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i heard from a few folks at school that berhinger makes an 8 channel tube mic preamp for cheap, and, quote 'if you dont mind buying berhinger stuff'

which we have no problem with.

the thing is, every relevant berhinger page i could find is in german, and i am an english-speaking person.

if anyones got any opinions on it (keeping in mind: we're not pro, cant really afford pro-quality shit right at this minute) or know anywhere where i can get some info on it, your assistance, as always, is appreciated.

is it good for the money? if not, is there something better thats within the price range?

once again, i cant say this enough, this whole website, especially the forum has been an incredible self-teaching tool, and i hold all you people in very high esteem. internet-love

Ok here's my opinion:
The thing with all this tube hoopla is this. If you take a crappy mic/pre/compressor/instawarmer dedigitizerXXX and throw a 12ax7 in it, You know what you get? A crappy mic/pre/compressor/instawarmer dedigitizerXXX with a 12ax7 in it. Tubes are being used as a marketing strategy. Manufactures print big glossy ads and say things like "feel the vintage warmth". This is comparable to Pontiac telling you a Grand Am is a sports car. Lies! They sell you a piece of junk and tack on a few extra bucks for sticking a tube in it. Simply passing an audio signal through a tube is not necassarily doing wonders for your signals sound. A simple example of this would be; If I take my beloved blackface Fender Bandmaster and re bias it so those lovely 5881's in the back only see 10mA of current, it will probably sound amazingly similar to that Peavey Bandit your "Lead Guitarist" used back in your high school band. Another issue is this; Most high end gear gets it's wonderful sound by having quality components throughout along with a great design and lots of R&D. Also, most high end tube stuff is sending its signal through more then a single 12ax7(these are always used in low end tube gear 'cause of cheapness and availability), Usually(always?)in the quality stuff,in addition to this stage, there is going to be another gain stage with more tube action going on and this stage is where alot of that great little harmonic thing happens. Another simple guitar related example; take that brightly colored stomp box with real tube overdirve and crank the distortion amount but with medium output to that Peavy. Sound like poo? I thought so. Now, plug straight into a neato old Ampeg(pre master volume) turn it to 10, stand back, and hit a chord. Mmmm, good.

These are just opinions of coarse but I think with some effort you could probably find a better sounding, better built pre without a tube at a comparable cost.

i think the behringer thing you're talking about is the t1950, which is no longer on sale.

it's not an 8 channel preamp but a 'warming device' - designed i think as a front end to add 'analogue warmth' to 'cold digital' recordings. you would run your (already preamped or whatever) signal through it on its way to the multitrack, adding 'tube sound'.

(please note my use of inverted commas before yelling at me)

basically, it's just something that adds a bit of distortion to your signal using a tube.

i noticed something online about it the other day though, some guy who is working on a mod to turn a t1950 from a totally redundant 'warming' device into an actual 8 channel mic pre ...

http://www.blacklionaudio.com/

leaving all ranting and raving aside, an inexpensive 2u 8 channel mic pre is a nice idea for those of us just messing around at home. but the t1950 isn't it.

g