Tube Preamp question
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Posted on Dec 02, 2003 01:11 am
Diemusik
String bender
Member Since: Unknown
First off, I have been home recording for a while but I'm just now getting serious about it. I am recording on an 8 track digital machine and I keep seeing post that say to use a tube preamp to add warmth. Will a tube preamp give better results than my BBE sonic maximizer or will it act the same? Moneys tight so I dont want to buy the gear if its not going to help me. Thanks all.
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WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Dec 02, 2003 08:46 am Tube pre's are getting into pretty fine sound. Every tube pre has a different flavor or color much like finer mics. Because of the physics of how a tube amplifies a signal it has a tendency to smooth the signal in comparison to a solid state amplifier. This is the effect we have come to know as "warm". Especially when a tube is overdriven. A sonic maximizer displays these characteristics as well as the characteristic of creating increased preceived volume.
The whole gig is "what sound do you want?" The best scenereo is to listen to a few tube pres prior to buying one. And frankly, the true tube sound is disipating as more digital warming effects are becoming used in mass produced music. This changes the ear of the public over time and creates a new standard of "good" sound.
All that said, some of the finest pre amps are tube type to this day. My rule is go find one I can listen to. If I don't hear a distinct difference that I want, leave it alone. Go back another day and try it again maybe as my ear developes per my recording skills a desirable effect will be clear.
Wish I had something more definitive for you, but that is the art of recording. Generaly speaking 90% of my needs have been met by technique not equipment. But that other 10% does exist from time to time.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 02, 2003 12:39 pm I havent used a tube pre on vocals for quite a while now. Although it is still prefered by some, I have learned to use the DSP FX in the digital domain to their fullest. For a long time I was using a pluggin from Steinberg called Magneto which is still a great pluggin. But I have found one with a lot more features to get what I want. It is from a company called PSP and the plug is theVintage Warmer. It is a much deeper plug then Magneto but then again it should be as magneto is now about 6 years of more old. It emulates the tube or tape saturation and can go even further. I use it to warm things slightly or take it into realm of complete distortion.
Hope this helps a bit.
DiemusikString benderMember
Since: Unknown
Dec 03, 2003 01:04 am Thanks for the input guys. I think I'll spend an afternoon down at my local music shop to see if anything grabs me. Thanks all!
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Dec 03, 2003 10:14 pm good luck dude.
TYYMember
Since: Mar 04, 2003
Dec 06, 2003 01:26 am Keep in mind, those "tube" pres by dbx, art, behringer, nady, presonus, are not really tube preamps. Real tube preamps do not come cheap unfortunately. The cheapest I know of runs about $850 for a single channel. (A-designs, I think)
Dec 06, 2003 08:24 am Exactly. The inexpensive ones do have tubes in them, but they aren't pure tube. The tube is just kind of an extra thing they throw in there that kind of warms up the signal. I like the sound of my ART TPS, though. So, for the money they're great even though they aren't all tube.
juesContributor
Since: Dec 30, 2002
Dec 06, 2003 09:05 am It's not that they don'e contain tubes, it's down to their topography - expensive tube preamps will use class A designs where the entire waveform is passed through a single valve.
Class B designs use 2 valves in parralel, one to handle the +ve sections of the waveform and the other to pass the -ve sections - obviously these suffer from switching problems and add in large distortion and phasing elements.
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Dec 06, 2003 12:58 pm It is really quite complex. Many advertised tube pre amps are "tube simulated" with solid state componants. All as Jues mentioned utilize different topologies. Moving right along... all are designed to different tolorances. Many utilize work around designs to aviod paying patent rights for patented circuit designs. To a large degree the you get what you pay for applies, although not always. Here's where I show my age. Sears used to manufacture a TV set that us technicians called the gutless wonder. It was a great set! Many others with 10 times the engineering and componants could not touch it.
I truely wish one could pick electronics without witnising their performance. Not possible (MHO). As a design engineer I can look at a diagram and get an idea of the quality built in, but I still can not predict what the sound will be.
