Topic: ad-20 vs. ADMIC-20

[cpclark]

i think you just hit the nail on the head brian, for the same price, get a digi-mod ua-5, very easy to use, although it only has one light that lights around 2.5 db, you have a deck running out, so you can see levels there, i run matrix's with my band with a ua-5 and they sound great, nothing wrong with the stock pre's in the ua-5 and you can use it with a comp taboot, much better bang for you buck and you can upgrade the pre's in the future if ordered from oade brothers

[F.O.Bean]

i never thought id get a v3 to "darken" my sound :Dbut i kinda did

[mattb]

I've never run an ADMIC-20
but I can give you some of the pros and cons of an AD-20

cons:
No level meters
No Phantom power
only 44.1 kHz
Knobs for adjusting levels are really small
minimum gain is +16 db (at really lould shows you have to set levels all the way down and hope for the best,  personally I have never had clips that affected playback)

pros:
not very expensive
small in size (croachable)
pre and A/D in one box
both coax and optical outs (great for JB3 users)
built like a tank it won't break if you drop it
easy to power on either 9v battery or will run a very long time on a 9.6v RC battery pack

All and all, I was very happy with my AD-20.  I made many great tapes with it.  I just got a Warm Mod UA-5 (which I haven't gotten to try out yet) and the reason for getting it wasn't because I didn't like the AD-20, but I wanted to try out the "warm" sound and want the abality to record at different sampling and bit rates.

I think if you are happy with the sound your microphones give you going "Line IN" you will be happy with an AD-20, because the mic pre in the AD-20 dosen't do all that much to the sound.  I've heard some people call AD-20s the "thinbox" (instead of the in-box) probably because they were using "thin sounding" microphones    An AD-20 is not going to improve the sound of your microphones, but is a good inexpensive way to add gain and convert analog to digital,  without any "extras"

I've only used the AD-20, but so far I like it. Meters and phantom would be nice, but those can be added externally.
The knobs suck but are easy to change for about $5 in parts (I posted pics a while back). I'd probably rather have a UA-5, but I got the AD-20 cheap and I don't feel the need to color my sound.

I noticed the gain thing too, especially since I have unbalanced mic output (SP's AT933s). My solution has been to lower the output of the mics in the battery box (with adjustable gain) to about 1/3 of the max before sending the signal to the AD-20. Now I have my levels right in the middle of the range.

If you are buying new go for a UA-5, but if you find a great deal on a used ad-20 (I got mine for $175) you definitely aren't going wrong if the features suit your needs.

[Nick Graham]

Another vote here for the AD20. Sure, it lacks some of the features of the DMIC 20, but the sound quality (perfect representation of your mics natural sound vs. cold & digital sounding) makes up for it. It's also really easy to find for $100 or so cheaper than the DMIC. Take the money you save and buy a PS2 for phantom power, use the levels on your deck, and you get a better package for less money.

[tadjblack]

I've owned a dmic20 and the ad20- IMO both are pretty harsh on the top end- I kinda enjoyed the dmic- once the levels are set, you can't really change them without a noticeable pop on the tape- so just sit back and enjoy the whiskey