Members UstadKhanAli Posted January 3, 2007 Members Share Posted January 3, 2007 Originally posted by EveningSky . I am now concentrating on the Fender Reverb Pro, a single speaker tube amp at approximately the 1k$ level. I am trying different guitars, and different PUs. Your advice Ken is what I am trying to follow, before your reinforcement message. I read "the sound should be good and pleasant prior to the recording process." That makes sense: "Garbage in, garbage out." I am still struggling with that step, but believe that I am making progress, and will continue to work on the step of guitar/amp sound. So you are having more difficulty trying to get a good guitar sound out of the amp, and it's not so much the subsequent recording?Obviously, if the sound isn't good at the source, then at best, what you end up with is a great recording of something that sounds lousy.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Try this: Plug your guitar straight in to your amp. Nothing else in the chain. Does it sound good? If not, address whatever it is that sounds bad. If it's the strings, the intonation of the guitar, your playing, the amp settings, change it, improve it, swap it out, whatever. If you cannot get this to sound good on this basic level, then it's difficult to hope that plopping something between the guitar and the amp is really going to help matters much. Then, when you have addressed that, you may introduce your pedal effects or outboard processors if you use any. Listen again. It should sound good. If it doesn't, go back and adjust the effects, and if after doing so, you cannot get the effects to sound good but the guitar still sounds good plugged straight into the amp, get rid of the effect.PS. Is buying preamps a cure for midlife crisis???? Not sure...I'm fortunate enough not to be experiencing that!!!! Wheewwwwww!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 PS. Is buying preamps a cure for midlife crisis???? Not sure...I'm fortunate enough not to be experiencing that!!!! Wheewwwwww!!!!!!! Your day will come bub... (walks away grumbling in old man voice... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted January 4, 2007 Members Share Posted January 4, 2007 No, I figure I can stave off all this stuff if I simply never stop being immature... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted January 4, 2007 Members Share Posted January 4, 2007 Or on the other hand, if I do have a mid-life crisis, does that mean I get to drive a convertible Corvette, cavort with 20-year old girls and take up risky hobbies? I mean, that doesn't sound so bad, does it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EveningSky Posted January 5, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2007 I tried to call RTZ again, dialed the wrong # and reached Jason at Atlanta Pro Audio, who took the time to talk to me as an informed person about the RTZ and how it could complement what I already owned. Then I noticed that I was speaking with a retailer, and not the company, but alas too late. I was hooked and ordered one, a production line unit, which as we speak is being constructed by Mr. Robert Starr himself! (That is why no one at the company was able to answer my phone call from several weeks ago?) I am excited. I have "midlife crisis" under control again and I will let y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted January 5, 2007 Members Share Posted January 5, 2007 Originally posted by EveningSky Ken, a preamp is a device you turn on, adjust it the way you want it, and it will hopefully do what you expect, and then you turn it off; if you discover that you do not like it, you sell it on ebay for 30% of what you paid for it. You will find that with any woman, especially one in her early 20s. Omigosh!!!! You sell women in eBay??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted January 5, 2007 Members Share Posted January 5, 2007 May you find total happiness with your new mic preamp. A good one can make a large difference in the sound quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphajerk Posted January 7, 2007 Members Share Posted January 7, 2007 i liked the pacifica the best... i would own 8 channels of it if i could afford it. i compared the GR NV2 against a vintage 1073 [marinair xformers] and a 1079 [st ives]. interesting results. dont know about the vintech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brandondrury1 Posted January 8, 2007 Members Share Posted January 8, 2007 There is no need to overthink this preamp thing. In my opinion, preamp research on a forum is a waste of time. I've never seen a bad review of a preamp in a magazine....EVER! While the monster big boys who have been using robo high end gear since the 70s can hear a difference when the pre is switched out, you also have to remember that they were working in nearly perfect studios with absolutely amazing acoustics, amazing musicians, etc. On another forum, William Whitman and Terry Manning seam to say "screw it, just get API or 1073s and quit wasting your time". I guess it depends no what you are going for. However, for me I've never seen a preamp that made my recordings better...both from an engineering standpoint or from a musical standpoint. Of course, I jumped in with a Vintech 1272 from the start. I borrowed a 4 Channel API and a 2 channel Great River and I noticed no obvious difference fidelity / quality. I just picked up a Trident S20 (which, much like the Vintech 1272 is considered to be good but not great in most internet circles). I can't hear a difference in the Trident S20 and the Vintech 1272. I'm not going to work hard to create a difference in my head. To anyone really wanting to bump quality up.....1) Recording better bands with better songs2) Produce these bands to make them even better3) Get you studio monitors together...I mean really work on your placement of the monitors in your room to get the flattest response possible. Brandon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted January 9, 2007 Members Share Posted January 9, 2007 Originally posted by brandondrury1 There is no need to overthink this preamp thing. In my opinion, preamp research on a forum is a waste of time. I've never seen a bad review of a preamp in a magazine....EVER! Nowadays, it's pretty hard to find a mic preamp that completely blows when something is reviewed at a particular price point. I started recording with Akai MG1214 mic preamps. Now *those* blow. I've noticed a huge difference when upgrading mic preamps from Mackies to RNPs. I've noticed a large difference in the sonic character between my Neve Portico and my RNPs (I like 'em both, but the Neve with the Silk Button engaged is extremely different from the very clear RNP). Now, admittedly, those are both large differences, but they still make a large difference. However, if you are talking about, say, the comparison between the mic preamps in this thread, no, that's not going to make a huge difference, most likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members alphajerk Posted January 9, 2007 Members Share Posted January 9, 2007 i had the choice of the pacifica and the GR2nv last record i did and went with the pacifica a LOT. not trying to push it, but man did i like the sound of it. others dont like it as much as i do. but i had the GR2nv, api's, cranesong, EMI tg2 [with marinair xformers] else to choose from as well. i think the worst pre i had was the syteks. and what version of 1073's are the recommending? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EveningSky Posted January 24, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 I just wanted to report that I received my RTZ preamp, and had the opportunity to use it several times. Firstly, it is a high quality preamp with very solid construction. It has very clean and detailed amplification, and appears to be capible of delivering its 75dB of amplification rather clean up to the end. Most of the buttons, have an effect which I can hear, one escapes my ability to discern (Termination). My tracts appears to have a lot of detail and be excellent substraits onto which I can apply effects. The sound is slightly colored, but rather clean. I cannot call the dry sound "euphonic", I cannot call it unpleasant either. In working with the unit, I have a clear impression that I touch quality! From there folks, you are much on your own. I am not one who by experience of sonic sensitivity is capable to compairing this preamp to what ever. Maybe in the future. Yours, ES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meriphew Posted January 24, 2007 Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 If I was buying a Neve'ish pre and not getting an original (1084,1073,etc.), I'd get a Great River without a doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 If I was buying a Neve'ish pre and not getting an original (1084,1073,etc.), I'd get a Great River without a doubt. I think it's impossible to go wrong with a GR *anything*! I heard their EQ is phenomenal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ES: Glad to hear that you like the RTZ!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was looking for a "Neve-ish" mic pre...and ended up buying a Neve!! The Rupert Neve Designs Portico 5012 is amazing and versatile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.