Using the Tube Pre sim as a vocal mic preamp in studio?

[james...]

First of all, this might be a ridiculous idea. I'm not sure. And that's why I'm asking.

At the moment I'm setting up my home studio. Just got an SM7b for my vocals. Unfortunately I don't have the money right now for a big fancy RNP mic preamp or anything.

But I was wondering...would the Tube preamp sim sound pretty good for this application? It would at least give me something to hit my mic with before I just ran it into my interface.

 

[Sebastian]

Well, you'll need some kind of mic preamp anyway, to bring the mic signal to line level. The Axe-Fx is not designed to be fed directly by a mic.

Once you have your mic preamplified properly, there's no reason not to try if the Axe-Fx can apply some kind of magic to it
"Tube pre" is obvious, compressor, reverb, enhancer and such stuff may yield fine results, too.

 

[TheRev767]

Sebastian - an sm7b is a dynamic mic. it doesnt need the same kind of power/amplification to get to the line level. or am i missing the point entirely? (which i could be:lol)

you MAY be able to use it as your first step, not that i'd suggest it, but you need a preamp regardless to record into anything. most audio interfaces worth buying will have a mic preamp in them. i use a focusrite saffire pro24. those pres are really transparent and you can do your enhancements in your DAW. better that way, then you can adjust them it something comes out funky or if its just not sitting right.

 

[Sebastian]

Sebastian - an sm7b is a dynamic mic. it doesnt need the same kind of power/amplification to get to the line level. or am i missing the point entirely? (which i could be:lol)

A dynamic microphon doesn't need phantom power as a condenser microphon does. You probably thought of phantom power. But it still produces only mic level, not line level which would be appropriate for the Axe-Fx.

 

[TheRev767]

A dynamic microphon doesn't need phantom power as a condenser microphon does. You probably thought of phantom power. But it still produces only mic level, not line level which would be appropriate for the Axe-Fx.

That's why I just go straight in through the focusrite.