Which preanmps are best ?

[Max Warasila]

Re: Which preanmps are best ?

Ok, thanks guys for all of your input on this matter , i am going to review all that has been written in this post, and also thanks for not bashing my gear, you dont know how much it means to me to just get down to the problem with a great conversation and great answers. now i am not saying i have the best stuff out there , but I have been on forums where they just bash your gear without even talking about the problem at hand , and you guys haven't done any of that,, So Thanks again . and hopefully we will have many more great chats like this one in the future. thanks for all your help and comments. ~:-D~:grin::thumbup:

So now that we have finished the base of the conversation... Behringer sucks why the heck did you even my one you noob!

I'm just messin. +1 to Tim. It should be in your price range and from my last use of that system, it should do the best of avoiding distortion for your purposes.

 

[Brian jojade]

Re: Which preanmps are best ?

ok guys. just one more thing to ask and then i will get out of your hair. the Electro voice r300 mic says the dynamic range is greater than 95db, the shure Pg series wireless says 109db, and the audio techinca system 10 says 109db a weighted typical. which of the three would be the better mic for the rap hiphop music?

This isn't a spec that you're likely to find published. And if it is, it's not going to be the same across anything.

A mic element has a maximum SPL that it can handle. This you can often find as a published spec, but as with anything else, the spec may not be useful without knowing the context of measurement. Most decent mics can handle anything a human voice can throw at it in terms of volume, so that's not much of a concern.

If you're just using a wired mic, then all you have to do next is make sure your trim on the mixer is backed down enough as to not clip the preamp. Simple, easy, cheap.

With a wireless mic, it's the same concept. However, the first pre-amp you have to deal with is the one in the mic transmitter itself. Here begins the difficulty. If you set the trim on your mixer wrong during setup, you can easily make adjustments during the show to correct it. If it's wrong on the mic, it's pretty inconvenient to go up on stage to make the change. Some mics, such as the Shure SLX and PGX series only have a 2 position trim. 0db, or -10db. Problem with that, is that the level can still be too hot and the preamp inside the mic distorts. Nothing downstream can fix that.

Other mics have trim pots that allow you to dial back the input much further. The problem though, is that the more you trim at the mic, the more you have to re-amplify the signal downstream, either at the receiver or at the board. This induces noise into the signal. Cheap mics are horribly noisy. What this means is that if you turn the gain down to handle the headroom of a loud singer, then you have to amplify the noise along with the signal to get your level back. If the singer is loud the whole time, that often will mask the noise. However, if they are only loud in peaks, the noise will become very noticeable.

This again is where you need to spend $2K on a wireless to even get close to what a $100 wired mic would do. At that price point, you can get the dynamic range without significant noise and still have the headroom needed to get the job done.

 

[Eric Cagle]

Re: Which preanmps are best ?

There is a sleeper wireless mic out there. The Mipro ACT 707 series is exceptionally good. Most of the later capsules have several pad settings inside. The RF performance is stellar and the condenser capsules sound great. The gain before feedback with the condenser capsule is one of the best I have ever experienced. I prefer them in most cases over a WIRED SM58. They are not cheap but there are great deals to be had on eBay occasionally. I have 10 in my inventory and have been very pleased with them.

 

[Jimmy Hardin]

Re: Which preanmps are best ?

So now that we have finished the base of the conversation... Behringer sucks why the heck did you even my one you noob!

I'm just messin. +1 to Tim. It should be in your price range and from my last use of that system, it should do the best of avoiding distortion for your purposes.

HAHA Very Funny. LOL Ok i will check it out .