26th March 2011
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#1 | | Gear nut
Joined: Oct 2010 Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 103
Thread Starter |  Clean pre for vocals in treated porta-booth?
I want to start this off by saying that I already have a UA solo 610, Blue Robbie and M-Audio Tampa(only used for the optical compressor, really). As you know, all of these preamps are a bit colored, the 610 really colored. I have a tube mic(Sputnik) that is set up in a porta booth that really does make the vox dry as all hell(and only cost about $50) and really isolates it from my bedroom that isn't treated. I also have some cheaper solid state LDCs being an AT2020 and Rode Nt1a. These are all going into a Digi 003 Rack Plus(I know the conversion isn't the greatest but it'll do for now).
I really need a dedicated vocal preamp that isn't too colored and really lets the tube mic do it's thing, or at least helps it cut through the mix a little better than combining it with tube preamps. It will also give me a more versatile setup with a quality solid state pre. I also want to add that I'll be picking up an SM7b in the near future.
Probably shouldn't have got two tube pres in succession like I did, but it's a little to late now.
Would you go Grace m 101, Daking Mic Pre One or Great river ME-1NV?
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26th March 2011
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#2 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2008 Location: Now in Wellington
Posts: 861
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Well, you said you wanted clean, and the Grace m101 is certainly that. I think you should do some more research on the ones you have listed though. The great river me-1nv and Daking mic pre one both have reputations for being quite coloured.
For an SM 7b you want at least 60db of clean gain, but I think you really want closer to 65 or even 70. I have done some recordings through my Ensemble where I have had to set the gain at 66db to get a good signal level, so look at that when researching pre's.
The cleanest pre's are the straight wire with gain type. No transformer balancing. True systems P solo, AEA, Grace m101, Focusrite ISA one, Audient Mico would be worth looking at for a good clean pre amp that would let the colour and tonality of the tube mic shine through.
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The Big Rybowski | |
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26th March 2011
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#3 | | Gear nut
Joined: Oct 2010 Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 103
Thread Starter |
Right, I guess what I should've said was versatile and somewhat clean. From what I understand you can have the Great River pretty clean long as you don't drive the output but it's like a swiss army knife. The Daking is punchy like an API moreso than being like a Neve, but it just works good on everything. Lastly, yea, the Grace is transparent as a gold digging housewife. Guess I just need a little push. Thanks tho.
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26th March 2011
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#4 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Oct 2008 Location: Now in Wellington
Posts: 861
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Well, now you are into a place that noone can really help you with. Do you want a swiss army knife? Punchy? Transparent? The best thing you can do is try them out if possibly. The 3 pre amps you listed are all great, so it's kind of a no wrong answer.
You said in your post that you wanted a pre that would let the tube mic do its thing. In that instance, I'd go Grace.
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26th March 2011
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#5 | | Gear nut
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 87
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My vote is for the SSL Alpha Channel, I have one and it's a good middle ground pre, a little more character than my zero-distortion Mindprint but no where near the amount of coloration of my API. It's quite versatile with the switchable impedance and VHD control. It also has on board A/D, so you can go spdif in right into your 003, bypassing the Digi converters. On top of which you get some pretty decent EQ with different high-pass options.
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26th March 2011
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#6 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Nov 2010 Location: Canada
Posts: 192
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A Safe Sound P1 might fit the bill.
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27th March 2011
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#7 | | Gear interested
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 9
|  micpre for vox
without question or reservation and entirely subjective, the grace m101.
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27th March 2011
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#8 | | Gear nut
Joined: Oct 2008 Location: Philly
Posts: 81
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+1 for the Grace m101.....just about as clean as they come. I love mine  | |
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27th March 2011
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#9 | | Gear nut
Joined: Oct 2010 Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 103
Thread Starter |
Really wanted the Grace, but went for the SSL because I got one used for what a brand new Grace costs. I can always sell it if I don't like it. Thanks for all the suggestions.
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27th March 2011
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#10 | | Gear nut
Joined: Oct 2010 Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 103
Thread Starter |
I just felt like the better than average converters plus an eq and limiter was just too hard to pass up. I just might still grab a grace in the near future.
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28th March 2011
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#11 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Sep 2006 Location: Cornwall, UK
Posts: 3,661
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Insomniaclown 
The cleanest pre's are the straight wire with gain type. No transformer balancing. True systems P solo, AEA, Grace m101, Focusrite ISA one, Audient Mico would be worth looking at for a good clean pre amp that would let the colour and tonality of the tube mic shine through. | The ISA One uses a lundahl transformer and the tone is slightly colored.
The others you mentioned would be cleaner.
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28th March 2011
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#12 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,056
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Do a search.
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