Inexpensive mixer or mic preamp?

Today, I did some recording with a friend who is a singer-songwriter. We used his Ear Trumpet mic and my Lynx Hilo as ADC. It came out well, except that some vocals sound a little strained. Either we overloaded the mic itself, or the cheap preamp we used (an instrument preamp) added the problem -- levels were never more than -9 dB, so it sure wasn't the ADC overloading.

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive mic preamp and/or mixer for such work? Even two channels would be fine, and used is OK. Since this is a hobby for me and a poorly paying labor of love for him, probably a few hundred $ at most. Even a general recommendation would be great.

 

You want an "inexpensive" preamp to go with a Lynx Hilo? Huh?
Try a Behringer Tube Ultragain (solid state with one tube but emulates the tube sound) (more or less) $50. It's good.
Behringer Tube Ultragain MIC200

 

You need a pre with phantom power 48v for their condenser mics:

Do they need Phantom Power?

I would suggest if they are the owner of the mic and performer they might want a vocal processor, to be able to not only power the mic they own, but provide compressed matched vocal w effects to PA.

For $49, an ART mic tube pre with phantom power: ART Tube MP Preamplifier TUBE MP B&H Photo Video - and you can go back to the category mic preamps.

 

@JohnO : I use the Hilo DAC every day for listening. But I hardly ever record (this is the first time). So yes, inexpensive for now.

@harby : Yes, right, it needs 48 v phantom power. So something like the ART is needed -- though the mic's owner also has an outboard phantom supply.

Thanks, both, for the suggestions!

 

The Behringer has phantom power too.
So you have two good choices.

 

The best super cheap mic preamp I knew was the Rane MS1 which had several iterations, the last one being the MS1s. They really sounded good and clean and they were cheap and you could just replace them if you needed (and with my MS1S the phantom power supply did start whistling with certain mics, though it's easy enough to get a cheap output phantom power supply device. I don't thing the Rane is in production anymore, sadly, but they're easy to be had, just be sure if you get a used one before the MS1S, that is the MS1a or b, that it comes with the power supply which was and uncommon connector and outboard supply. Damn shame Rane's not producing those anymore, that was a great, widely available choice on the super cheap for a home demo studio. For $100 or $200 I dunno that you could find a better one.

 

Thanks for this. I've heard that Rane has a good reputation for clean sound. The used market beckons. . . .

 

I have one of these, and I agree. And, YES, the power supply may be a bitch to find. I have seen them on ebay - the ones I've seen are not original Rane models, they've been built by hobbyists, but I have one and it's fine. It has a really odd power supply connector that looks sort of like a large landline phone connection. But mine is solid, well, built and works. Expect to pay around 50 bucks for it though - so basically, a working Rane MS is gonna run you about 150 - 200 bucks.

 

The last iteration -- the MS1S I think it was -- didn't have an outboard power supply, fwiw.

 

Why not put together a 500 Series "lunch box" rack and load it with the new Midas 502 mic preamp? This is the preamp and filter design from the fames XL4 live mixing console. These should be around $799 when available. They've also got a 512 Parametric EQ and 522 Comp Limiter.

 

Because the OP specifically asked for something inexpensive.

 

The op was looking for something he could get for "a few hundred $ at most," in that kinda $200 category, the Rane to me always was a great bargain and entirely useful even when matched with much better gear, I'm sorry I didn't buy a coupla more to have on hand before they discontinued it. For $800 there's a world of other options but I got the sense that the OP wasn't looking to spend anywhere near that much money.

 

Yes, you both have it right. I'm recording occasionally to help (and have fun with) an old friend. We're both retired, and neither one has a large pot of cash to spend on what's used only occasionally. We'll see what he is willing to invest -- maybe more than I am, as he was paying for studio time.

 

Looking online, I wonder if something like the Mackie 1402VLZ4 might be a reasonable choice, rather than a buying single mic preamp? The Mackie offers a lot of features and versatility for the money. What I don't know about it is the sound, though the review I found on SOS seemed quite positive.

Thoughts?

 

Or the PreSonus StudioLive AR12 USB? I'd probably use the analog outs and continue to use the Hilo for ADC.

 

Alto professional ZMX-52

 

It's OK. I use a smaller one as a monitor mixer in my project studio and one for my keyboard rig. I don’t remember what iteration, 3, 4. As a mic pre I thought it was a little blah and darkish but it was quite quiet.

 

Thanks. Quiet is good. Blah doesn't sound good . . . it sounds like you may be saying it's rolled off. The iteration seems to make a difference. At least the SOS review said that the mic preamps were better in iteration 4.

Then, there's the PreSonus. I'm hoping someone here will have something to say about that.

 

Yeah, it may be. The mic pres on mine never struck me as bad, but they were never my choice when I had another option around, either a kind of clearer, more open sounding one, or a more deliberated colored one when I was looking for that. But I never gave them a huge workout with a bunch of different mics, I just kinda gravitated to other choices, and it's true, I don't remember what version I have at home. I have no experience with the PreSonus personally.

 

@chervokas : I just bought a couple of Rane MS1B on eBay. The seller says they are NIB and come with the power supplies. Since the seller is Brigham Young University, with 100% positive feedback, I expect that if there's any problem, they will resolve it. This didn't put a big dent in the budget and may be all I need. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

That's a great purchase! Not easy to find those NIB w/ power supply - and now you can do stereo I think you'll be very pleased - and they are really built well/tough - enjoy!

 

I designed the audio for a series of video teleconference studios for the Air Force and Navy back in the 80s. I used Rane mixers as they were pretty decent quality and the most practical choice for this design. In my opinion, they were kind of like Hafler was to consumer audio, great quality for reasonable prices.

I was using some Shure products but they didn't make anything that would work as well with my design, which was fairly complex as it had to do a lot of things including routing through external echo cancelers. I did use a few Shure automixers for the gallery mics, but the Ranes were used in key locations in the overall signal flow.

Btw, a curious thing was that the codecs we used were 8' racks stuffed to the gill. Now codecs found in laptops exceed those specs by a large margin. Video was herky jerky but very high quality for the times, once again easily exceeded with 720p.

 

Rane has a solid rep for club/dj mixers dating way back too.

To the TS, would this be something you could use? Allen & Heath ZED-6FX
Allen & Heath ZED-6FX Mixer with Effects

 

Best low cost mic pres I know of are by Line Audio, hand built in Sweden. They are as clean as a whistle, far better than anything you'll get built into a low cost interface or mixer. His mics are incredible value too, I have a pair of his CM3 SDCs, they are great for ensemble & orchestral recordings with different stereo configs.

Line Audio Design - Made in Sweden

A bit more cash and I'd go for something like a DAV BG1:

D.A.V. electronics - The Broadhurst Gardens No. 1 Mic Amp

They are both quality enough that they could live with you forever. I use a Chandler TG2 for most things, bit it's way outta the price range...

 

Yes, good thought. I considered the ZED series before I found the Rane preamps. (With freight, they were only about $170 the pair, never before used.)

Thanks for the suggestions. The prices are not that different from one another, but even the Line Audio is more than I can spend now. One of them might be a good step up sometime if I continue recording.