I'll add one more to krizrox's excellent summary:
4) <a href=http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.n ... 1FD>Manley Voice Box</a> - extremely high end, uses vavles, check out the review & pictures.
PREAMPS AMPS ART TUBE MP tubes opinions ( mic, preamp, pr
Godamnit, i just ordered a JoeMeek MQ3, 5 minutes ago, which is a VC3Q with a different name (i've been told by JoeMeek people that it is slightly dfifferent, i hope it is slighly better). I should receive it by the end of the week.
http://www.joemeek.net/joemeek/index.htm
The manley looks great, and it should be if i believe the reputation of the brand, eventhough it's only 4000 USD: that's only 15,7 JoeMeek MQ3 approximately
It's nice to have links to those high end stuff, keep posting and express opinions...
see you
Mehdi
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2002-02-06 09:37 ]</font>
http://www.joemeek.net/joemeek/index.htm
The manley looks great, and it should be if i believe the reputation of the brand, eventhough it's only 4000 USD: that's only 15,7 JoeMeek MQ3 approximately
It's nice to have links to those high end stuff, keep posting and express opinions...
see you
Mehdi
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2002-02-06 09:37 ]</font>
http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articles.n ... emicpreamp
It is another link to various pre-amp awarded by users. Nice links, but i don't know how much reliable. some good pictures
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2002-02-08 15:27 ]</font>
It is another link to various pre-amp awarded by users. Nice links, but i don't know how much reliable. some good pictures
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2002-02-08 15:27 ]</font>
i just add a link:)
http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM02 ... io-V3.html
http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM02 ... io-V3.html
I just received the MQ3
http://www.joemeek.net/joemeek/index.htm
First the weight is pretty good (it's all metal outside). Then it's smells more like a new car engine than a computerized circuit. For me, smell is a criteria .It smells like old industry, i like that.
=== Sound ===
Used input : me on a Shure beta 58A (a mic better for live (very cardioid to avoid larsen) dull basses, nice agressive mediums/hi. low/med price (200/250 euros?). This mic is great for testing MQ3 as it lacks basses and is pretty cold.
MQ3 compared to Soundcraft Spirit 12/2 for hiss and Eq, upon which I have hard times getting an acceptable voice sound at recording stage.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: frankly, i haven't heard much noise. I have tested at every stage (mic->XLR/MQ3->a16->pulsar->a16->amp) and the noise came either from the cable of the microphone (this one's dead!), or the a16 (my cables from A16 to amp are not perfect neither). From the MQ3 itself, it is not noisy at all (less than my mixtable which is medium range). There's a fair amount of gain available in MQ3. The vu could have been more precise, but let's see it like a "detailed peak indicator" (audio-On/Clip, with 3 levels in between). Audio-On seems to mean power is on, it doesn't switch off when all gains are -inf.
COMPRESSION :
It's nice, it's a vintage compression reacting to volume input (treshold?). By tweaking the setting, I have been able to lower ambiance noise, with a long release compression. The output volumes seemed to remain fairly good to me (re; input vus on micromixer). I didn't have to compress much to achieve this. Heavy compression on voice do not saturate but squeeze the sound hard. For me it appeared a very nice and usable compressor. great for what i want to do (light compress voices at recording stage).
MEEQUALIZER :
before i received the MQ3, i saw the studio MP-3 (see link above) : i wondered how, for the same approximate price, a pre-amp+Comp+Eq is not lower quality than a Pre-amp only. Especially the eqs, i have plenty in Pulsar.
Well, when i tested it, i understood that i will be very glad everytime i use it to ambience the recorded sound rather than eq it yet: more like making it to sound better and natural on the computer. rich basses, well sounding trebles, i don't know yet for the medium (hi/medium at 1.5 kHz)
I think i'll do a device on this one with the stuff in the doc and the real model, but I doubt it will sound the same.
I haven't tested the Art Studio MP 3 , but you can go for the MQ3 with your eyes closed (as we say here
A FEW CONS :
The on/off button for the Mic/Compression/Meekalizer are a bit light and plastic feel (playschool). not imprtant as it allows a lower price.and actually only the mic/line switch is light. The Phantom switch is behind and the led too! useless if you want to put it in a rack: however you can switch mic/line with a button on the panel, so it's ok if you have only, for ex, 1 mic and 1 guitar. not very important if you don't intend to switch phantom often, but a bit surprising. There's no on/off button for power which is a bad point (i'll have to put it on the yamaha Ax492 amp which has several female plugs controlled by he amp on/off). I hate those hardwares with not on/off switch let's say it allows lower the price for better circuit.
