Premier Rock Forum

still searching/researching. does anyone have any opinions on the following:

Great River ME-1NV

API 512C

http://www.shadowhillsindustries.com/preamps.php - whatever the hell this is, i don't know if they make a single channel version or not

chandler germanium (although kind of big)

hamptone hjfp2 (i don't mind building something as long as all the materials are provided)

lastly, i found out there's a dude from my city (ottawa) who makes gear under the name sage electronics. here's the link:
http://www.sageelectronics.com/se-pre1.html & there are some sound clips available.

I've got a M-Audio DMP3. I think it was only $250 when i bought it, it works good with the guitars I've recorded. Ho hiss, two channels. Obviously, not top-of-the-line, but it works.

Skronk wrote:I've got a M-Audio DMP3. I think it was only $250 when i bought it, it works good with the guitars I've recorded. Ho hiss, two channels. Obviously, not top-of-the-line, but it works.

i'm pretty sure i don't want to go the m-audio route anymore.

although i did pick up a usb keyboard by them and it was cheap and does its job. but then again you don't have to worry about noise with that sort of thing.

Skronk wrote:I've got a M-Audio DMP3. I think it was only $250 when i bought it, it works good with the guitars I've recorded. Ho hiss, two channels. Obviously, not top-of-the-line, but it works.

Yeah I have one of these too. I think I got it for $160? They go pretty cheap new on ebay. Or alteast they did. No complaints here, either.

It appears you have extended your budget quite a bit. With that in mind, if you really want the ultimate combination of quality and portability I would strongly consider the Apogee Mini-Me. 2 good pres with all the features you could want, good conversion and a built in limiter for under a grand. Plus it's USB powered and very compact.

As for the pres you listed I have only used the Chandler, API and Great River units although I have only heard good things from people I trust about the Sage stuff, I just haven't had a chance to demo it yet. All three pres are great and vastly different from each other. If I had to do a record with only 1 of them it would be a toss up between the Chandler and the API. The Great River is a nice pre but I don't feel it is as versatile as the others. The Chandler has a nice feature with the feedback knob that lets one coax a variety of sounds out of it. The API doesn't quite have the range but is also quite versatile and probably a bit more neutral (which is relative because all of these pres have some character and quite a bit of presence). One thing to think about though is with the API you are going to need a rack or a lunchbox to house and power it with. Thats going to add another couple hundred dollars to the price and while the lunchboxes are quite portable they are still a decent size. The Chandler unit has an external powersupply which is fairly compact but you would have to lug that around along with the 19" rack mounted pre. Although I usually don't like to plug vendors you might want to give Fletcher at Mercenary Audio a call. They are pretty good about letting people try things out. You might be able to get one of the pres and a mini-me for a trail period (you'll still have to put it on your credit card) and see which setup works best for you.

yeah, the mini me is definitely looking really good. one thing, though - it would appear that the model that's under a grand doesn't have a usb/firewire option with it, and so far it looks like getting a model with usb costs another $500-$600 (i read this in a review on amazon, i haven't been able to find anything about it elsewhere).

so if i didn't get the usb option, how exactly do i run it to the laptop? through my little m-audio card? will that work if the mini me has already converted the signal?

i'd assume the firewire option (which isn't available until february.. or probably this summer here in canada) is even more expensive..

Try Mercenary Audio here:

http://www.mercenaryaudio.com/apminpreor.html

They have it for $850. I don't want to come across as an endorsement for Mercenary. They have done me well a couple times in the past but so have countless other vendors, just don't goto Guitar Center/Mercenary Audio or buy it off Amazon.com.

They do make a standalone mini-me with no USB but for your situation I would recommend the one with USB and then you can ditch the m-audio device.

this is perfect, thank you! they even ship to canada. now to find out how much $$ customs will try and take me for...