Product
Review : Mic Pre-Amps
The
signal picked up by a microphone is usually quite
low and needs to be boosted before it can be used
for recording. This is where the pre-amp comes
in. Not only does the pre-amp boost the signal,
it also has loads of other features you can use
to model the sound and get rid of any unwanted
noise before the signal is passed on.
This
bit of kit doesn’t come cheap though. As
with most things, you get what you pay for, and
a good home recording studio pre-amp will set
you back a couple of hundred pounds. That may
seem a lot for something you might not have heard
of before, but your recording set up will be pretty
much useless without one.
Take
a look at these good quality medium priced pre-amps:
(NB prices correct at time of writing)
ART MPA Gold 2 Channel Microphone Preamp with Variable
Impedance 
$299.99
 The
ART MPA is defined by warmth, presence, clarity,
and a performance that adheres to incredibly high
standards with first-class features and components.
With 2 meters (tube gain and output) you can dial
in the desired tube sound and then trim it up or
down to get optimum level for your recording. Another
feature is the variable impedance. By setting the
dial to low impedance you get a crystal clear sound.
By setting the dial to the high impedance you pick
up all the characteristics of the mic and the cable
being used. The result is that the sound gets warmer
and fatter. The MPA Gold is a truly modern, world-class
tube microphone preamplifier that will make a huge
difference in the studio.
dbx 286A
Microphone Preamp Processor 
$199.95
The
dbx 286A mic preamp features a wide-ranging input
gain control, switchable 48V phantom power, and
an 80Hz high-pass filter. The dbx 286A's OverEasy
compressor smoothes out uneven acoustic tracks or
delivers in-your-face vocals. The frequency tunable
de-esser takes out vocal sibilance and high-frequency
distortion in cymbals. An enhancer lets you bring
out HF and LF detail and cleans up muddy low-midrange
frequencies. And the expander/gate on the dbx 286A
preamp lets you reduce headphone leakage and gate
noisy guitar amps. The cost and hassle of patching
together multiple processors can be frustrating.
Here you get them all in one box with a shorter
signal path to keep your music sounding clean.
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