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Help please!! Preamp for flamenco guitar!!!


Cyfrid

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Your English is fine, better than my Spanish!!

 

I've got a suggestion for the 500 dollar one. The FMR RNP. I own two of these, and think they're wonderful sounding. They are very clear and open sounding (not colored). It has two channels. I use it right alongside my Neve Portico and Peavey VMP-2 without hesitation. Excellent mic preamp, and strongly recommended.

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By "colored", I mean that the mic preamp doesn't give the sound any of its own sound, such as harmonic distortion, radical altering of the EQ, a blatant "tube"-like sound, or anything else.

 

The FMR RNP is relatively "uncolored", as the designer, Mark McQuilken, believes in trying to achieve a "straight wire with gain" sound, believing that he can "color" the sound later with other devices if he so chooses.

 

I have both kinds of mic preamps...ones that add harmonic distortion, which results in fatness and girth and obvious coloration, and ones that do not add anything and are relatively "clean". They both have their merits to me.

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I see the 535 as an odd choice for a nylon guitar. I've always preferred a good ribbon mic. It sounds much more true and captures the wood really well. If you have one you can borrow, give it a try.

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Actually I was thinking that AKG looked like a good choice for flamenco. It has a slight rise at 10k that would probably sound pretty good with all that fingernail and gut contact. I'd go for a very clean straight wire pre like the Grace. As much as I love my FMR RNP, I think it has a mid forward character to it that might be a little boxy for this type of thing.

 

However... that's all speculation on my part. You never know till you know with these things. Still, if I had to guess without hearing I'd pair the Grace with the 535.

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I never answered your 1000-2000 dollar question. There's going to be a LOT of choices here. I chose the Neve Portico, which I really like. It has a very clean "straight wire with gain" type of sound that we've been discussing, but it also has that "colored" harmonic distortion, resulting in "fatness" or "girth" that I also spoke about above. This latter sound can be used if you hit the Neve's Silk Button. It's an expensive unit, though. I don't know how much it goes for now, it's not cheap, although it is under 2000 dollars. It has two mic preamps.

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Hi again...

 

Well, actually I use the 535 cause a friend in Spain told me that they use it a lot for flamenco guitar; I have been using it for the last 3 months and I am very happy with the sound.

 

The idea of buying a preamp is because when I record I need more "strength" from my guitar, but the sound seems good to me...

 

Ok, so you tell me the FMR RNP could help me in this moment, to my guitar and to my budget jeje I am gonna look for it.

 

Mmm I dont know If anybody have heard Vicente Amigo in their recordings, or even in his live concerts, mmm but I need some help in reverb. Mmm a friend of mine, he used to have a studio, but he need to close it and he gave me all the plugins that he got, including Waves, PSP, Yamaha, Focusrite, Wozoo, etc etc... Any advice of what can I use for my little recordings?. I dont know, a configuration for a reverb or something like that, help please :thu:

 

Thanks for your answers!!!!!

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I don't have any recommendations for reverbs specifically for flamenco guitar, but I would think that you would need a good quality reverb, as the flamenco guitar is not only quite percussive but also has a fairly complex sound (in terms of overtones, etc.), which can sometimes make lesser reverbs "splatter" a bit and not sound realistic.

 

Although I have reverb plug-ins, I use a hardware reverb with a S/PDIF connection. It sounds good. I am using a TC Electronic M300, a $200 reverb, but there are other models that would sound good as well. There's a few things I like about hardware reverbs. One is that the sound quality is often quite good. Another is that it doesn't tax the CPU the way a reverb plug-in does. And finally, it also doesn't require upgrading when you upgrade your DAW.

 

I would also recommend recording in a live room and distance-micing the guitar in addition to the close mics, and then blend those in if possible.

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