Phono Preamps
Delay
4,530 Posts
So I ordered this badboy:
and records sound great through it, but an unfortunate side effect of a tube amp is buzz. For everyday listening, these are great, but for recording, and archiving, I feel like there's just too much noise. So now I'm looking into some solid state preamps and i wanted to ask any strutters what they thought about these:
???
and records sound great through it, but an unfortunate side effect of a tube amp is buzz. For everyday listening, these are great, but for recording, and archiving, I feel like there's just too much noise. So now I'm looking into some solid state preamps and i wanted to ask any strutters what they thought about these:
???
Comments
Seconded. I copped after it was recommended on here previously and I have no complaints.
Before you return the unit. Read this thread:
http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20586
Btw, it isn't really a 'tube' amp as they advertise. It is a hybrid, with a solidstate power end and only part of your signal running through the 12ax7 at one stage. Replacing the tube is probably the easiest and best modification imo.
Good luck dude!
I had a Jolida JD-9A pre that sounded nice and was pretty tweakable. I've got a Luxman now that I like a lot.
this was my understanding as well
That's a good question. I'm pretty sure there is a signifigant difference, but i wonder if anyone can elaborate? I have a TTM56, and if there isnt a noticeable difference, I'll just stick with the mixer.
Hmm...well, given that I upgraded my chain with both a Radial and a Apogee Duet, I don't know how to properly apportion how much each contributes to the improvements in my digitizing quality but it's definitely better than when I was running a y-adapter from my Rane into my stock laptop sound card!
Honestly, it comes down to how good you need/want it. Between a phono preamp and a better A/D converter, the latter is probably where I'd invest first.
I've already got a kickarse A/D converter. Just to clarify, I'm asking about Preamp vs Rane mixer to try and get the best signal into my sampler. (And from there into the A/D converter). I'm thinking the balanced output of the Rane is not going to be audibly different from the Phonepreamp.
The chain is only as strong as the weakest link - type thing.
To if ttm isn't available.
maybe get a used
Digimax FS ??
what are some cheap ways to upgrade the 003's A/D conversion?
I would personally sell the 003 for cash, write off whatever you spent on it originally on your taxes, and buy an Apogee Ensemble (or a used Apogee unit with the firewire card), before upgrading it (Black Lion Audio) or buying an external clock to slave to. Especially the rack version. Maybe worth holding onto if you use the transport and faders on the console version a lot. Just my two cents.
IMO the Apogee Duet is great for playback and does a great job recording when hooked into a desktop. On certain laptops though, it ends up introducing noise into the signal path due to contaminated power coming from the Firewire bus, particularly if you have external hard drives running. On my laptop, the noise would literally cut in and out when I typed or used the trackpad.
The reason for this is that Apogee made the bonehead decision of not allowing the use of an external power supply, so you are forced to use Firewire power. Due to FCC regulations, the device has to accept interference coming from the firewire connection. The contrast between using it on my desktop and my laptop is night and day, which is really unfortunate since it's really designed well for on-location recording.
All that said, converters are pretty much the last thing I'd worry about in any signal chain. Best thing you can do is to understand your gain structure (which means really understanding what dB measurements are) and make sure you're sending proper levels to each stage. I don't think highly of the Digi 003/002/Mbox stuff but a good signal should sound just fine coming in and out of any of them.
B doesn't use pro tools or own any digi stuff, you absolutely should not sell the 003. Thats awful advice.
The 003 while not exactly ideal as a converter is eons ahead of the 002. I have owned a 001, 002, 003, and an Mbox 1&2 and now pro. Mbox was mobile rig and the 00's were in the studio. I have also owned a Big Ben and almost all of the Apogee Rosetta series. Here's some feedback from me ACTUALLY using this stuff and not google echo chamber:
1) the digi 003 is usable. Back to back with an apogee Rosetta 800 there is a quantifiable difference but I would say it's about 8-10%. If you mix ITB it isn't anything you can't overcome with good theory. If you mix OTB and round trip, it's a bigger difference, but I assume if someone is doing that they already need more and ether converters than a 003 and have a slew of outboard. Plus, and most importantly, if you loose the 003 you cant do low latency monitoring. You have no midi ins and outs, lightpipe and sync capabilities. There's alot of shit in that box compared to the other offerings in the Avid/Digi lineup.
2) I belong to the Lavry school of clock theory. In a nutshell a good external clock may be nice but in 99 percent of cases as solid as the external clock may be the actual act of clocking a piece external causes more harm than help in the form of jitter and instability. Black lion audio is snake oil and should be regarded as such. If you only have one converter in your studio you don't need an external clock, period. Let it use it's own clock and it will be happiest. That said, two diotal pieces can share clock in various ways - over aes, over lightpipe, etc. If you have 3 pieces all needing to sync than Maybe it's time for a big ben or something but, generally you can slide with correct theory. One of the studios I work out of has an Antelop 10m system. Straight up Rubidium atomic clock shit. Like 10gs worth of external clock. I personally don't hear a quantifiable difference. This is all IMO of course, most eat pimps would disagree vehemently with me.
3) THE SINGLE BIGGEST UPGRADE ANYONE CANDO RIGHT NOW FOR THIER PT STUDIO IS UPGRADE TO 9! Didn't mean to go all caps but Jesus Christ how many people are still trucking away on 7 or 8 while 9 has frigin ADC and pan law adjustments. Overall sound quality is way better to for ITB.
Just some thoughts from your fiendly studio troll.
I'm running PT9, and yeah I can notice a difference. Especially on bounces. 9 has some serious bugs that'll be addressed soon I hope. A friend also suggested the Rosetta/lightpipe situation. Is that the way to go to maximize fidelityx$$ ?
Shit, I'm still trucking away on 6.4! But upgrades have never, ever gone well for me, so I ride until the wheels fall off, see if I can put the wheels back on, and upgrade only when I have no other recourse.
I haven't had any problems upgrding to 9 from 8. The rosettas hold value because its a pretty versatile solution when used with a 003 and lightpipe.
Fidelity+$$ i think it's a really good bet. You can always get the older Apogee 800 too, you don't need the 192 version which should save you some bread (who the f is using 192?)
Also, reason 4080 not to sell the digi 003 - you need the serial number to get the crossgrade pricing for 9.
T- do you have a ttm57? you know 9 can now pull core audio into the audio engine - so for instance when i track records from my ttm57 i see the line input from it's usb in my audio inputs. f---ing rad!
PT9 is a c.r.a.c.k. and that might be the problem. If it freezes, which it has done 3 times, you have to restart everything, and then reset the power on the mac to see external HDs. its kind of a nightmare.
Yeah I want the 57 BAD! also for the possibilities with video.
If you still have problems, holler at me on the cell and we can run through the prefs, maybe there is an issue. It's also a good idea to walk through your system preferences and make sure everything is set up correctly.