Mic Preamp Test - Free IRs

Which Mic Preamp is your favorite?


  • Total voters
    32
honestly did not heard huge difference some seemed a bit bright some a bit darker , more low mid maybe in the darker ones , I choose A and C
cause I tend to like the brighter tones
 
They are all very similar. Some very subtle differences in the lows and highs but the core mic and cab character definitely show through. D had the most low end, so that appealed to me the most on the bright 57. F was pretty balanced and nice too.
 
For those who can, I would be interested to see if your preference stays the same or changes when listening to these in a double tracked distorted situation. Record your L and R passes and listen back (without the guitar in your hands) and see what you think.

Sometimes the thing that sounds good as an isolated single mono track translates differently when double or quad tracking in stereo.

To be clear, I’m not advocating for any mic pre in particular since I bought all of these because I like what they do. I’m just curious if anything changes for you all when listening to them in stereo and the character is stacked. Your answers may impact how I capture my next pack, so feel free to give any input or feedback you have. It all helps me to make better tools for you.
 
It would be interesting to see
What C and F are as they got most of the votes
I won’t reveal each option quite yet, but here’s a list of the preamps in alphabetical order:

API 512
BAE 1073
Chandler TG 12411
Interface’s internal mic pre
Universal Audio LA-610
Vintech X73i
 
I won’t reveal each option quite yet, but here’s a list of the preamps in alphabetical order:

API 512
BAE 1073
Chandler TG 12411
Interface’s internal mic pre
Universal Audio LA-610
Vintech X73i
Very cool as mentioned it will be interesting to see the result as one obviously adds some Color that multiple people have a preference for
Watch it be your interface preamp 🙄
 
For those who can, I would be interested to see if your preference stays the same or changes when listening to these in a double tracked distorted situation. Record your L and R passes and listen back (without the guitar in your hands) and see what you think.

Sometimes the thing that sounds good as an isolated single mono track translates differently when double or quad tracking in stereo.

To be clear, I’m not advocating for any mic pre in particular since I bought all of these because I like what they do. I’m just curious if anything changes for you all when listening to them in stereo and the character is stacked. Your answers may impact how I capture my next pack, so feel free to give any input or feedback you have. It all helps me to make better tools for you.
I did like you suggested and made a loop, ran two amps L/R(JMP-1 and SV20H) and put the same IR on each L/R. I switched back and forth and now I like "A" better, go figure? It has a little more clarity on the top. I also A/B'd "A" with my favorite YA IR the M25 421-V and.........I still like that IR the best by far. I wonder what mic pre you used with that one, care to tell?
 
Very cool as mentioned it will be interesting to see the result as one obviously adds some Color that multiple people have a preference for
Watch it be your interface preamp 🙄
Hahaha! The interface preamp is doing pretty well in the poll, but it’s not C or F.

I did like you suggested and made a loop, ran two amps L/R(JMP-1 and SV20H) and put the same IR on each L/R. I switched back and forth and now I like "A" better, go figure? It has a little more clarity on the top. I also A/B'd "A" with my favorite YA IR the M25 421-V and.........I still like that IR the best by far. I wonder what mic pre you used with that one, care to tell?
The “A” option is my favorite for double tracking as well. The 57 on this cab will sound VERY different compared to my vintage 421 in the MRSH M25 pack, but I’m excited to try that mic on this cab. I don’t remember what mic pre I used for the MRSH M25 421v captures… I need to get better about documenting that stuff.
 
Based on another thread on the forum where poster is loving the UA oxbox and color it adds , I am curious to see if A or C are the UA pre
 
So, I gave the different IR's a swing. They were all very close to me. I ended up liking F the most -- seemed the most balanced and recording ready IR of the bunch.

Question for York Audio: Would you be willing to give the mic location on the speaker and preamp settings for a couple of these IRs? I immediately pulled up a 1960TV Dynacab and the Dynamic2 mic and tried to dial in a cab close to what you have using the preamp controls in the Axe FX. Using the transformer preamp with a healthy dose of saturation and some pretty significant treble cuts in the tone controls on the page, I got close, but my take was missing the meat/thickness that your IR has. Is that the preamp(s) you used to get that thickness?
 
So, I gave the different IR's a swing. They were all very close to me. I ended up liking F the most -- seemed the most balanced and recording ready IR of the bunch.

Question for York Audio: Would you be willing to give the mic location on the speaker and preamp settings for a couple of these IRs? I immediately pulled up a 1960TV Dynacab and the Dynamic2 mic and tried to dial in a cab close to what you have using the preamp controls in the Axe FX. Using the transformer preamp with a healthy dose of saturation and some pretty significant treble cuts in the tone controls on the page, I got close, but my take was missing the meat/thickness that your IR has. Is that the preamp(s) you used to get that thickness?
I just threw the mic on the speaker and didn't measure how far it was from cap center. I didn't use any EQ on the mic preamps and simply set the level for a healthy signal, so you're only hearing the tonal differences between mic preamps without any processing. The cab, speakers, room, outboard gear, capturing technique, and AD/DA conversion I use is different than what was used to make the DynaCab TV 4x12, so any/all of those factors could affect the meat/thickness you're hearing in my stuff.
 
Original poster is amazing for doing this. Thanks!

Question for those with some knowledge: IRs don’t capture saturation, but I know saturation in certain frequencies can sound like an EQ change: my question is would that implied EQ change show up in an IR, or be left out completely because it’s just saturation?
Basically, does saturation impart any sound onto your IR at all?
 
I'm not an engineer so can only speculate, but I expect that differences between preamps captured in IRs would be due to impedance of the preamps and subsequent subtle changes to the frequency response of the microphone.
 
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