Suggestions for a (cheap) Mic Pre

[Dood]

Hey folks!

 

I have four line inputs on the back of my Interface and, whilst I would love to insert say an ADAT based preamp in via the optical connections, I was wondering, oh awesome people of BassChat if you have any suggestions for budget preamps that have slipped under the radar. Two channel minimum, four is fine. Not looking for loads of features but combo inputs for XLR and instrument (Hi-Z) could/would be good as well as phantom power. 

 

The secondhand market is probably going to be the place to go and I'll be scouring the net when I have time. 

[WinterMute]

Decent mic preamps are pricey in the general market, anything with a name attracts silly money.

 

You could do worse than picking up an Audient ID14 USB interface and using it in stand alone mode, the mic amps on those are identical to the ones on the ASP8024 console and are very serviceable indeed, if  slightly lacking in the kind of character a Neve 1073 might possess. They do a 4 input version, the ID44, but it's newer and more expensive as you'd expect. You can run it as a hardware input mixer without the USB attached, and route the mic pres to the line outs.

 

The ID range are great interfaces in their own right, built like tanks and very capable indeed, under-rated IMO.

[Mottlefeeder]

Steinberg UR22C will give you Yamaha designed preamps, two channels with global phantom power, one switchable to Hi-z, plus built in low latency HPF, 3-band eq and compression on each channel. It is also a USB powered interface.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Standalone units are generally not cheap, yamaha did make a 1u rackmount interface called the i88x which has a pair of high quality mic pres which will run standalone.

[Jakester]

I've seen good things about the ART Pro MPA II, which comes up fairly cheap 2nd hand: 

 

https://artproaudio.com/product/digital-mpa-ii-two-ch-mic-pre-w-a-d-conversion/

 

Or there's lots of standalone Focusrite channel strips etc which go pretty cheap, eg: https://reverb.com/uk/p/focusrite-voicemaster-pro-silver

 

This TLA looks like a decent price: https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/946976733326138

 

I guess it depends what your definition of 'cheap' is!

[Dood]

Thank you all, yes, I don't need another interface, the one I have is brilliant. I just want to make use of the four line level inputs for instrument level (hi-z) or Mics with phantom power. Just trying to find the best way to do that. I'd buy another interface, but I haven't sold the Focusrite Clarett 2Pre I'm giving away on BC yet!

[WinterMute]

The old Focusrite Octapre was a good unit, and has optical outputs on some models. 
 

The pres aren’t their best offering but they are serviceable and there’s 8 of them…

 

Edit: This is on Reverb right now, don't know wether this constitutes "cheap" but it ticks all your boxes and adds a bunch more pres to your rig.

 

https://reverb.com/uk/item/64024902-focusrite-octopre-mkii-8-channel-mic-preamp-with-adat-optical-output

Edited March 19, 2023 by WinterMute

[carlsim]

I have an Audient ID14 - 2 ins but has the optical for ADAT connection. Great units and defo a thumbs up from me.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Just spotted this in the classifieds, might be worth further investigation - no affiliation with seller.

 

[Dood]

Thank you, I'll check it out!

[Woodwind]

PM'd