Preamp for sax recording with ribbon mic

[Saxtrack]

Hi,

I want a classical Modern Jazz sound on saxophones. O.K.,the best frontend is a great player using a great instrument/mouthpiece/reed combination. But I´d like to know if there is any preamp within 1k of Dollars that will help that mojo thing happening? The microphone used is a Beyer M160 ribbon.

I bet you guys here do have lots of experience so maybe someone can help.

Thanks a lot for any input.

[MIKEHARRIS]

JohnHardy personal..1 channel ...@$$1k
will do a smokin job on vocals too

[Petimar]

I've got to say that while the Hardy is a great pre, for ribbon mics get the AEA TRP. I have both and the TRP is a hands down winner on ribbons. For under $800.00 it is one of the best bargains out there!

[Jamz]

Agreed TRP!
Cranesong Flamingo might be very nice as well. Just not as much gain.

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by Petimar

I've got to say that while the Hardy is a great pre, for ribbon mics get the AEA TRP. I have both and the TRP is a hands down winner on ribbons. For under $800.00 it is one of the best bargains out there!

Look at my avatar for the highest slutt factor. But I don't even know what you would have to pay for a good RCA OP-6 today. Any ideas what one is worth now.
Mine is fab with Ducati poly power supply caps and silver mica this and that.
Regards Mark

[AB3]

Pacifica will be great.

[jmikeperkins]

Of course there are many wonderful mic pres for this application, but my favorite would be the TAB made Telefunken V376 and the similiar Siemens made V276 from the 1960's-1970's. These were the first generation solid state versions of the all time great and very expensive tube mic pre the V76. The V376 and V276 both sound similiar to the V76 and provide some of the most wonderful clean, open, and quiet 76 dbs of gain you can get anywhere for a ribbon mic. They are DEAD quiet (when properly working) but they do add "something" (warmth and presence) due to the vintage Haufe transformers and superior components. A lot of different people offer racked pairs of these for very reasonable prices and they are a great value.

[Sui_City]

TRP x3

Other options:
Great River ME 1 NV
an extra $400 and you can get 2 channels of Lavry Blue Pre. extremely transparent.

[Saxtrack]

Thanks for your input.

Good news that there´s a John Hardy within in my price range, I didn´t actually know that. But I´m wondering if the John Hardy will provide enough gain?

I didn´t find so much information about the AEA TRP so far. Being a transformerless construction, is it just a high amount of clean gain or will it add a little vibe?

That leads to the general question, if you would prefer a specific circuit constrcution (in- and out put transformer, tube stuff, transformerless) for my application? Would you prefer the clean path or would you go for something adding colour or things like that?

The Telefunken stuff seems to be interesting, but does anybody have any ideas where I could get a complete and reliable setup? I only found the TAB Funkenwerk so far, but other than the V 78 it seems to be out of my price range.

Great help so far, please keep the input coming

[Sizzleboy]

Originally Posted by Saxtrack

I didn´t find so much information about the AEA TRP so far. Being a transformerless construction, is it just a high amount of clean gain or will it add a little vibe?

I've got a TRP along with a couple of Chandler LTD-1s, Millenia H3 and UA 610. The TRP is my goto for ribbons right now. It is very clean, and lets the "vibe" of the ribbon mic come through.

[John Noll]

The Amek dual 9098 is a great mic preamp for ribbons, Beyers in particular. They show up on the used market within your price designation.

[Brien]

The Hardy M1 has plenty of gain to record a sax with a ribbon. Not enough for quiet sources.

[John Hardy]

The Hardy M1 has plenty of gain to record a sax with a ribbon. Not enough for quiet sources.

I have modified several M-1, M-2 and Jensen Twin Servo mic preamps to provide greater than the usual maximum gain of 60 dB. There is no charge for this. It involves one resistor in the M-1 and M-2, and one or two resistors in the Jensen Twin Servo.

John Hardy
The John Hardy Co.
www.johnhardyco.com

[Acoustic Cloud]

HI John!!!

Good golly Batman!! Why would anyone worry about gain amount on any pre, tracking a sax?? Even with a ribbon??

Are you miking it from the rafters!!??

[rwhitney]

I like the Daking preamp. I've posted examples of Coles 4040 w/Daking in the Show and Tell forum under "Coless 4040 examples", fwiw.

[Saxtrack]

What would you think of the Hamptone or TAB V 78?

[dboyroy]

michael joly, of oktavamod suggested the black lion, anyone using one??

[woofhead]

I've used the hamptone fet pre with m160 for sax (I,m a jazz sax player) and it's nice-smooth but detailed and with a low enough noise floor in my opinion.Not as low a noise floor as the trp if that's a concern.One of my favorite pres with the m160 is the pre section of a ampex 600 mono tape recorder that I got cheap on ebay a few years ago.This is a more vintage sound but also very clear in that direction and I think for modern jazz would work great depending what you want.Lots of pres work well for close micing with the the m160-the pre becomes more critical whenyou're distance micing(eg drum oh on a quiet tune)A possible budget idea would be a yamaha fw interface that has had it's fw chip blown(I have one somewhere-I'll find it later and tell you the model)because even though it cannot be used as a fw interface anymore, the pres(there are 2) are killer and very quiet.I recorded bass clarinet once with 2 m160's into the interface and it was clean and "fat".This combo also worked excellent for jazz drum oh and trumpet.Great mic choice!

Mike

[Tommy-boy]

Originally Posted by Sizzleboy

I've got a TRP along with a couple of Chandler LTD-1s, Millenia H3 and UA 610. The TRP is my goto for ribbons right now. It is very clean, and lets the "vibe" of the ribbon mic come through.

Ditto.

TRP is very clean, but not sterile.

My only grip about the TRP is the lack of a power button.