NEW SM pro 8 channel pres for $100!

[loosegravel]

I just got this one in the mail. Seems like a good deal to me, but what do I know?

http://www.music123.com/Item/?itemno=82426


Henry

[wenzel.hellgren]

I have one, I like it. Haven't compared directly to anything, but it's very neutral sounding.

[wardshorsehead]

i've been thinking of one of these. i have a roland 1680 with horrible pres and use a soundcraft m-8 with ghost pres at home. i like idea of the portability of this unit. the op amp chips are the same as the improved preamps in the new behringers. one of these could increase the portability of my setup (and allow me to leave my mixer all patched at home). anymore feedback on one of these would be great.

frank

[loosegravel]

portibility is exactly why I picked up this unit as well. I wanted a laptop with an 828 plus a compressor or two and this pre on a little rack. Together you don't need a mixer (at least not a large one) and you can go pretty much anywhere. Sounds ok to me so far. havent run into anything strange. I almost bought one used for 120+shipping when I found this ad blowing out the things. I couldn't believe it so I went to there homepage and I couldnt navigate to the page selling them. I thought that was a little strnage but hell, it came in the mail ok and that's what counts.

Henry

Still looking for an MOTU 828 by the way.

[tubejay]

AMS has them for the same price, however the shipping is less than half of that other places at around $7, whereas that other place is $16.

http://www.americanmusical.com/item.asp?item=SMA+PROPR8

Anybody else have anythign to say about sound quality? I'm interested in picking one up for odds and ends...

[Dr. Bell]

Wow, that is cheap. Are the pres pretty quiet? That would be my only concern with something like this...noise.

[sonic documentation]

wait!!!!

Dont buy these pres! They suck beyond any words! I have a Sony APR-24 2" 24 track and a behringer mx 9000 (i know it sucks, but that's all i have money for right now), the behringer is only an 8 bus console with 2 outputs per group on the back pannel. this means that if i want balanced outputs running into the tape machine i can only record 8 tracks at a time (the direct outs arent balanced). i picked up the sm pro pres so that i could run an extra 8 cahnnels directly into the tape machine and just get levels from looking at the meters on the tape machine. I compared the pres to the behringer, and boy did i have a surprise in store... the pres are infinely more noisy than the behringer pres. i had these pres running into the tape recorder on the last 8 channels (17-24) all were much noiser than the behringer, but track number 21 was so noisy, that it is unuseable. I also looked into the possibility that it was a grounding problem, i had my friend that worked at euphonix (and also built my tape machine snake and patchbay setup) look at it. Nope, not the grounding. There's a reason why 8 pres only cost $100.

Good luck,
Daniel

[drunton]

Of course, YMMV:

It's a pretty straight forward design. I got one in a package deal and got the schematic from SM. It's a basic transformerless design. Phantom power feeds, into 22u caps, then transistors (as a diff pair if I'm correct), fixed gain opamp, attenuator, another fixed gain opamp, then two opamps for drive (one inverting, one not for balanced). Lots of 22uF caps in the signal chain.

The only thing I noticed on mine is noise if you drive it into an unbalanced TS cable. My guess is that you are driving one side right into ground. Never noticed any problems running balanced. I guess you could do the same thing by running TRS plugs and leaving the ring open to counter this issue.

I socketed and replaced all of the opamps with LM338's. Sounds pretty plain to me. Functional, not very noisy, but not a step up from Mackie except that it is all in one box. The power supply seems well designed with 2 transformers (one for phantom, one for +/-15V). My rev was all through hole so it was easy for upgrades and if you use a JFET input opamp, you might be able to drop the thing to just having the phantom blocking caps on the input, or put transformers in it. Also, it uses a bunch of plug cables between the boards, none of which are shielded cable.

[wenzel.hellgren]

wait!!!!

I compared the pres to the behringer, and boy did i have a surprise in store... the pres are infinely more noisy than the behringer pres. i had these pres running into the tape recorder on the last 8 channels (17-24) all were much noiser than the behringer, but track number 21 was so noisy, that it is unuseable.

There's a reason why 8 pres only cost $100.

Good luck,
Daniel

what mic's were you using? Did you have the gain on each channel cranked to max? Did you use balanced cables? I have not noticed any noise at all, but I also don't regularly turn the gain past 12-3 o-clock.

I used it with 1/4 TS->RCA cables from the outs to the audio interface inputs and it was fine. Used various condenser mics, all but one with phantom power. Have not had any noise or hiss in any recordings. Perhaps your mics are not very sensitive so you had to crank the gain?

my only gripe about this unit is that there is no output level controls, only input gain. Other than that, it's a great deal. The reason is costs $99 is becuase it is discontinued and they are clearing them out to make room for the new model with ADAT output, etc.

If I get around to it, I will post a comparision of these and other preamps. But don't hold your breath.