Does a Tube Pre-amp matter?

[showtime]

i was just wondering if a Tube Pre-amp such as a Presonus Dp Two Channel Tube Pre-amplifier only works well with Tube microphones. Or will it work just as good with my mic (Rode Nt2-a)?

[brandondrury]

I've never used a tube preamp. I own 3 tube mics...(2) MXL V69s and a Soundelux U99.

You can use any mic with any preamp you want. The interface is the same, if that is what you are asking.

Some say the sound of tube preamps is different than solid state. Others say it's not that big of deal. All the big consoles (Neve, SSL, API, Trident, etc) are solid state and these are what my favorite records were made on. So, I'm not overly concerned about tube preamps.

In fact, I'm probably going to sell my tube mics just because I'm tired of their lack of reliability. (Even the $2500 mic). It's just not worth the ass pain to me right now.

Brandon

[richiebee]

I would think (and I have to say, I don't speak from experience here) that a tube pre with a tube mic is overkill, and you're more likely to get better results from the tube being in one or the other. The concept of the preamp you suggested seems pretty cool - go from clean to dirty.

R.

[DogpitStudios]

Sell your Presonus, The only use I've ever found for mine has been once I put it before my M-Audio Octane and turned the drive all the way up so that It would give me a tube distortion as an effect for this one cymbal durring a bridge of a weird song. That pre-amp has no headroom. If you push it even a little bit too hard it distorts like crazy. If you set it so that it doesn't clip, then no signal is being put in and the tube is actually becoming more usless than useful. I say sell it and get an M-Audio DMP3. It's a cheap, two channal solid state that has become the workhoarse of cheap pre-amps in my studio.

Ben