Author Topic: ad-20 vs. ADMIC-20 (Read 5307 times)

jb3newbie · « **on:** February 05, 2004, 12:39:25 PM »

Anyone have experience with both.....what are the pros and cons??

RobC · « **Reply #1 on:** February 05, 2004, 03:17:19 PM »

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"

super-phat-al · « **Reply #2 on:** February 05, 2004, 08:22:50 PM »

Personally i think the DMIC-20 is the best a/d pre for the price. It has everything you need. While it doesn't add any color to the sound as a warm mod UA-5 would, it has everything you would need in one box.

level meters
phantom power
easily powered by a 6v
easy to set gain (with todd modd)
would work well with a JB3 if you have the coax>optical (ask Brian S about this)
good design & very durable from what i can tell

To me this is a prefect addition to someone's rig. I would be happy to send you some tapes i have made with it.

F.O.Bean · « **Reply #3 on:** February 07, 2004, 03:41:46 AM »

Quote from: superphatal on February 05, 2004, 08:22:50 PM

Personally i think the DMIC-20 is the best a/d pre for the price. It has everything you need. While it doesn't add any color to the sound as a warm mod UA-5 would, it has everything you would need in one box.

level meters
phantom power
easily powered by a 6v
easy to set gain (with todd modd)
would work well with a JB3 if you have the coax>optical (ask Brian S about this)
good design & very durable from what i can tell

To me this is a prefect addition to someone's rig. I would be happy to send you some tapes i have made with it.

thank god we have a dmic fulffer to take my place,GO ALEX

Kelso · « **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2004, 04:48:47 PM »

where can you buy this ADMIC-20?

Tim · « **Reply #5 on:** February 22, 2004, 04:50:18 PM »

DMIC-20

any of the regular retailers should have it...

Kelso · « **Reply #6 on:** February 23, 2004, 05:08:25 AM »

but they don't I get no result on google

zhianosatch · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2004, 05:44:35 AM »

what the hell is an ADMIC-20?

cpclark · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2004, 12:55:41 PM »

if you search for DMIC-20 instead of putting an A in front of it, you should find plenty of results, IMO, i would rather give the nod to the ad-20, although it doesnt have phantom or level meters, but the dmic is so bright , you have to use some colored mics IMO to get a good sound, just my .02 on that one

F.O.Bean · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2004, 01:38:34 PM »

the dmic-20 is a great pre/ad combo IMO, i ran one w/ 480's from 99 until recently, it has dip switches which def have their pro's and con's, but youlll never bump the levels off again, theyre not going anywhere

its a transparent pre/ad if thats your tyhing, but its a lil bright, but i look at its bright side as detail

cpclark · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2004, 02:12:19 PM »

i never would have thought there would have been an ad-20/dmic-20 phluffing thread around here, its nice for a change over grace/apogee phluffing that is all over the place

zhianosatch · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2004, 02:17:47 PM »

yup, i know what the DMIC-20 is...

F.O.Bean · « **Reply #12 on:** February 23, 2004, 02:23:03 PM »

Quote from: cpclark on February 23, 2004, 02:12:19 PM

i never would have thought there would have been an ad-20/dmic-20 phluffing thread around here, its nice for a change over grace/apogee phluffing that is all over the place

just getting back to the roots

THE NIZ BIAAAAACH! · « **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2004, 04:10:22 PM »

Quote

Posted by: superphatal Posted on: February 05, 2004, 08:22:50 PM
Personally i think the DMIC-20 is the best a/d pre for the price. It has everything you need. While it doesn't add any color to the sound

I agree 100%. I ran this box for 2 years it is a great starter pre\ad box. I loved it. People complain about the dip switches that you have to set but I never had a problem if I was with in 3db I would usuall step it up the extra 5db and it never brick walled once. This was of course reading levels on my dap1 which we know not to always be the most accurate. Point is though it never overloaded.

Brian Skalinder · « **Reply #14 on:** February 23, 2004, 04:28:32 PM »

I know your post didn't ask about it specifically, but for my money I'd also consider a digi-modded Edirol UA-5. I personally prefer it to both the AD-20 and DMIC-20 in terms of price/sound quality/feature set. I just posted a quickly put together UA-5 FAQ in the Archival Info forum - check it out as an option.

The DMIC yields more detail, but is too bright and digital sounding for my tastes. Good thing we have all these gear choices - lots of options for different ears!

cpclark · « **Reply #15 on:** February 24, 2004, 01:29:55 AM »

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 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 24, 2004, 08:23:32 AM »

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

mattb · « **Reply #17 on:** February 24, 2004, 04:00:45 PM »

Quote from: RobC on February 05, 2004, 03:17:19 PM

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 · « **Reply #18 on:** February 24, 2004, 07:12:59 PM »

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 · « **Reply #19 on:** February 24, 2004, 08:01:53 PM »

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