I don't have big hands but i found the knobs a bit too close from each other. they have a good resistance but a bit fast for me. nothing to do with the sound.
In any case, the good parts win and for the price the MQ3 is excellent. all the parts are useful. It is far from those high end pre amp and compressors costing a lot of scope boards, but has a flavor of the kind.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this topic, it's better than i was looking for (a simple pre-amp). Most equivalent pre-amps cited here are certainly good too, but i'm very satisfied with this one eventhough it has no tube. that's fresh
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2002-02-12 19:16 ]</font>
http://www.joemeek.net/joemeek/index.htm
First the weight is pretty good (it's all metal outside). Then it's smells more like a new car engine than a computerized circuit. For me, smell is a criteria .It smells like old industry, i like that.
=== Sound ===
Used input : me on a Shure beta 58A (a mic better for live (very cardioid to avoid larsen) dull basses, nice agressive mediums/hi. low/med price (200/250 euros?). This mic is great for testing MQ3 as it lacks basses and is pretty cold.
MQ3 compared to Soundcraft Spirit 12/2 for hiss and Eq, upon which I have hard times getting an acceptable voice sound at recording stage.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: frankly, i haven't heard much noise. I have tested at every stage (mic->XLR/MQ3->a16->pulsar->a16->amp) and the noise came either from the cable of the microphone (this one's dead!), or the a16 (my cables from A16 to amp are not perfect neither). From the MQ3 itself, it is not noisy at all (less than my mixtable which is medium range). There's a fair amount of gain available in MQ3. The vu could have been more precise, but let's see it like a "detailed peak indicator" (audio-On/Clip, with 3 levels in between). Audio-On seems to mean power is on, it doesn't switch off when all gains are -inf.
COMPRESSION :
It's nice, it's a vintage compression reacting to volume input (treshold?). By tweaking the setting, I have been able to lower ambiance noise, with a long release compression. The output volumes seemed to remain fairly good to me (re; input vus on micromixer). I didn't have to compress much to achieve this. Heavy compression on voice do not saturate but squeeze the sound hard. For me it appeared a very nice and usable compressor. great for what i want to do (light compress voices at recording stage).
MEEQUALIZER :
before i received the MQ3, i saw the studio MP-3 (see link above) : i wondered how, for the same approximate price, a pre-amp+Comp+Eq is not lower quality than a Pre-amp only. Especially the eqs, i have plenty in Pulsar.
Well, when i tested it, i understood that i will be very glad everytime i use it to ambience the recorded sound rather than eq it yet: more like making it to sound better and natural on the computer. rich basses, well sounding trebles, i don't know yet for the medium (hi/medium at 1.5 kHz)
I think i'll do a device on this one with the stuff in the doc and the real model, but I doubt it will sound the same.
I haven't tested the Art Studio MP 3 , but you can go for the MQ3 with your eyes closed (as we say here
A FEW CONS :
The on/off button for the Mic/Compression/Meekalizer are a bit light and plastic feel (playschool). not imprtant as it allows a lower price.and actually only the mic/line switch is light. The Phantom switch is behind and the led too! useless if you want to put it in a rack: however you can switch mic/line with a button on the panel, so it's ok if you have only, for ex, 1 mic and 1 guitar. not very important if you don't intend to switch phantom often, but a bit surprising. There's no on/off button for power which is a bad point (i'll have to put it on the yamaha Ax492 amp which has several female plugs controlled by he amp on/off). I hate those hardwares with not on/off switch let's say it allows lower the price for better circuit.
I don't have big hands but i found the knobs a bit too close from each other. they have a good resistance but a bit fast for me. nothing to do with the sound.
In any case, the good parts win and for the price the MQ3 is excellent. all the parts are useful. It is far from those high end pre amp and compressors costing a lot of scope boards, but has a flavor of the kind.
Thanks to everyone who participated in this topic, it's better than i was looking for (a simple pre-amp). Most equivalent pre-amps cited here are certainly good too, but i'm very satisfied with this one eventhough it has no tube. that's fresh
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2002-02-12 19:16 ]</font>