Muff's Modules & More

baboo

I need a good microphone preamplifier for my studio and it so happens that my dad collects vintage reel-to-reel tape decks (studer, akai, nagra, revox etc.)
I could persuade him to give me one of them, although probably not a nagra.. sad banana

So in general, how do the preapms on these beasts compare to modern ones? He mentioned revox B77, buy maybe I can get some other model

Babaluma · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 9:29 am Post subject:

I've actually no idea, but I assume it all depends on the make and model. I have heard of people using these for very "coloured" sounds etc. I am sure some of them have lovely all discreet transformer balanced circuitry. I think if you ask on GearSlutz with possible make and model numbers, you'll get a lot more informed answers.

ndkent · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 9:51 am Post subject:

If they have tubes, and I know some do then they surely will color the sound in a more than likely a good way. Then again most units would be studio based and not have mic preamps. Nagra is portable so they would (and you need to supply phantom power if you need to), but Nagras don't have tubes .

I'd think more consumer oriented ones would be hit and miss and perhaps later audiophile ones might be more or less transparent.

I'm just guessing, but these things are surely not built equally so with anything it really comes down to the model.

You could of course try to get 2 and do tape fx between them

richard · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:08 am Post subject:

The Revox's and Studer's seem to make anything that passes through them sound better, even without a tape in, so I think the the preamps are pretty good althjugh I never used them strictly for amplification

I wouldn't expect any difference in quality between pro and consumer versions of the Revox's - AFAIK they are very similar

The Revox PR99 I have is worth it for the headphone amp alone - its a joy!

Just me · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:10 am Post subject:

The Otari preamps sound good to me and they can be seperated from the tape deck. You just need to provide power.

baboo · Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:34 am Post subject:

thanks for the replies so far!
I guess I'll take my trumpet and mics to my father and try a few of them out.

I'm assuming they should do OK, simply because they are vintage and built quality back then was much better.
I just have to order a phantom power adapter first , most of then don't provide phantom power

CJ Miller · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:42 am Post subject:

Well... this is a very general question, obviously some preamps will be better than others.

About ten years ago I was making a track on my computer and wanted to add some presence to my plugin jams, so I played them through the tube preamp of an old Webcor (mono) reel-to-reel and it definitely did color the sound, it was what I was looking for. Not "hi-fi". Since then I bought a Uher Report Monitor for a project that got shelved, but I have heard of people using the solid-state preamps of these in the studio as well.

So, yes, it can work. But it is more a handy thing to do if you happen to have old audio gear on hand already. For the amount of time and money it takes to acquire various recorders to get just what you are looking for you could build a simple tube preamp and save yourself the trouble.

Morley · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:37 am Post subject:

syzygywell · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:38 am Post subject:

I've recently become really interested in recording this way for certain instruments. I just bought an Akai 1710 for the tubes, the tape is nice too smile

but you are really lucky to have so many options at your disposal.

I think that experimenting with different mics and instruments (brass vocal guitar) is a good idea because they are going to color sound in such specific ways that you will probably know what you like when you hear it.

Oh and if you could, do me a favor and get back to us with some samples, I'd be really interested to hear the amps on these reel to reels. I'd love a Nagra IV-S. But as far as tape goes that one definitely isn't lofi. Man is it a gorgeous machine though. I hope to have one at some point.

baboo · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:02 pm Post subject:

My dad actually has a beautiful Nagra IV-S . I might have a hard time convincing him to give it to me screaming goo yo

I will try to make samples, so I'll post them in a couple of days , I think.
but don't expect miracles because my mics aren't really hi-fi either

syzygywell · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:38 pm Post subject:

Well that is even better. I don't have any really Hi fi mics either the nicest I have is a CAD e300 which is considered excellent for the price point.

But I mostly use my trusty Shure SM58

ignatius · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:42 pm Post subject:

some of them are good.. some of them aren't some of them are transparent.

tubes do not = good by default.

nagra's generally sound very good.

if you put a mic in the wrong place when tryingto record something then it doesn't matter how could the mic/mic pre/tape machine/converter is...

experiment with mic placement and you'll get better recordings.

baboo · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:56 pm Post subject:

I experiment with mic placement all the time, I hope I'll get it right. there isn't too much philosophy with trumpet mic placement anyway, the sound comes from the bell and you should catch it off-axis and at least a few inches away.
Never had luck capturing it with vocal mics such as shure sm58, they can't handle the dynamic range, when you increase distance the sound is thin and up close the mic overloads at the capsule.

Ok, I ordered a phantom power adapter so in a few days I should have samples.

savage_vomit · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 5:01 pm Post subject:

b77 is a nice machine

JJ · Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 4:58 am Post subject:

B77 is a classic.

sunnyb · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:44 pm Post subject:

i used to use the pres on my tascam 388 alongside my zed before i sold it. definetly a nice vibe to them.its always nice to have cheaper colored pres + gear alongside your go-to stuff. however, i would not want them as my main pres. maybe the higher quality stuff has better pres..