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Old 04-25-2007, 12:11 PM   #1
Rann
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Default Tube PreAmp Placement Question

For part of my setup I use a mackie outboard mixer, an Ibanez bass w/ active pickups, an acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar. Down the road, I want to get a better mic for the acoustic, but thats pretty much what I'm working with at the moment. I recently aquired a Presonus tube preamp and since this is my first experience with a preamp, I got to thinking about how to make the best use of it.

So where is the best place to insert the pre?

Between the instrument and the mixer?
As an insert at the mixer?
Between the mixer and the soundcard?
Or another location that I haven't thought of?

Any help would be appreciated.

peace,
r
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Old 04-25-2007, 02:26 PM   #2
drumist69
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I also have a Mackie mixer, which I use for its preamps as well as monitor control. I also use several other stand-alone preamps. I generally just have the outputs of the preamp connected to straight into a soundcard input (a pair of Delta 44's in my case). My setup then is 4 channels from the Mackie board into 4 inputs on Delta 44 number one, and my other 4 pre's into the four inputs on Delta 44 number two. Everything outputs from one card into the Mackie for headphone and monitor control. Andy
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Old 04-25-2007, 04:31 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rann View Post
For part of my setup I use a mackie outboard mixer, an Ibanez bass w/ active pickups, an acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar. Down the road, I want to get a better mic for the acoustic, but thats pretty much what I'm working with at the moment. I recently aquired a Presonus tube preamp and since this is my first experience with a preamp, I got to thinking about how to make the best use of it.

So where is the best place to insert the pre?

Between the instrument and the mixer?
As an insert at the mixer?
Between the mixer and the soundcard?
Or another location that I haven't thought of?

Any help would be appreciated.

peace,
r
I would think of this as a "weakest link in the chain" problem. Assuming that the reason for going with a high quality preamp is to get the most pristine and delicate sound possible, I would avoid running your signal through anything that is either upstream or downstream of the preamp unless you believe that is at least equal in (signal handling) quality to the preamp. Also, if you are interested in maintaining the absolute maximum in high frequency signal quality, you might pay attention to the kind of cabling that you use to connect the preamp to your sound card, (well mic cables too). After lots of discussion with some other folks who know a lot more than me, I have been convinced that this is one place (maybe the only one) where cable quality matters. Too much capacitance in the cable can attenuate the high frequencies. I gather that this is not a property of the connectors (which is always a big hype item), but has more to do with the way that shielding is done, and becomes more of an issue as cable length increases.

Of course if you are recording fire breathing distorted electric guitar, all bets are off, and experimentation is the order of the day.

T
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Old 04-26-2007, 03:59 AM   #4
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Thanks guys!
The information you have provided has been enlightening. I will put it to good use.

peace,
rann
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Old 04-26-2007, 03:25 PM   #5
Fausto
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Presonus preamp straight to the converter (soundcard). Make sure it's a line level input... if possible a line level input without a line preamp (no knobs to att or boost the signal)...

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Old 04-28-2007, 08:04 PM   #6
chip mcdonald
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rann View Post
For part of my setup I use a mackie outboard mixer,

since this is my first experience with a preamp,
Or another location that I haven't thought of?

Any help would be appreciated.
You've already got experience with preamps: the ones in your Mackie...

Which I'd prefer to the Presonus thingy, if it's the "Blue Tube" preamp.

Go on Google and find out what a "channel insert/TRS" cable is, get one and just use the preamps in your Mackie...
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Old 04-29-2007, 05:28 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drumist69 View Post
I also have a Mackie mixer, which I use for its preamps as well as monitor control. I also use several other stand-alone preamps. I generally just have the outputs of the preamp connected to straight into a soundcard input (a pair of Delta 44's in my case). My setup then is 4 channels from the Mackie board into 4 inputs on Delta 44 number one, and my other 4 pre's into the four inputs on Delta 44 number two. Everything outputs from one card into the Mackie for headphone and monitor control. Andy
Andy,

It sounds like you and I have similar setups.
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Old 05-01-2007, 02:57 PM   #8
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Yup! I like me some M-Audio (bang-for-buck wise). I got my first Delta 44 new, and the second off Ebay for $85 shipped. Mackie was a pawn shop deal, and everything else was zzounds.com, including a butt-load of mics. I've finally started getting some "pro" mics, like the Sennheiser MD 421, and the differencs is impressive! So much easier to get good sound with real mics! Andy
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