cheap utility preamps

[superburtm]

Hey guys I need 4 decent cheap mic pres...most likely will be used only for scratch vox or guitar...maybe a hi hat..you know.. any tips on what might fit the bill??I'd like to spend no more than 400-500. Is this even possible?

[DrDeltaM]

2nd hand Sytek?

[jeronimo]

for scrath tracks? get a behringer ADA8000
8 channels ADA + 8 preamps... more than useful for scratch tracks...

[scrubs]

M-Audio DMP3 or Rane MS-1B.

[Jonboy79]

I've got an maudio audiobuddy for sale. It's a good, cheap pre. It has plenty of clean gain, phantom power, clip meter, balanced outs. You could have 2 channels and still but another 350-450 toward a little better two channel pre. Just an idea.

[8th_note]

Here's a suggestion if you want to go really cheap and use the left over money for other gear.

You can get 4 channels of Presonus BlueTube for about $150. On ebay I think there's even an auction or two for 4 channels in a single rack mount unit which is what I have.

These pres are dark and they are noisy if you have to drive them hard but if you're recording loud sources like vocals from an LDC or electric guitar they're not bad. In fact, even though I have several channels of better pres I still use a BlueTube most of the time to record distorted electric guitar. It's got the ability to add a little tube distortion which can take some of the nasties out of a brittle electric guitar.

[uncle duncan]

2 Rane MS1b's and a stereo tube unit, so you have options. The Rane is super clean and detailed - good for acoustic guitars and drum overheads. The tube might be better suited for vocals. The thing about cheap tube units is headroom. Listen to the 'S's of the vocal and make sure they're not getting fuzzy.
People used to rave about the studio projects VT1B or whatever it was called. That's a combo solid state/tube unit.

[XHipHop]

Spirit M series mixers have pretty nice pres w/ direct outs.

[Coyoteous]

Originally Posted by XHipHop

Spirit M series mixers have pretty nice pres w/ direct outs.

- or Mackie Onyx 1220 (or 1202/1202 VLZ, if you want to spend less).

You could consider the 1220 to be 4 good pre's for $500 and the mixer for free.

All of the above options are good, though.

[bobx]

i got a digimax lt for about $500. i use it for the same stuff that you are using it for. extra cymbal mic, scratch tracks, etc... the pres are pretty decent plus you get conversion.

[jeff deff]

Symetrix SX202. Great cheap preamps.

[superburtm]

thanks guys! I should add that the preamps must have analog outs ...no adat ..the blue tube fix sounds cheap and good. I hate to do it..I will eventually buy another lunchbox full of 512's but I have been spending spending spending in the last few months and just need some cheapos to get the job done. Gracias

[warhead]

SM Pro Audio PR8E.

Bang for the buck it's good to go.

War

[ozraves]

I've tried contacting Yamaha to get one of these for review:

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/...RODUCT,00.html

I think they street for about $550 to $600.

[DCtoDaylight]

Originally Posted by jeff deff

Symetrix SX202. Great cheap preamps.

+1 - if you do an inexpensive capacitor swap, these things are on par with the pres found in good-quality studio mixers, and will be useable for lots of things long after this particular project is done.

[Kris]

The Brick.

[foldback]

Seconds for the SM-Pro Audio rack mount pres and M-Audio Mic Buddy.

The $199 SM-Pro rack mount has eight standalone mic pres, inserts, balanced outputs and an option to add internal converters for another $100. I have A - B compared tracks recorded with this box and my $4800.00 Grace m801, the Grace IS better but it is surprising how good the SM-Pro is. Same for the API 3124, it's better than the SM-Pro but we were very surprised how good the SM-Pro sounded. It's our "Go to" cheap preamp package :-)

[mrbowes]

A decent mixer is fine for scratch tracks. Look at Yamaha MG 12/2 or Mackie 1402.

4 Rane MS-1b's would be the best option sonically.

Or, you could get a couple Yamaha i88x - the pres in these units are very good (clean with a decent amount of gain and low distortion).

Or you could buy my Malatchi 6 channel mixer that has XLR/1/4" inputs and outputs. It sounds as good if not better than any cheap mixer. $170 shipped. Shameless plug.

