High Quality Mic Preamps

Jerry K.

Jerry K.

Experienced
So here's the scenario. I have been using the Ultra at home for about 8 months. I love how it sounds through my Atomic Wedges which receive their signal from the quarter inch outs. I use the XLR' outs to feed my Digi 003 which sends the signal into Pro Tools. The sound I get in Pro Tools is different than what I hear from the Atomics. I monitor through JBL LSR4328 studio monitors which sound pretty flat. I recently went into a high end studio and fed a Neve Console from the XLR's of the Axe FX and it sounded fantastic, there was a noticeable difference. My question is should I just use the quarter inch outs to bypass the 003 Preamps or will the Axe Fx benefit from running through high quality Preamps. I know mics will benefit but I was not sure about direct guitar?

Thanks
 
The axe is designed to be ran into a line input whether you are using the xlr or the 1/4". That should really bypass the pre-amps in any interface/mixing board. It sounds like using the Neve Console, the "tube" or "analog" artifacts that it added, gave you the feel that you loved.
I would use 1/4" if that's the only way to bypass the Digi Pre's. No sense in adding unneccessary processing to the signal ya know?
 
Your studio experience was enhanced/colored by the Neve far more than anything else.

Everything you put in your signal path affects everything.
 
Thanks for all the input! This is what I suspected. If I am using the XLR outputs of the Axe Fx, how do I bypass the mic pres on my 003?
 
on my m-audio I had to make an XLR to TRS and then put it in the 'insert' jack to bypass the m-audio preamps

I also had to move the 'tip' wire to the 'ring' and the 'ring' wire to the sleeve with the other wire that was already there to make it work
(mind you it did work with the cable before i did it......so I'm a little lost there but I read somewhere else to do this and it makes sense cause the 'ring' is the return)

if your interface has an insert you should be able to do it that way
 
Not at all excepting low quality rooms and monitors Jay. The compression and distortion inherent in pushed Neve pre's and their clones is legendary (which is why we love them LOL).

Jay Mitchell said:
Monitors and control room acoustics will have a far more obvious effect on sound quality than will any preamp.
Click to expand...
 
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Jerry,

I have a similiar setup, Digi 003 + Ultra.

If you are monitoring something recorded in ProTools LE with the 003 vs. monitoring the analog input to the 003, you also are getting the affects of the A/D and D/A of the 003. As compared to if you were monitoring analog via the Neve.

I have some decent mic pres, Grace and Avalon and I can still hear the 003's stamp on the sound when I run line in to the 003 and don't use the 003 mic pre's.

The best thing I ever did was to buy an Apogee Big Ben master clock and slave the 003 to it. The difference was very noticeable. Not only with recording, but plugins too, especially reverb, improved dramatically to my ears.

My two cents,
Richard
 
barhrecords said:
The best thing I ever did was to buy an Apogee Big Ben master clock and slave the 003 to it. The difference was very noticeable. Not only with recording, but plugins too, especially reverb, improved dramatically to my ears.

My two cents,
Richard
Click to expand...

Forgive my ignorance but what will the master clock do for me? Will it improve the AD/DA conversion? This goes down a road I know very little about.

Thanks!
 
Big ben is a great clock but Black lion audio Micro clock is suppose to be equal or better for much less cash, Its what I have and its like taking a blanket off the speakers. Also have my motu 2408's modded by them and its stellar. They do digi 003 mods and i think I am not sure they can do an upgrade to the internal clock as on a 003 and well as getting rid of the el cheapo opamps in the signal paths. search you tube for black lion digi 003 i remember seing comparison of modded unmodded ones and they have videos explaining what a better clock will do. Its not snake oil sounds like it but its not.
 
Jerry,

This link is a pretty good explanation.

Does Your Studio Need A Digital Master Clock?

With the 003, the effect was the transients and tails had much better detail and resolution to my ears.

(For comparison, my mixing room is treated with RealTraps. I treated the room to eliminite first reflections, cut flutter echo, and then added corner bass traps. I monitor with NS10m's and a HSU subwoofer. The differences are noticable in that environment.)

Richard
 
Zman,

I've heard good things about the Black Lion clock too. I got a mixing instructional DVD by Tony Shepperd. In that vid he mentioned the apogee clock as the one must have pieces of gear, so kinda on a lark I bought one used on ebay. Was way more of a difference than I expected. The free ProTools LE reverb plugs even sounded good. Surprised me.

Richard
 
I use cables which are XLR on one end, balanced 1'4" on the other, to go into balanced line inputs on my system (not an 003 but same idea).
 
I just got around to recording into Protools using the adapter cables (XLR to 1/4TRS) completely bypassing the Mic Pres. Immediately the Axe sounds like it does through the Atomics. I guess just having the Mic Pres engaged on my 003 added a bit of coloration. This is what I have been trying to achieve.

Thanks for everyone's help!
 
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