Topic: Need advice on upgrade of my rig. Mic preamp or R-09?

[easy jim]

When it comes to upgrades I have come to the conclusion that mics come first, pre, and then recorder.

Well said.  Upgrade from the front-end first is a good general precept.

[Will_S]

Hey, I have the AT933s. I even got different mics for a while but now I'm back to them again. I guess I like 'em.
Anyway, I think the best upgrade I did was the un-mod, which returned the SP two wire config back to three wire. I went with a UA-5 and AT phantom adapters. Of course that's more stuff and it sounds like you want to go low pro, but maybe you can get a three wire box. The additional power really seemed to make those little mics sound better and they can handle way higher spl levels without brickwalling now too.
And if you want to keep your costs down I think the iRiver H120 (with Rockbox & REP) makes a nice recorder and a significant upgrade from the JB3.

I have not tried the iRiver, but people say it has the same ADC chip as the NJB3, and without real (analog) gain.

The iRiver does have up to 24 dB of real (analog) gain.  It may share some chips with JB3 but the line-ins are not identical.  That said you still probably want a preamp for anything quiet.  The iRiver sounds noisy to me when adding more than 15-18 dB.

FWIW, I actually preferred the iRiver line-in to the Edirol R1 line-in in a blind test (http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,69911.0.html), YMMV.

[poorlyconditioned]

Hey, I have the AT933s. I even got different mics for a while but now I'm back to them again. I guess I like 'em.
Anyway, I think the best upgrade I did was the un-mod, which returned the SP two wire config back to three wire. I went with a UA-5 and AT phantom adapters. Of course that's more stuff and it sounds like you want to go low pro, but maybe you can get a three wire box. The additional power really seemed to make those little mics sound better and they can handle way higher spl levels without brickwalling now too.
And if you want to keep your costs down I think the iRiver H120 (with Rockbox & REP) makes a nice recorder and a significant upgrade from the JB3.

I have not tried the iRiver, but people say it has the same ADC chip as the NJB3, and without real (analog) gain.

The iRiver does have up to 24 dB of real (analog) gain.  It may share some chips with JB3 but the line-ins are not identical.  That said you still probably want a preamp for anything quiet.  The iRiver sounds noisy to me when adding more than 15-18 dB.

FWIW, I actually preferred the iRiver line-in to the Edirol R1 line-in in a blind test (http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,69911.0.html), YMMV.

OK, mabye the iRiver is not bad after all.  I would like to learn more about the analog gain.

  Richard

[Church-Audio]

Hey, I have the AT933s. I even got different mics for a while but now I'm back to them again. I guess I like 'em.
Anyway, I think the best upgrade I did was the un-mod, which returned the SP two wire config back to three wire. I went with a UA-5 and AT phantom adapters. Of course that's more stuff and it sounds like you want to go low pro, but maybe you can get a three wire box. The additional power really seemed to make those little mics sound better and they can handle way higher spl levels without brickwalling now too.
And if you want to keep your costs down I think the iRiver H120 (with Rockbox & REP) makes a nice recorder and a significant upgrade from the JB3.

I have not tried the iRiver, but people say it has the same ADC chip as the NJB3, and without real (analog) gain.

The iRiver does have up to 24 dB of real (analog) gain.  It may share some chips with JB3 but the line-ins are not identical.  That said you still probably want a preamp for anything quiet.  The iRiver sounds noisy to me when adding more than 15-18 dB.

FWIW, I actually preferred the iRiver line-in to the Edirol R1 line-in in a blind test (http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,69911.0.html), YMMV.

OK, mabye the iRiver is not bad after all.  I would like to learn more about the analog gain.

  Richard

Richard you really should get one and check it out it has a nice front end I would say its got one of the nicest front ends I have seen in a hard drive based recorder that is more then 4 years old. I would recommend a preamp with it but you already have one  I think the combo of the "preamp" you have coming and the Iriver is a pretty hard to beat stealth rig. I am sure the New Korg is better but really for $175 there is not much out there that can touch an Iriver.

[TheMaestro]

The iRiver has really impressed me.  I have two, a h120 and h140.  I'm using one as a bitbucket with a sbm1 and dpa4061's, and the other to record the sbd. Both give spectacular results, and you can't beat the battery life.

[mattb]

I love mine too. Rockbox really makes it. I don't think the value can be beat. I paid 140 on eBay.

[Nick's Picks]

R9 fan here too, and I agree that your mics > battbox > r9 will kick ass.


*however*
the Oade Moded 660 sounds about 1,000 times better.
Its more expensive.  Its larger.  Its only 16bit (who cares), but its equally nice to operate, has "pretty lights", and is still easy to stealth with.
It will add the benefits of HQ mic preamps and phantom power.  You get this deck, then you can run *any* microphone straight into it...should you upgrade to p48 condensers, you'll be psyched.

[Digital Quality]

Do you have a good 24 bit playback setup? My vote would be for a pre/AD, then mics, or recorder. Why bother with 24 bit resolution if you are just going with an internal amp/AD? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Plus, you are limited to 48kHz on the R09. By the time you're ready to upgrade again and you've invested in some playback setup as well, we will hopefully have a more perfect hi-res bit bucket.

Edit: or what Nic said - or as Tascam HDP2. In fact there are a bunch of things you can do with the Tascam. It's got a digi in or a pre and time sync for all sorts of exotic crap in the future.