ThreeQ... bad for classical?

[natibuck340]

Hello out there.... I have been searching and searching for something with the following criteria:
1) half-rack space or less (I guess just 'compact' i.e. less than 15 lbs and the onyx 1220 and spirit m4 are too big if that helps)
2) combo preamp/eq (really need the eq, otherwise I would have already bought the dav bg-1)
3) less than $1500
4) ok for classical music use (just don't steer me towards something that would ruin it, so to speak)

Wow... yeah, I know i'm picky, but the only things i've found that fit this criteria that seems to be worth half-a-lick (i.e. no Behringer,Samson) would be the following:
Soundcraft compact 4 (anyone heard the pre's??)
JoeMeek ThreeQ (i've read on this forum it's quite colored)
and that's all i've found...
are either of these decent or are there any other pre/eq combos I should be checking out that fit my picky specs?
thanks!!
- J

[audiomichael]

For classical you should be looking for the most transparent pre / EQ possible. The Meek would probably never be described in those terms. $1500 gives you a lot of options. A Millenia TD-1 would squeeze right in your budget and work nicely. Millenia pre's are regularly used for classical and score recording.

[natibuck340]

nice... anything under $2000 for two preamp eq's?
thanks,
J

[David Rick]

Originally Posted by natibuck340

nice... anything under $2000 for two preamp eq's?

Yes, plenty of things if you ditch the EQ! Who needs it for classical, anyway?

David

[natibuck340]

i hear ya on the eq... but, i'm not always going to be using this for classical... plus, it's been my experience that some halls do need some minor eq... and i know the sentiment "well, if you placed your mics correctly and you had exceptional skill like me, you don't need eq, mixing, compressors, faders, headphones, backups, etc. for classical... i just turn it on and it's perfect! if you need to eq, you are inferior and shouldn't be in this field" and that's not a shot at you mr. rick because i appreciate your advice, I am always amazed at people's willingness to help out on these forums... i'm talking about people that i've talked to personally in the field... but, sometimes you think everything is mic'ed up perfectly and then when they're tuning, you realize, you know what? there's a bit of bottom end missing, so i'm talking about my imperfect world! that being said... you guys know any preamp/eq's that are slightly cheaper than those Millenia...
thanks,
J

[PlugHead]

If you have to have an EQ, maybe look at this:

TToft AFC-2 Dual Channel Equalizer / Mic Preamp

The pre's are not stellar, but if you have to have EQ these should be the same as the Toft ATB EQ's, and are very respectable.

IME,

Having great pre's will make a bigger and better difference - my advice - buy once, and be happy. Don't skimp on the pre's - spend the money and make GREAT recordings, not ok ones - I'd be willing to bet if you had the right pre's and mic's, you'd reconsider EQ'ing a live performance.

cheers, and enjoy!!!

[Jim vanBergen]

How about a Grace Lunatec? It's portable, sounds really good, and is appropriate to all kinds of music.

I have not used it, but the DAV preamps get raves here. Have you considered that?

Just a thought: I agree with you that sometimes you need EQ, but you might choose, as some do, to EQ in the mixing stage, not the tracking stage.

Hope this helps!

[warhead]

The Toft is likely the best solution really, those preamps are clean and low noise (Burr Brown INA217) and those EQ's are nice (4 peaking). You can do some gentle sculpting with them that should be fine on a budget.

War

[David Rick]

Originally Posted by natibuck340

i hear ya on the eq... but, i'm not always going to be using this for classical... plus, it's been my experience that some halls do need some minor eq... and i know the sentiment "well, if you placed your mics correctly and you had exceptional skill like me, you don't need eq, mixing, compressors, faders, headphones, backups, etc. for classical... i just turn it on and it's perfect! if you need to eq, you are inferior and shouldn't be in this field" and that's not a shot at you mr. rick because i appreciate your advice, I am always amazed at people's willingness to help out on these forums... i'm talking about people that i've talked to personally in the field... but, sometimes you think everything is mic'ed up perfectly and then when they're tuning, you realize, you know what? there's a bit of bottom end missing, so i'm talking about my imperfect world! that being said... you guys know any preamp/eq's that are slightly cheaper than those Millenia...
thanks,
J

No offense taken.

If I did more pop and less classical, I'd want EQ, too. On the classical front, it's not so much that I never want EQ in on location, it's more that I can't hear well enough in the average green room situation to know what the heck I'm doing with it. So I typically try to do my best with mic placement, and leave the rest for later. BTW, later mostly means I'll use one of my favorite plug in EQ's, so I don't really need to have a hardware one. I do have a lovely Millennia NSEQ-2 in my rack, but it doesn't get turned on all that much.

What you want is difficult at the $2k price point, because a credible EQ without preamp (think Great River or Mini Massive) costs more than that already. But if you don't insist on full parametric EQ, there are some possibilities.

The Langevin Dual Mono mic preamp is one such, and is actually well under budget. In fact, you could afford the Dual Vocal Combo instead which comes with serviceable ELOP limiters built in. Although these units aren't on the short list of first-call classical preamps, they aren't anything to sneer at either -- they've got a fully discrete signal path. For classical use, they are a bit short on gain (50-53 dB max) but if you have hot mics or gain available at your converter, you'll get by.

If you must have a midrange knob, the Vintech 273 fits your budget. Thousands of words have been written in Gearslutz forums on the merits and demerits of these Chinese-made Neve clones. I'm not wading into it -- do a search.

David

[peeder]

I'm in favor of buying things once.

Forget the EQ you can't afford one at that budget. Learn how to place and angle and select microphones instead and EQ when you mix.

Get the Forssell SMP2 and be done with it.

(although, if you absolutely have to have an EQ because you are recording live to radio or 2 track or something, I would go mindprint DTC)

[videoteque]

I'm in favor of buying things once.

Nice advise!!!

[John Willett]

I'm with David Rick and Peeder on this.

I do classical.

I use the Audio Design DMA1 mic. pre. Goes straight to digits at 24/96 and is very clean and within a gnats whisker of the Prism at x10 the price.

The DACS is also supposed to be superb.

Millennia also.

[natibuck340]

Wow, great advice, thanks to everyone... I now have more things to look at than when I started this thread!