I've been spending the past few days shopping for a mic pre amp, my budget
is about 150-200.
My prospects so far are M-Audio DMP3 and Behringer T1953.
What I like about the Behringer is that it has XLR and 1/4" outputs.
The M-Audio only has 1/4" out's.
The M-Audio seems to get a better rating though.

I was under the impression that having XLR out's was important.
Is that wrong?
Also my mic pre amp will be in the same room as where I'll be recording.
I guess I should be concerned about if they make a lot of noice.

I will be going directly into my sound card on my home computer.

Can you share some thoughts about these two? Or even give me some ideas for
others?

Thanks.

IS.

EganMedia wrote:

Can you share some thoughts about these two? Or even give me some ideas for
others?

At your price point nothing is going to touch a used Mackie 1202 VLZ.

What Joe said; next step would be to save for an RNP, about twice the
current budget.

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

At your price point nothing is going to touch a used Mackie 1202 VLZ. The
preamps are as good or better than the others you mention, plus you get 4 mic
preamps, a bunch of line amps, a summing bus, rudimentary EQ all in a neat,

yeah good advice from Joe. The Mackie 1202 preamps are incredibly cleam...What
a steal that 1202 is.
Bill
Please visit my website at http://www.billhall.us/pages/1/index.htm

Thank you for your suggestion and the link.

I need to record to my computer. Will I be able to connect the 1202 to my
computer?

Thanks.

IS.


At your price point nothing is going to touch a used Mackie 1202 VLZ. The
preamps are as good or better than the others you mention, plus you get 4
mic
preamps, a bunch of line amps, a summing bus, rudimentary EQ all in a
neat,
robust powered box.

Here's one on ebay right now:


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=41 473


Joe Egan
EMP
Colchester, VT
www.eganmedia.com

IS wrote:

Thank you for your suggestion and the link.

I need to record to my computer. Will I be able to connect the 1202 to my
computer?

Not directly. If you don't have a reasonably good sound
card/interface and if your computer has USB and is either a
Mac or a PC running an operating system beyond Win98SE check
out the Tascam US-122.


Bob
--

"Things should be described as simply as possible, but no
simpler."

A. Einstein

IS wrote:

Thank you for your suggestion and the link.

I need to record to my computer. Will I be able to connect the 1202 to my
computer?

Not without wires... g

Yes, and the Google archives of RAP are loaded with talk about
maximizing performance with such a configuration.

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

In article , IS wrote:
I've been spending the past few days shopping for a mic pre amp, my budget
is about 150-200.
My prospects so far are M-Audio DMP3 and Behringer T1953.
What I like about the Behringer is that it has XLR and 1/4" outputs.
The M-Audio only has 1/4" out's.
The M-Audio seems to get a better rating though.
I was under the impression that having XLR out's was important.
Is that wrong?

The M-Audio DMP3 is a lot better preamp than the Behringer or any sort
of Mackie console preamp. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's really
pretty darn amazing for the price. They only messed up a few tiny
things and what they got right is pretty astounding. The Behringer is
one of those mostly solid state circuits with a bad tube stage thrown
in for "color", and I honestly can't see why anyone would want to run
signals through that. You'd probably be happier using a stompbox as a
mike preamp instead of that. At least the colorations might be
extreme enough to be interesting and not just small and annoying
sounding.

The type of connector used is irrelevant. In general, the "feature"
you want is "sound quality" and this doesn't rate on spec sheets. To
choose a preamp that sounds bad because it has a particular type of
connector on it is lunacy. You can build or buy cables to do anything
you want. Maybe it's inconvenient, but it's just wire.

Also my mic pre amp will be in the same room as where I'll be recording.
I guess I should be concerned about if they make a lot of noice.

Preamps have no fans, draw little power and take up little space. You
and your computer will be infinitely more noisy than any preamp ever
made.

Maybe it's hard to do in your area, but try to listen to stuff before
you buy it. Sure, maybe the local Guitar Mart isn't all that excited
about scheduling an audition of $200 mike amps for you, and even if
you manage to pry that out of them, they may run them all through some
miserable crap for your listening test anyway, obscuring the real
sound of what you're listening to, but it might be worth a try despite
all this.


Best of luck,

Monte McGuire

StudioProjects VTB-1. Absolutely no questions in my mind.

Ryan

"IS" wrote in message ...
I've been spending the past few days shopping for a mic pre amp, my budget
is about 150-200.

I agree that a used Mackie 1202 VLZ would be a good choice. I have
one. It doesn't sound as good as my Grace 101, but it ain't bad for
the money. Just use the direct out on the Mackie preamps for the best
performance. Don't use the mix bus or EQ. Bad sounding.

Deaf MM

In article ,
says...
"IS" wrote in message ...
I've been spending the past few days shopping for a mic pre amp, my budget
is about 150-200.

I agree that a used Mackie 1202 VLZ would be a good choice. I have

I don't I would take a Soundcraft M series console over any
Mackie console.

--
/ Peter Kaersaa

In article writes:

I don't I would take a Soundcraft M series console over any
Mackie console.

And your qualifications are?


--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )