Topic: Best preamp?

[Sterling]

I'm looking to run some oktava's or AkG's and I need a good inexpensive preamp with an optical out becuse right now I have a MD (love to upgrade but I'm in grad school and a cheap bastard so) any help would be great.
Sterling
I appreciate it but what are all these T's?

[Kevin]

the tickets are good (gdstoo) and bad (ptbm) karma.  As for the pre some of the cheaper ones would be the denecke ad20, ediral ua5, used dmic20, used mp2 but i dont think they have optical out.  You can get a c02 that convert the coax to toslink though (60-80??).  you should look at the jb3's there around 200 and get great recordings, everyone seems to love em.  Oh and go with the AKG's!!

[wrangler_n_space]

UA5 with either the presence or the warm. If you going for cheap yuo could always just get the digi mod (around 350$) and upgrade later.

An even cheaper way to go is the Denecke AD-20, it has an optical out. I ran one for a little while with my c1000s. It sounds good, only drawback is that it does not offer phantom power. But if your going to get c1000s it doesnt matter.

[Brian Skalinder]

I'm looking to run some oktava's or AkG's and I need a good inexpensive preamp with an optical out becuse right now I have a MD (love to upgrade but I'm in grad school and a cheap bastard so) any help would be great.

Just to clarify:  what you're really looking for, I think, is a preamp/ADC combo.  Preamps are strictly analog and won't give you an optical out - they just provide analog gain.  The ADC will provide the digital out.

This archive thread (ahem, always check the archives  ) should help:

http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?board=14;action=display;threadid=4237

[cpclark]

go with the ad-20, ive made smokin tapes with c1000's and a much more expensive mic the audio technica 4051's, i think the stock ua-5 sound is a bit dry, go with the ad-20 and you wont be dissapointed, also a very small footprint and no cable issues and problems that are associated with the ua-5, i.e. xlr-ins on the front, seperate gain control for analog ins on the back, just can become a mess in your bag, food for though, .02

[Nick in Edinboro]

no cable issues and problems that are associated with the ua-5, i.e. xlr-ins on the front, seperate gain control for analog ins on the back, just can become a mess in your bag

 



When would you use the RCA in's when recording past that rare occasion to get a patch off the board to make a matrix?  The controls for the XLR signals are right next to their inputs on the front.

[gonads]

mod ua5 over the Thin-Box anyday of the week. There's no comparison, the ua-5 is in another league.

[Brian Skalinder]

no cable issues and problems that are associated with the ua-5, i.e. xlr-ins on the front, seperate gain control for analog ins on the back, just can become a mess in your bag, food for though, .02

FWIW, I've run the UA5 and encountered no cable / control problems.  Very easy box to setup and use, sounds really good for the price point.

[DaryanLenz]

Just curious...how close is a wmod to an apogee and how close is a pmod to a v3?  Again, just wondering.

Daryan

[Brian Skalinder]

Just curious...how close is a wmod to an apogee and how close is a pmod to a v3?  Again, just wondering.

I know someone - maybe Craig - did some V3/wmod-UA5 comparisons at home, sent out some CDs, and some feedback was posted on the Oade board.  I'm in the process of getting my UA5 warm-modded and will be doing some field comparisons v. V3 this fall/winter.

Here's the Oade thread.

[Sean Gallemore]

a dumb question, can you power the ua5 thru the usb?

[teamakg]

i recommend the UA5 with the warm mod.  sounded awesome with my akg 391's.  can't wait to here it with my new 480's.  running them tomorrow at flecktones.  one thing though.  i really wasn't happy with just my UA5 until i got it warm modded.  my recordings were just lacking "something" before the mod.  if all goes well tomorrow night i should have my flecktones show up on the archive by the weekend if you'd to hear it.
george

[creekfreak]

for the money, and as an all in one box the ua-5 is the way to go.

[utahtaper]

Ok....
Let me throw this in for fun. Would you go with a stock digi mod UA-5 or a DMIC? Which one would sound better as an all in one box?

[Brian Skalinder]

Ok....
Let me throw this in for fun. Would you go with a stock digi mod UA-5 or a DMIC? Which one would sound better as an all in one box?

I personally prefer the UA5 to the DMIC.  While the DMIC yeilds greater detail, it also sounds very digital, bright/harsh, and unnatural  to my ears.  I prefer the less detailed but smoother sound of the UA5.