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Hi Folks,

Can anyone recommend a dual-channel preamp?

Here's my situation: I'm looking to use it mainly for on-location recording of classical performances and recitals. (I'm also a composer and occasionally record live instruments in my studio, but mostly I use virtual instruments.) My portable rig includes two AKG C-1000 mics, a Yamaha MG12 mixer, and a Tascam cd recorder. I transfer the files for editing and processing to my home rig, which includes Digital Performer 7. You can here some samples of my recording here:
http://charlottemcmillan.com/Audioservices.html

My portable rig isn't the greatest, but it's not bad either. I'd like to get rid of the clunky Yamaha mixer and get a nice dual-channel preamp. I realize, a good preamp may be worth way more than the mics I'm using, but I think that's okay. I"m hoping to find something good in the $400 to $600 range, but there doesn't seem to be that much out there. I'm looking for a 2-ch. preamp that provides a nice, clean, maybe even silky sound. I'm not looking for distortion. If the preamp comes with EQ, that would be good.

You recommendations? Thoughts?

Thanks!

Hi Charlotte - Well, as I'm sure you know that's not a whole lot of money for essentially two mic pre's. If you had a bigger budget I would say the Grace Lunatec would be a great way to go but that is, I believe, well above $1000 new. I can say that I have a pair of Presonus Eurekas that, for the price, are pretty decent. You get a nice clean mic pre, transparent compression and a very usable parametric eq, so it's basically a channel strip. I think you can find them used for around $300 or maybe you get lucky and find someone with a pair that will part with them for cheaper ?

Good luck!

eo

The ART Pro MPA is certainly no slouch, and a lot better than its price tag would seem to indicate; there's no tube coloration unless you want it, the bottom is round and full, the highs are indeed silky. Would likely tame any hint of harshness from your Tascam's converters, too. Too bad you're not recording to a Mac, the Apogee Duet would be ideal, and includes a pair of sweet AD converters behind the excellent preamps.

Thanks, Eo and mojobone.

eeoo wrote:Hi Charlotte - Well, as I'm sure you know that's not a whole lot of money for essentially two mic pre's.
eo

Yeah, I know that's kind of unrealistic. I was hoping there was some kind of buyer's loophole that offered a bump up in quality with a moderate increase in price. But there doesn't seem much out there that fits the bill. I will check out the Presonus Eureka. I may decide to just keep saving my pennies for the higher-priced stuff.

Mojobone, I'll take a look at the Art Pro MPA. I wasn't going to give it much thought, since I thought it might be similar to the quality of my pres on the Yamaha, but if you think it does offer some quality, I'll definitely check it out. I have a Mac in my studio, but it's a desktop and chained to a bunch of other stuff. Anyway, Thanks!

Oh yeah, the Lunatec has A/D converters so all in all it's a really great unit and built to be mobile.

Why not look at one of those little portable recorders that record to memory cards? They sound surprising good, even great. The are small, don't need line power and the cards can be read by the computer. Most record standard wav files.

Worth a serious look, IMO.

Thanks for the suggestion, Mazz. That certainly would consolidate my rig. But I think I would lose quite a bit of quality going from two AKG condenser mics (and the Tascam recorder) to the portable recorder. I also think that the people hiring me to record their performances might look at the little portable recorder with some skepticism (even though I know they're pretty good recorders!).

You'd be very surprised at how good the built in mics on these things are, seriously! Besides, it's not just the mics, but knowing where you put them, and that's really what they're hiring you for, even though they don't realize it.

Another thing you might consider is a small Mackie mixer with a built in USB or Firewire connection. I would be willing to bet the Mackie preamps are way better than the Yamaha ones are. They also make two channel preamps as well, they just came out with a new one.

The FMR Audio RNP looks to be a winner in the under 500 category. I would start there, actually. Their compressor gets rave reviews and there's no reason to think their preamp wouldn't be right up there. For sure better than the Yamaha by far.

Oooh, the FMR RNP looks very interesting. Thanks for the tip!

mojobone wrote:The ART Pro MPA is certainly no slouch, and a lot better than its price tag would seem to indicate; there's no tube coloration unless you want it, the bottom is round and full, the highs are indeed silky. Would likely tame any hint of harshness from your Tascam's converters, too. Too bad you're not recording to a Mac, the Apogee Duet would be ideal, and includes a pair of sweet AD converters behind the excellent preamps.

I'm actually looking for a new audio interface as my firepod's firewire interface gave up the ghost. I'd seen this Apogee Duet thing before but never really gave it much thought. I just read a bunch of reviews, all glowing. Is that thing really that good?