[jslevin]

Originally Posted by superburtm

Hey guys I need 4 decent cheap mic pres...most likely will be used only for scratch vox or guitar...maybe a hi hat..you know.. any tips on what might fit the bill??I'd like to spend no more than 400-500. Is this even possible?

This is easy.

Symetrix SX302 and SX202 (two channels each) are completely decent without any mods. You can find them for $150 or so on eBay, maybe even less. So that's four preamps in one rack space, $100 under-budget.

If space is not an issue, you could hardly do better than buying a Mackie Onyx 1220, which you can find used for under $500. Hell, you'd do better than most of the suggestions here with a Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro -- a few just went on eBay for $150. Seriously.

JSL

[Albert]

Originally Posted by ozraves

I've tried contacting Yamaha to get one of these for review:

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/...RODUCT,00.html

I think they street for about $550 to $600.

I used to own a Yamaha MLA7 and it was actually pretty good. Gets totally overlooked, probably because it is completely utilitarian. No blinky lights, just eight good pres in a boring 1RU black rack box.

[jeronimo]

The Behringer ADA8000 has analog outs, just need to do a loop ADAT out, into ADAT in.
Best bang for the buck to me.

[Beauarts]

A rane dms22 has 2 pres, the same as the ms1, plus eq. In one convenient rack space. When they show up on ebay, i've seen them go for ~ $100.

[Acoustic Cloud]

A few VTB-1's would be great, and whatever else. The VTB-1 has the best feature set of any starved plate little cheap tube pre. Its a nice pre for the little dough, and if you actually want a crackling sound from the backlit tube, it will give it to ya'.

But for scratch stuff, it may be better to grab a one space thing and be done, instaed of dealing with wall-wart selections.

[SK1]

I'm in a similiar position.

I'm also running out of ins (ad16x) so I need somthing with busses on it too to save inputs. I'm probably just going to pick up a mackie 1604 vlz pro for any runover. So it will be 10 312's, 2 1272's and the mackie.

Having the buses and direct outs will be nice. Used for $400-$500 usd in good shape.

[superburtm]

Originally Posted by foldback

Seconds for the SM-Pro Audio rack mount pres and M-Audio Mic Buddy.

The $199 SM-Pro rack mount has eight standalone mic pres, inserts, balanced outputs and an option to add internal converters for another $100. I have A - B compared tracks recorded with this box and my $4800.00 Grace m801, the Grace IS better but it is surprising how good the SM-Pro is. Same for the API 3124, it's better than the SM-Pro but we were very surprised how good the SM-Pro sounded. It's our "Go to" cheap preamp package :-)

SMpro is the name of the company?? Never heard of it. But it fits my bill I'll check it out!

[warhead]

Originally Posted by ozraves

I've tried contacting Yamaha to get one of these for review:

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/...RODUCT,00.html

I think they street for about $550 to $600.

I need to remember to ask the rep to send one in, that is intriguing.

War

[AlexLakis]

M-Audio DMP3 for clean, Studio Projects VTB-1 for a little color. thumbsup

[6strings]

Mackie's got the new VLZ3 mixers coming out. Wonder how those compare to the Onyx, which gets pretty good reviews around here...

[jetglo]

I understand the need for cheap.. believe me.. but I have stopped selling scratch tracks short. More often than not in my experience, the tracks that I thought were just noodling around or pre-production usually end up being a great performance because it was executed naturally and usually with more feeling.
At one point I was just messing around with a defective overdrive pedal.. playing guitar through it for a few minutes. It sounded great and ended up being one of my favourite songs.. with no changes to it.. just over dubbed vocals and bass.
Now I make sure that I am mindful of the fact that some performances can't be beat and not to sabotage my songs by running a dirty track with the impression that it is going to be trashed in the future.
Maybe I should just assume that I will trash all of my tracks!.. hey, but seriously folks...
Cheers!

[jslevin]

Originally Posted by warhead

I need to remember to ask the rep to send one in, that is intriguing.

Warren, you should definitely check the Yamaha MLA8 out. I had one for a couple weeks, and it sounded great -- we just didn't need all eight preamps as other things shook out. You generally only seem them sold through Yamaha's contractor channels, so they have zero hype in recording circles. But these are the same pres as on the DM2000 and i88x that people are always raving about.

JSL