Mic pres with 70db+ gain range

[calaverasgrandes]

like I said, I dont care what your science says. Flat earth, aint no monkey is my uncle, etc. Just saying, from practical usage of mic pres, actually recording things I get a quieter sounding result with trannies.

Yes, I've heard these claims, but they are not backed up with anything more than subjective preference. I believe the Audio Precision.

"Specs, specs, we don't need no stinking specs" is the fashion of today.

I think it also bears mentioning that you arent comparing transformerless apples to transformered apples.
I am refering to affordable preamps. Not esoteric, custom built from the manufacturers proof of concept on a bread board pres. If I compare my yamaha PM180 pres to my (former) Mackie 1604 pres they just dont get as noisy. I think it may also be a function of different gain topology. It could also be that the freq response of your ideal preamp is flat and my less noisy one falls off with rising freq, or even has a fletcher musnson-ish noise response.
But yeah, science is for pussies.

[Jim Williams]

Noise is tested here in two ways, first is the typical 20~22k bandwidth un-weighted signal to noise ratio, or s/n.

The second way is with a noise vs frequency sweep. I use a 10 to 200k bandwidth to examine all noise sources, psu's hum fields and their harmonics, mid range grunge and high end hiss.

Some transistors have more mid range noise, mostly poorer transistor designs that also show related non-linearities (distortion) at the same frequencies. Some selected jfets will give a -127.86 EIN at 150 ohms source impedance. That beats transformers but still is bested by selected Hitachi or Toshiba 40 cent bipolar transistors that spec at .5 nv/hz/sq. The best monolythic transistor pairs like LM394's, MAT-02's and the that devices only reach .85 nv/hz/sq.

These designs don't need to be expensive, a $4 quiet opamp with the Japanese transistors will get there easily. I offer a $125 mic preamp pcb that does -129.25 db EIN on a small 1.5x2.5" pcb that can fit in almost anything. It also does .0002% IMD and has a 200k bandwidth with 100 ma of output current. I'm finding a lot of $4 chip preamps designs being offered using SSM, BB and that parts. These are good chips but they also can be beat with a discrete design. Seems EE's are getting lazy when they gloss over mic preamp designing for a cook book chip solution.

BTW, the Mentors records were done with my transformerless mic preamp designs. It didn't hurt their sound at all. If anything, it gave the listener a closer, more intimate experience to the band's raw sound. Hope y'all caught their live shows with the executioner's hoods and baby doll parts all strune about. We had a really good time!

[calaverasgrandes]

BTW, the Mentors records were done with my transformerless mic preamp designs. It didn't hurt their sound at all. If anything, it gave the listener a closer, more intimate experience to the band's raw sound. Hope y'all caught their live shows with the executioner's hoods and baby doll parts all strune about. We had a really good time!

The last thing I want is to be more intimate with the Mentors!


did sound for el duce's solo act (basically the mentors) at the old Nightbreak in Sf once. Man he was a scary incoherent mountain of filth.

I get what you are saying, I am smart enough not to argue electricity with Jim Williams. I am actually a very left brain analytical person in most ways. I have to fight to get my right brain on when it comes to music. So I try not to be too engineery when I get in my studio. I just plug stuff together and make sounds.