Topic: PRE for DPA 406X's, CA or DPA?

[jmz93]

Hi folks. First, let me say I am a big fan of Chris Church's products! I've pulled some excellent tapes with his preamp so far. So, my question is in no way meant as a slight towards him or his fine work.

But, when I move to DPA 4060's or 4061's in the next month or two, what will get me the best results, powering/boosting them with my ST9100, or looking for a DPA MMA-6000?
Has anybody compared these two in terms of sound quality of the resulting recordings?  They're both small, have adjustable gain, etc.

thanks
Chris
P.S. I record everything from quiet acoustic jazz to loud bands (Rush coming up in July for example), to an original R-09.

[fmaderjr]

Your Church ST-9100 will power your DPA 4060's or 4061's great. The first time I used my DPA 4060's > ST-9100 > iHP-120, I got the best sounding recording I've made in my 10 years of recording. (Admittedly I was in a good location).

Since you already have an ST-9100, I don't think you need bother investigating the MMA-6000. You just need to have the DPA's terminated to fit whatever inputs your ST-9100 has. Nick of Hydra Audio and several others on this board could do it for you at a reasonable price.

I trust you will not be selling your card mics when you get the DPA's. The DPA's are fabulous when you are up close in a good sounding venue, but if you are far back at an arena rock concert you would probably get a recording far inferior to what you'd have gotten with far cheaper cards. All omni mics are best when you are up close. I made a test recording from far back with my DPA's once and the bass was overpowering and it still didn't sound good when I tried to tame the base with Audition.

[Church-Audio]

Hi folks. First, let me say I am a big fan of Chris Church's products! I've pulled some excellent tapes with his preamp so far. So, my question is in no way meant as a slight towards him or his fine work.

But, when I move to DPA 4060's or 4061's in the next month or two, what will get me the best results, powering/boosting them with my ST9100, or looking for a DPA MMA-6000?
Has anybody compared these two in terms of sound quality of the resulting recordings?  They're both small, have adjustable gain, etc.

thanks
Chris
P.S. I record everything from quiet acoustic jazz to loud bands (Rush coming up in July for example), to an original R-09.

If you already own my preamp there is no need to buy a 6000. The 6000 is a great preamp it does provide an extra 20 db of gain over my preamp but you will probably not use more then 25 db or so + your recorder with Jazz. But again that all depends on what kind of jazz.. I would stick with what you have. The DPA mics are very quiet and you can use the full gain on my preamp and still have a very respectable noise floor. So you should be fine.

Chris

[fmaderjr]

I see now you're selling a pair of AT 853 cards.

If the 853's are your only cards, don't sell them and rely on DPA 406x as your only mic. I love DPA's but you have to be close. You need a good set of cards when your seats are farther back. If you're not close at an arena rock concert, you'll most likely get a mediocre to bad recording with the DPA's.

[jmz93]

Thanks for the omni's vs cards comments. i hadn't really thought about it much.
I'll give that some thought in the next day or two and decide whether or not to sell my cards.

Chris
P.S. Chris Church, I went with some 4061's from Diego, a guy who modified a bunch of DPA's for, since then I'll be all set to interface with the 9100 pre. Just waiting for them to arrive.

[lordbelial]

Hi folks. First, let me say I am a big fan of Chris Church's products! I've pulled some excellent tapes with his preamp so far. So, my question is in no way meant as a slight towards him or his fine work.

But, when I move to DPA 4060's or 4061's in the next month or two, what will get me the best results, powering/boosting them with my ST9100, or looking for a DPA MMA-6000?
Has anybody compared these two in terms of sound quality of the resulting recordings?  They're both small, have adjustable gain, etc.

thanks
Chris
P.S. I record everything from quiet acoustic jazz to loud bands (Rush coming up in July for example), to an original R-09.

If you already own my preamp there is no need to buy a 6000. The 6000 is a great preamp it does provide an extra 20 db of gain over my preamp but you will probably not use more then 25 db or so + your recorder with Jazz. But again that all depends on what kind of jazz.. I would stick with what you have. The DPA mics are very quiet and you can use the full gain on my preamp and still have a very respectable noise floor. So you should be fine.

Chris

Chris,

I own a ST-9100 with mini XLR inputs and 4,7 K mod button on the front. I made an adapter to plug my DPA4061 into the ST-9100. I wonder what effect does the 4.7 K mod button have in the performance of the DPA. What do you suggest me?

[travelinbeat]

I see now you're selling a pair of AT 853 cards.

If the 853's are your only cards, don't sell them and rely on DPA 406x as your only mic. I love DPA's but you have to be close. You need a good set of cards when your seats are farther back. If you're not close at an arena rock concert, you'll most likely get a mediocre to bad recording with the DPA's.

You make a good point... At the risk of hijacking this from a discussion of Pre's and AD's to one of mics, what are some card's that match DPA's awesomeness?

[Church-Audio]

Hi folks. First, let me say I am a big fan of Chris Church's products! I've pulled some excellent tapes with his preamp so far. So, my question is in no way meant as a slight towards him or his fine work.

But, when I move to DPA 4060's or 4061's in the next month or two, what will get me the best results, powering/boosting them with my ST9100, or looking for a DPA MMA-6000?
Has anybody compared these two in terms of sound quality of the resulting recordings?  They're both small, have adjustable gain, etc.

thanks
Chris
P.S. I record everything from quiet acoustic jazz to loud bands (Rush coming up in July for example), to an original R-09.

If you already own my preamp there is no need to buy a 6000. The 6000 is a great preamp it does provide an extra 20 db of gain over my preamp but you will probably not use more then 25 db or so + your recorder with Jazz. But again that all depends on what kind of jazz.. I would stick with what you have. The DPA mics are very quiet and you can use the full gain on my preamp and still have a very respectable noise floor. So you should be fine.

Chris

Chris,

I own a ST-9100 with mini XLR inputs and 4,7 K mod button on the front. I made an adapter to plug my DPA4061 into the ST-9100. I wonder what effect does the 4.7 K mod button have in the performance of the DPA. What do you suggest me?

It has ZERO effect because my 4.7k mod does not work with DPA mics so you simply have to leave the 4.7k switch off.

Chris