Good (and inexpensive) vocal mic preamp/DI?

bass349 · #1 07-15-2007, 10:08 PM

Ok heres the deal..

I'm looking for a good vocal preamp/DI. My girlfriend (and vocalist in my covers gig) has recently gone to an in-ear monitoring system (wireless). She's using the new JTS system... can't remember the exact name of it, but i think they only do one system..

The soundguy at our friday residency can only supply a mono mix to both her and the guy who she shares vocals with (who also just went to the in-ear system). By that i mean - they both get their own mix - but it's a mono mix (the JTS system has two inputs - so they can handle a stereo mix). I came up with the idea of getting a little vocal pre, with a couple of outputs, one output going the desk, and one output going to the second channel on her in-ear transmiter... that way she could get a mix of the band and other vocalists on one channel and mix in just her vocals from the other channel (with the pan switch on her reciever) over the top to her liking. This has its obvious advantages as a vocalist, being able to adjust your own volume on the fly is a rarity!

This seems like the cheapest way to do it.. I thought at first we could get away with just getting a DI and splitting the signal.. but i have a feeling it would have to have a little pre before it hits the transmitter to boost the signal. Possibly one with an onboard EQ would be the go to help get a good sound in the buds (?)

sooooo... now that you're clued up, thats what i'm after. a good and pref relatively inexpensive vocal DI/preamp. Don't know if what i'm after exists or not. basically it would need to have at least two outputs.. one that would have the preamp signal to send to the wirelss transmitter - and the other to act as a transparent DI to send to the desk. HELP!

ANY suggestions would be very much appreciated!

cheers muchly,
Andy.

ps. wasn't sure where to post this.. hope this is the right forum!

bassbully43 · #2 07-15-2007, 10:18 PM

You asked Berhringers model about $60.00 U.S.

bass349 · #3 07-16-2007, 03:02 AM

yeah i saw those behringer tube pre's... definately in the right price range! do you know if the cannon out acts like a normal DI?

cheers for the reply,
andy

i_got_a_mohawk · #4 07-16-2007, 05:29 AM

Presonus TubeDI ?

Bard2dbone · #5 07-16-2007, 07:39 AM

I have a PreSonus tube mic pre and love it. It was about $100 or so and it sounds much better than I'd have expected for that much.

But it's been so long since I really looked at it that I don't remember if it has more than one output.

bassbully · #6 07-16-2007, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bass349

yeah i saw those behringer tube pre's... definately in the right price range! do you know if the cannon out acts like a normal DI?

cheers for the reply,
andy

No, to tell the truth i own one but have never tryed it live. I bought it for recording and to see if i liked it as a outboard preamp live. It's pretty cool but more limited then my Behringer BDI box which is my main outboard pre...love that lil cheap box.

I have DIed many times thru my standard Behringer preamp with no problems so i see no reason the tube mic would be any diffrent. Many of the sound companys in my area use Behringer DI's for all gigs.

i_got_a_mohawk · #7 07-16-2007, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bard2dbone

I have a PreSonus tube mic pre and love it. It was about $100 or so and it sounds much better than I'd have expected for that much.

But it's been so long since I really looked at it that I don't remember if it has more than one output.

They have a balanced XLR output and an unbalanced jack output.

Bard2dbone · #8 07-16-2007, 05:42 PM

I couldn't remember. It's at my guitar player's house. He got a Digi002 set up for his home studio to make it easier to do stuff at home and at work.

I didn't like how my favorite mic sounded with the Digi002's built in pre's, so we jumped around it with the PreSonus, because we knew that mic and that pre sound good together. But it's been plugged in at his place for something like three months now.

i_got_a_mohawk · #9 07-16-2007, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bard2dbone

I couldn't remember. It's at my guitar player's house. He got a Digi002 set up for his home studio to make it easier to do stuff at home and at work.

I didn't like how my favorite mic sounded with the Digi002's built in pre's, so we jumped around it with the PreSonus, because we knew that mic and that pre sound good together. But it's been plugged in at his place for something like three months now.

Ah, its the other way around for me, everyone elses gear accumulates at mine. For instance my drummers e-kit has been at mine for "2-weeks" (so since January!)

The presonus pres are really nice, i enjoy using their Eureka pre when playing bass ultra clean, and the pres in the interface of thiers i have are great, pity the rest of it is causing havoc atm

anderbass · #10 07-16-2007, 09:41 PM

Cool idea...

Most sound-men would probably prefer getting their normal mic level signal, to a line-level signal that's already been through a mic-pre.

I'd suggest running her mic through a microphone splitter-box:
http://www.directproaudio.com/shop/s...m?section=5555
with one side going to the sound-man (unaffected), and the other output to her bud system.

With this setup you'd only need a single channel mic preamp. Some mic pre's come with EQ and even compression, but It might be cheaper to just get a standard mic pre and a standalone EQ for her bud setup.

Here's some more info:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/microphone_preamps.htm
http://www.google.com/products?q=Mic...oogle&ct=title

Munjibunga · #11 07-16-2007, 10:18 PM

I think ART makes some decent ones.

bass349 · #12 07-18-2007, 09:50 AM

hey anderbass thanks for the great idea with splitting the signal.. was umming and ahhing about the mic pre to the soundguy idea and that is the perfect solution! hopefully i'll be able to pick one up or borrow one before the gigs this weekend and we'll give it a crack using my sansamp bddi as a temporary pre..

cheers everyone who responded, much appreciated

andy.

anderbass · #13 07-18-2007, 11:52 PM

I'm not sure how good It'll sound, but I'd think that BDDI could also work as the splitter too...

If you want to try my theory, you'd need her mic cable (to terminate in a 1/4" plug), connected to the BDDI input, then run the unaffected 1/4" output to soundman, and the Sansamp effected output to her bud system.

She'd have to be using a dynamic mic, cause you wont be getting any Phantom power.
(I'd start out with the BDDI drive/level knobs set off and increase very slowly as needed)

If you got the cords/adaptors, you could try it at home, but don't forget to get a adaptor for the soundmans connection. (you'll probably need a XLR female to 1/4" male adaptor, to make his conection)

bass349 · #14 07-19-2007, 12:51 AM

yeah thanks man i did think about that already... but i kinda dismissed the thought because i can imagine the disgusted look the soundguy would give me when i tried to explain what we were gonna do haha.

i went to two music stores and neither had a signal splitter. useless! at both places i spent 10 minutes at least explaining to the guy what i was trying to do and neither really got it. one even tried to sell me a mixer. bloody hell.

anyway thanks for the suggestion.. i'll get her to bring over her system tomorrow and we'll try it on my PA before the gig. It's possible john (the sound guy) may have a little DI that will split the signal anyway.. so fingers crossed.

cheers!
andy

anderbass · #15 07-20-2007, 07:30 PM

Did you catch this thread?
In-Ear monitoring on the cheap - my successful experiment.

bass349 · #16 07-23-2007, 12:36 PM

hey man,

cheers! yeah i actually remember reading that when it was first posted aaages ago. heaps of great information and ideas in there.. got me thinking about how i can go to a wired in-ear system on the cheap for myself... hmm and the plot thickens..

all the best,
andy