played about 400 clams in a single
take. Man, was I steamed! I was thinking about handing him a razor.

I'll have to ask you what's wrong with my ol' studer.

Oh, no! Put a little hot sauce on it and see if it perks up.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo