Solid state or Tube mic preamp - an experiment.

[RATBUMAN]

I did an experiment recording a classical guitar piece using the same mics and sound processing but different preamps - one was tube based and one was solid state. 
Which track do you think uses the tube pre? solid state pre?

http://web.me.com/macapinlac/Guitarra/Blog/Entries/2009/6/21_Tube_or_Solid_State_Mic_Preamp_.html


You need QuickTime to listen to the tracks. Thanks.

[abyssinianson]

heard the clips and lets call them "T" and "Cider" for comparison purposes. I've only used the TNT in passing so I don't have much experience dealing with them but my guess is "cider" is the tube channel and the "T" channel is the solid state channel. you can't go wrong with either choice, really, so it depends what you are pitting the guitars against in other parts of the mix.

i did notice some things about the recordings, namely, the difference in gain hiss. "T" had more detail you could have decreased the gain a bit on the pre to produce a more cleaner recording. "Cider" had a darker sound with less hiss but more pronounced mids that helped mellow out the recording - for classical finger picking, i'd prefer "T" because it pops out a lot more and you have more to work with if you want it as the center piece for your recording. for steel string work, i'd choose "cider" with phosphor bronze strings to cut the edge back a bit and give it a more organic feel. both recordings had lots of detail and you've got a great set of pre choices for your recording projects.

[RATBUMAN]

Thanks for your input Abyss.  The T track has a lot of hiss as I never bothered checking the gain. The Manley  pre has a lot of settings and switches to choose from. I never really bothered to study it yet. I needed a track for Father's Day so I just plugged in the mics and pressed the red button. Thanks again.

Any other opinions?

[abyssinianson]

Thanks for your input Abyss.  The T track has a lot of hiss as I never bother checking the gain. The Manley  pre has a lot of settings and switches to choose from. I never really bothered to study it yet. I needed a track for Father's Day so I just plugged in the mics and pressed the red button. Thanks again.

Any other opinions?

it all sounds great. if you had a DI, that would be a good addition to mix into the bus. as a rule of thumb, i always have a DI signal running in addition to the mic to dial in attack to fingerpicked material if I need it. most of the time if the mics and guitar are top notch you dont need it but sometimes if i am mixing a set of instruments, you could benefit from the additional attack especially if you have some keys, drums and bass in the background.

i haven't used the TNT a lot in comparison to other Manley and Langevin products but I do know that the TNT can be aggresive if it needs to be and it does have great character that can be a versatile tool in the studio. i remember the TNT had some cool colour options on it and some folks I know were really into using those to add flavor to indie folk-style recordings which are coming into style these days.

[RATBUMAN]

I was bothered by the hiss sound that Abyss noted. I thought it was too much gain. I found out that it was not. I forgot to mute my monitor speakers when I recorded the track. I don't have a control room as the only person I record is myself. So I usually record in front of my console. The mic picked up the ambient noise in the room which was coming from the monitors placed at zero volume. I should have just muted the monitors so as there would be no hiss. Bummer - I may need to redo the whole track. Let me try my denoiser first.

[BALDO]

pare ko musta na? sa pandinig ko yung T eh malamang na tube kasi maririnig mo ng husto yung high's saka andodoon yung brightness nung sound saka yung attack and decay nung sound e medyo mabilis sa pandinig..sa "cider" o  solid state e medyo less yung treble, maraming mids saka malambot yung tunog. i just remember yung mga stereo noon na de tubo saka yung mga solid state...tagal na nun ah hehehhe

[metalmiggy]

my guess is tht T is the one that used the tube pre and the cider is the solid state.. tama po ba?

[RATBUMAN]

T= tube channel
Cider= Solid state

Thanks.

[abyssinianson]

T= tube channel
Cider= Solid state

Thanks.

aw shucks, i got it backwards. i thought all settings considered equal, the cider sounded mellower but i liked the sound of the T channel for most uses because it would demand less tweaking to bring the guitars to a more prominent context in the mix.