8 Channel Mic Pres

[Michael Johnstone]

Now that I've been recording on computer for around 5 years,I'm in the process of shedding several generations of antique gear I've had since the mid 80s including a TAC Scorpion 24x16x2 that I've only been using for it's pre-amps and master channel (talk-back, 2-trk mon etc).I have 4 channels of pretty high end pres Avalon,Manley etc but I'm now in the market for a nice sounding 8 channel pre w/a bit of character that doesn't break the bank. I want something a little better than an Octopre and its ilk - something along the lines of an ONYX 800R,Presonus M-80 or even a True Precision 8 if I could find one under $2K. This unit will see a lot of use on drums and needs to be as good or better than the Amek pres in my Scorpion. Any suggestions from first hand knowledge?

[James Quackenbush]

MJ,

I have a 4 channel Sytek that doesn't sound too bad...I have 2 normal channels that are very clean, and then 2 Burr Brown channels that are more colored...Not a bad pre for the $$ you're talking ...

A friend of mine has the True Precision 8 is a really good sounding unit with plenty of character ....Not a bad choice at all

The ATI is my favorite,with built in limiters for each channel, great sounding unit but a little bit pricier
http://www.audiotoys.com/8MX2.HTM

The Mackie stuff is clean but sterile to my ears..I'm not a big fan of the newer Makie stuff..It just doesn't do what it's suppose to do ... Take a look at their forum ...Not many happy campers ...

You could also go with (4) FMR RNP's ....They list about $500 each for a 2 channel pre, and don't sound bad at all ...

If you went up to $500 a channel, you would have more choices than you could shake a stick at !!...You could have 2 channel mic pre's for every different instrument/voice that you wanted to record ..Some very clean, some Neve colored tones etc.... Jim

[Bill Hatcher]

I have a TAC console like yours. Don't have much money in it. I see them on Ebay now for a grand. You would almost be better off keeping the TAC if you have room for it.

[Michael Johnstone]

Naw the TAC's gotta go - along with a Teac 85-16B,5 DA-88s,several massively heavy BGW and Crown power amps,about a 5 foot tall stack of synth modules,8 & 12 bit samplers,drum machines,all kinds of seriously outdated rack gear and a computer museum including an Atari 1040STE a Mac IIci and several large headache inducing CRT monitors.It's depressing how much I've pissed away on recording equipment since about 1980 that I now may have to pay someone to haul away. I'm keeping my vintage mic collection,a few good preamps,compressors,outboard EQs and some other stuff that's still useful.Every once in a while you just have to clean out the bottom of your birdcage - and mine's about knee deep.

[Brad Sarno]

The Sytek 4 channel preamp that James mentioned is perhaps the very best preamp for the money out there. They sound a good deal better than the True Precision 8 which is ok and clean, but somewhat boring sounding. You should talk with Mike at Sytek about options. If you want to spend more money, then I'd definitely consider some class-A discrete transformer balanced preamps in the API or Neve vein.

Brad

[Jay Fagerlie]

Here I go plugging the place I work, but someone already mentioned the $500.00 per channel option...
http://mil-media.com/hv-3d.html
These things are in a league of their own for around that price.
I WILL have one for my remote recording rig.
If you really want to put to tape what you hear, this is it.
Plug over
Jay

[Gibson Hartwell]

If you have the patience and are handy with the soldering iron you might want to try this option. This way you can pick and choose the flavor of preamp depending on your application.

http://www.seventhcirclestudios.com/SCA/SCA.htm

A lot of people seem to like these.