Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    Default Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    With my live band, we are pushing the board a little too much with our vocal mics, and they are very close to feeding back. We don't have any problems with the guitars or drums. Would adding a mic pre-amp to the vocals help this situation and give us some more head room on the board?

  2. #2

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    Yes, mic pre-amps will give the vocals more head room. Are you running your own PA or do most of your gigs involve a house SE (Sound Engineer)? If you're using a your own PA then you'd be the one riding levels and incorporating your own mic-pre amps but if you walk into a gig and hand the house SE a pre-amp that he/she is not confident or familiar with, then you'd be adding more stress to the situation. Some of the higher end mixing decks like Midas have built in mic pre-amps and the SE will use them accordingly.

  3. #3

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    Actually your PA has pre-amps built into the channels. The better the board, the better the pre-amps. I'm not sure how stacking a pre-amp on top of a pre-amp will give you more "headroom". I can see how a high priced tube pre-amp might improve your sound quality, but feedback comes from your microphone hearing the speakers. Essentially hearing itself, which it then sends that signal through the speakers and again hears itself, etc, etc.

    Collectors Black Ice Finishply
    10x8,12x9,15x12,16x14,20x18,24x16
    14X6 Collectors 10 and 6 snare Natural Satin
    14x8 Collectors Black Nickel over Brass

  4. #4

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    Quote Originally Posted by late8 View Post
    Yes, mic pre-amps will give the vocals more head room. Are you running your own PA or do most of your gigs involve a house SE (Sound Engineer)? If you're using a your own PA then you'd be the one riding levels and incorporating your own mic-pre amps but if you walk into a gig and hand the house SE a pre-amp that he/she is not confident or familiar with, then you'd be adding more stress to the situation. Some of the higher end mixing decks like Midas have built in mic pre-amps and the SE will use them accordingly.
    We are running our own PA most of the time. If we had a sound guy, I'm guessing this would never be a problem.

    Quote Originally Posted by SunDog View Post
    Actually your PA has pre-amps built into the channels. The better the board, the better the pre-amps. I'm not sure how stacking a pre-amp on top of a pre-amp will give you more "headroom". I can see how a high priced tube pre-amp might improve your sound quality, but feedback comes from your microphone hearing the speakers. Essentially hearing itself, which it then sends that signal through the speakers and again hears itself, etc, etc.
    Our board is of average quality, and I'm guessing the mic pre-amps are well below average. Out problem is that the mics are running very hot and are thus sensitive to the monitor volume, which is also pretty high. Overall, everything is too hot. We aren't getting constant feedback, but just talking into the mics, I can tell they are just below that feedback threshold most of the time.

    The obvious solutuon is a new board or a more powerful amp, but unfortunately we don't have the budget for that. I think I found a solution if I can take all of the reviews of this item at face value. It will boost a mic signal by around 20 dB without doing anything else to the sound. Most of the reviews say it does exactly what I'm looking for, which is generate some headroom with dynamic mics.

    7545847_800.jpg

  5. #5

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    Quote Originally Posted by Redeye View Post
    We are running our own PA most of the time. If we had a sound guy, I'm guessing this would never be a problem.



    Our board is of average quality, and I'm guessing the mic pre-amps are well below average. Out problem is that the mics are running very hot and are thus sensitive to the monitor volume, which is also pretty high. Overall, everything is too hot. We aren't getting constant feedback, but just talking into the mics, I can tell they are just below that feedback threshold most of the time.

    The obvious solutuon is a new board or a more powerful amp, but unfortunately we don't have the budget for that. I think I found a solution if I can take all of the reviews of this item at face value. It will boost a mic signal by around 20 dB without doing anything else to the sound. Most of the reviews say it does exactly what I'm looking for, which is generate some headroom with dynamic mics.

    7545847_800.jpg
    Then you need more power. To mic a drum or guitar, which are already loud, and then push the the vocals in front of them you're maxing out your gain levels. You want the vocals higher without so much gain? Again, I don't know how a second pree-amp will accomplish this. I've got around 3000 watts of continuous from my powered speakers and I can run any of my four PA's without feedback issues. My cheap board is a Behringer.

    Collectors Black Ice Finishply
    10x8,12x9,15x12,16x14,20x18,24x16
    14X6 Collectors 10 and 6 snare Natural Satin
    14x8 Collectors Black Nickel over Brass

  6. #6

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    Multiple pre-amps for vocals explained here:

    Last edited by late8; 03-24-2017 at 09:42 AM.

  7. #7

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    I am in agreement with SunDog, more poweramp please. I'm not convinced preamp on preamp is gonna help..the video says you CAN use preamp on preamp, but the examples are 4 different preamps, used separately, not "daisy chained" together.

  8. #8

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    Quote Originally Posted by funkyruss View Post
    I am in agreement with SunDog, more poweramp please. I'm not convinced preamp on preamp is gonna help..the video says you CAN use preamp on preamp, but the examples are 4 different preamps, used separately, not "daisy chained" together.
    Did I miss something at @ 2:22-@2:27? On the video the Apollo "expanded system" linked via the "Thunderbolt". "You can have four connected working together".
    Last edited by late8; 03-24-2017 at 12:52 PM.

  9. #9

    User Info Menu

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with mic pre-amps?

    Quote Originally Posted by late8 View Post
    Multiple pre-amps for vocals explained here:

    This video and the other one you took down don't demonstrate stacking the pre's one on top of the other. They demonstrate the need for multiple types of pre's to deal with different mic's. Go and get a better pre, by all means, but running it through your cheap board won't create more "headroom".

    Collectors Black Ice Finishply
    10x8,12x9,15x12,16x14,20x18,24x16
    14X6 Collectors 10 and 6 snare Natural Satin
    14x8 Collectors Black Nickel over Brass

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •