Mic preamp to pair with AFX-2

shemihazazel

shemihazazel

Fractal Fanatic
With the Axe as my main studio interface, I've been looking into mic pres to use along with it. To get the best results, do I need a preamp with an unbalanced 1/4 out, or will a balanced 1/4 out do the job?
 
Rear inputs 1 and 2 are both balanced. Use balanced out of the pre to the rear inputs.

For a mic pre, I would patch into input 2 rear with balanced cables and use the fxloop block to bring it into the preset.

Using input 1 would mean changing a global setting if you wanted to use front input 1 and rear input 1 at different times.

What kind of budget for the pre?
 
barhrecords said:
Rear inputs 1 and 2 are both balanced. Use balanced out of the pre to the rear inputs.

For a mic pre, I would patch into input 2 rear with balanced cables and use the fxloop block to bring it into the preset.

Using input 1 would mean changing a global setting if you wanted to use front input 1 and rear input 1 at different times.

What kind of budget for the pre?
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Good call on the fx-loop usage, barhrecords. I'm looking for something fairly inexpensive, nothing like these insane mic pres that cost close to two grand. A couple of ART models have caught my eye, but I've never used anything by them before.
 
I've tried a few of the budget pre's over the years but I haven't found one that has enough good clean headroom for what I do.

I would look for used and try to stretch $$ into a decent preamp. If you can find a decent deal used, you can always get most of your $$ out later too.

I would take 1 channel of UAD over 2 channels of ART or Presonus. Something like this: Universal Audio 710 Twin Finity | eBay
 
barhrecords said:
I've tried a few of the budget pre's over the years but I haven't found one that has enough good clean headroom for what I do.

I would look for used and try to stretch $$ into a decent preamp. If you can find a decent deal used, you can always get most of your $$ out later too.

I would take 1 channel of UAD over 2 channels of ART or Presonus. Something like this: Universal Audio 710 Twin Finity | eBay
Click to expand...

UAD's preamps don't seem to have balanced TRS outputs. Any other recommendations that have it?
 
I use the M Audio Midi Buddy (set at very low gain) running straight into the Axe rear input. From there I have a small tube pre-comp-tape dist chain. incredibly warm for vocals, acoustics, etc.
the audio buddy doesn't do much to color the sound, just merely acts as an xlr-to-1/4" adapter. Big warm sound with very low noise.
Paid $40 for the audio buddy on ebay, and it sits perfectly in between rack spaces. Very very satisfied with this approach.
Here's a link to a previous post with axe fx vocals :

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-recordings/75286-axe-fx-vocals.html
 
Jesse Ernster said:
I use the M Audio Midi Buddy (set at very low gain) running straight into the Axe rear input. From there I have a small tube pre-comp-tape dist chain. incredibly warm for vocals, acoustics, etc.
the audio buddy doesn't do much to color the sound, just merely acts as an xlr-to-1/4" adapter. Big warm sound with very low noise.
Paid $40 for the audio buddy on ebay, and it sits perfectly in between rack spaces. Very very satisfied with this approach.
Here's a link to a previous post with axe fx vocals :

http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-recordings/75286-axe-fx-vocals.html
Click to expand...

I'm also thinking about forgoing the whole preamp piece altogether, and simply getting a phantom power adapter, then all the coloration can be left to whatever Axe-FX blocks or DAW plugins I use.
 
Bit of a shameless plug here but the FMR RNP is a great mic/instrument pre, little to no coloration and lots of headroom. You'd be hard pressed to find something of better quality in that price range IMHO. I happen to have one for sale or trade if you're interested. I was using it for my guitar to go into my audio interface on my computer when using S-Gear, but have the II now and no longer need it.
 
Golden age project 73, Dav bg-1, focusrite isa one,two. I really like the dav-bg-1 very clean and neutral. But really you have to choose the pre on the color of sound you want.
 
awdwon said:
Bit of a shameless plug here but the FMR RNP is a great mic/instrument pre, little to no coloration and lots of headroom. You'd be hard pressed to find something of better quality in that price range IMHO. I happen to have one for sale or trade if you're interested. I was using it for my guitar to go into my audio interface on my computer when using S-Gear, but have the II now and no longer need it.
Click to expand...

+1 for the FMR. they are really clean, and really a great preamp for the money.
 
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