What should I get for my birthday???? eeeee!

[ckbarlow]

LOL I didn't mean the playing so much as to say:

These are both great pres. If you don't get a killer guitar sound with either one of them, then you very very likely also wouldn't with the other. It would then be time to look at the other links in the chain, including mics, the guitar(s) itself/themselves (some great sounding guitars don't record particularly well), and your engineering chops.

IMHO the best results are acheived (without completely breaking the bank) when all the links in your recording chain are at about the same level of quality.

...and the least agony! "I spent $1,000 on that preamp, and my crappy music is more clearly crappy than ever!"

Yeah... I don't want to be a complete princess about it; I have too good of a time making fun of gear dweebs! I'm just at a point where I'm trying to shed the mentality of "that's for people who are richer/smarter/prettier/better than you," which is, in more subtle forms, what I was raised with. Make do, make do, make do. I thought my birthday would be a good time to start. Maybe that sounds too personal, but I bet I'm not the only one on these forums who battles this type of *%** with big purchases.

Whichever one I got, I'd also spring for excellent cables, and one day I'll look at better A/D conversion than my 828, and so on. I figured I would take it one step at a time and do the best I felt comfortable with at each step. There are more-expensive preamps, and I'm not considering them; they're overkill.

[Len911]

ck, for acoustic or electric guitar cabs, I believe a ribbon mic, even the cheap ones, mxl r144 $100, or Nady $80 at musicians friend, (sweetwater don't carry those), would have a bigger impact on your acoustic guitar and electric guitar cab, than either one of these mic pres. Youtube has several videos with some examples. I don't have as much a problem with the el cheapos from china, because the ribbon mics operate on a fairly simple principle, and not as critical as a condenser mic. A good preamp is still important, but imo, the mic is the place to start. My preference went for the green river peamp over the twinfinity, but I think I would get the cheaper of the two, and a cheap ribbon mic., I just noticed some cheaper preamp alternatives at sweetwater might be the daking, tlaudio with a compressor, and the summit. That is starting to make the twinfinity look a little pricey,imo.
Oh, ck, be a princess about it!! It's your birthday!!lol!! I am only a geer dweeb, because I have to research a lot to make sure I get value, and not have to make too many repurchases, that gets expensive as I have discovered. But I have also learned it isn't value, when you spend half as much and have to later purchase the item that is twice as much. But sometimes also you don't get that much benefit by spending twice as much either, that's why I am a geer dweeb,lol!!

[ckbarlow]

You hit the nail on the head! No more buying the modest piece and then repurch later. Ugh.

[fusilierb]

...and the least agony! "I spent $1,000 on that preamp, and my crappy music is more clearly crappy than ever!"

Ha! You're making me jealous with all this buying new gear talk. But now that you're in some libraries its a great way to justify blowing some cash. They call it investing. I call it fun.

Let us know/hear what you get.
B

[mazz]

I have a Cascade FatHead ribbon mic and I think it sounds great and it's not much over 100 bucks. The thing with ribbon mics is they need a lot of gain, but I think either of the pres you're considering will provide enough gain.

http://www.cascademicrophones.com/casca ... 0HEAD.html

[Len911]

Hey Mazz, what is your opinion of the ribbon mic for guitars? You have one for gosh sake!

[mazz]

BTW: Another perspective: I'd be willing to bet I have more gear than matto (although he's catching up! LOL ) but he still makes way more money from his music than I do. I've been to his studio and it really doesn't look very special or impressive (and I know he'd say that too, because we've talked about it), but he cranks out successful piece after successful piece from that corner of his dining room.

It certainly "can" be about the gear, but if you know how to write excellent music, and you do, then you know what excellent music sounds like and you can get those sounds even with what you have now, and if you can't get those sounds, you'll find another sound that works just as well but sounds better, that's what a real composer does, IMO. That's why I have "it's not the gear, it's the ear" in my signature. It's knowing what sounds you can get and what sounds you can't and writing to your strong sounds until you can afford to make those other sounds.

The other thing that happens is as our ears get better, we start to hear the flaws in our system, which starts a chain reaction of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Unfortunately it's a terminal condition.

This is fun! I love helping people spend their money!

[mazz]

Hey Mazz, what is your opinion of the ribbon mic for guitars? You have one for gosh sake!

I haven't used it for guitar, I don't play guitar myself! I bought it for recording trumpet and accordion (I play both a little). I'd venture a guess and say it would probably sound fine as long as it wasn't a real quiet part, just because of the gain necessary on a ribbon mic.

Chuck (crs7string) has a nice ribbon mic that he uses for guitars, at least for amps. Maybe he'll jump in and actually be able to add something!

One thing to remember about ribbon mics is they are typically figure 8 in pattern so they will pick up sound from the back of the mic as well. That might be a consideration depending on how much "room" you want, or not, in your recording!

[eeoo]

I've used the Cascade Fathead a bit. For me it's nice on electric guitar but pretty dark and round for acoustic guitar and vocals, never had much success with it for those apps. Definitely takes the edge off of things which can be great but it's def not a jack of all trades...eo

[mazz]

Certainly smooths out the accordion and is nice on trumpet. Brass is a natural choice for ribbons. Guitar amps too.