Best Pre design for the money?

Im putting together a budget to get some new gear in the studio and that involves 4 more channels of good mic pre, what in your opinion is the best pre for the money? Trying to keep it reasonable.. Id like Neve's but they are $$..

Thanks

API 312 types.

Steve

To buy, or to build?

The green pre could be a good choice, as it doesn't involve expensive components or transformers but sounds good according to some forum posts (matta...)

Or maybe the jlm babyanimal, Class A circuit...


Good Luck!

"Whats the best DIY pre under $50?" :razz:

Kidding..sorry.

Gustav

[quote author="Gustav"]"Whats the best DIY pre under $50?" :razz:

Kidding..sorry.

Gustav[/quote]

Labs, you have been hangin out at Gearslutz WAY too much :shock:

Matt

To Buy ?
DAV BG-1u x2 or the four channel version with out a doubt !!
Clean pure gain and very uncoloured.
MM

NewYorkDave two bottle :grin:
pure MOJO :thumb:

sorry shoulda specified, i meant to build

im looking in the meta here, http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=14059&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=greg+part+list&start=0

it says API 312 - $245
and API 312 PSU - $88

So thats 245 per channel for the pre, but what is the PSU all about?

Power supply.. maybe i should read a bit huh.. haha

If you're starting out I'd recommend a kit. JLM stuff mentioned before is really good (Baby Animal mic pres).

Then move on to projects where you have to source parts and think about stuff a bit more. The green is a good one for that and the Gyraf G9 is a lovely pre also but high voltage in the box.

Then the world will be your lobster. :wink:

Cheers

Nick

+1 for the JLM Baby Animals :thumb:

Very easy to put together. PSU is kinda done for you.
Probably one of the cheapest transformer based pre's I've seen.

Sound GREAT too!! :green:

A simple IC-based design with an input transformer would be a great inexpensive preamp to DIY. Something like Kev's F110 or Jensen's "JT-13K6-C in Simple One IC Stage Mic Preamp" (AS017 on the Jensen schematic page) as well as the Neve IC circuit on the JLM site are great examples of this. The money is in the input transformer, and the rest is extremely inexpensive, but high quality. Choose some nice iron for the input, and then just use good basic construction techniques, and you'll have a wonderful preamp that will outperform most anything in the under-$1k price range (commercial units, that is).

Basically a $1 IC with $40-50 input iron (Jensen, Cinemag, Lundahl, Sowter, OEP), a few caps and resistors, a rev-log pot (couple bucks at Small Bear Electronics) or $3 Lorlin rotary switch with some resistors for gain control, and a power supply.

For the power supply I highly recommend Joe Malone's AC/DC supply which will give you bipolar voltage for the preamp plus +48vdc for phantom power. This kit is simple and cost effective and will power all 4 channels you want to build. Just add an appropriate power transformers.

Shop around a little, and I bet when all is said and done, including PSU and a chassis, you could come in around $300-$350 total for four channels, and they'd be worth keeping forever.

You could also add output iron, or simply add that later if you don't want to incur the extra expense right now. Cinemag CMOQ-2 or Jensen 123 series are perfect for this.

These are great little starter preamp circuits for learning too. I built the Jensen one-IC preamp as my first ever preamp, and it sounded wonderful. I actually wish I still had it.

My 2-cents.

JC

[quote author="rascalseven"] as well as the Neve IC circuit on the JLM site are great examples of this.[/quote]

I couldnt find this.. can you post the link for me please?


[quote author="rascalseven"] Choose some nice iron for the input, and then just use good basic construction techniques, [/quote]

Im a noob, what do you mean by "iron"?

Thanks man!
Andre

Hi
iron=transformer
regards
pedro

[quote author="adoucette"][quote author="rascalseven"] as well as the Neve IC circuit on the JLM site are great examples of this.[/quote]

I couldnt find this.. can you post the link for me please?[/quote]
Go here:

http://www.jlmaudio.com/

Hover over "schematics" (a list will pop up) and click on "Neve IC mic pre".

Cheers

Nick

Best pre design for the money, implies value but one must ask how much money? and what do you consider good, or best?

A transformer used to be the only way to make a reasonably quiet mic pre, until the noise floor of solid state electronics dropped low enough to interface directly a few decades ago. For the last decade or more, we have IC preamp designs that can deliver comparable noise floors.

So to address the "for the money" part of your question, transformers are no longer the low cost way to meet a nominal noise performance criteria. Addressing the "good or best" qualification quickly gets subjective. Objectively silicon beats iron on paper but some like the coloration caused by magnetics.

If you choose to use a transformer based design be prepared to use a premium part as all transformers are not created equal, so first do no harm (to your audio path).

If you are not experienced enough to design your own discrete design, I would lean toward a modern IC based transformerless solution (perhaps based on THAT IC). As the best "good for the money" solution, and quite good by any measure.

There are probably kits available based on sundry design approaches but IMO ICs will have an economic advantage in value considerations.

JR

All I can say you are in the wrong place if you want to save money. Leave now before it's too late. Yes, Gearsluts will love answering questions like that,

But if you want to learn how to DIY cool stuff stick around.

I haven't built one yet, but I like the look of the Seventh Circle Audio's T15 preamp module. Price is right at $79 per channel. I layed out a preamp based on the THAT chips, but SCA's kit is exactly the same circuit (pretty much right off the THAT datasheets, which are very good) and I don't have to pay for PCB manufacturing, so it's actually cheaper. I've been thinking about a four channel pre myself, and I may use the SCA T15 and put them in a 1U rack case. Just what I need - another project!!