Preamp to do a U87 justice

C

chamelious

www.thesunexplodes.com
My singers dad has a Neumann U87 lying around that apparently worked not long ago and hasn't been dropped, but now doesn't work.

We're looking into getting it fixed to use for recording our album with.

I fear the preamps in my ultra cheap behringer mixer will not do this mic justice. i was thinking of upgrading to a dmp3 seeing as everyone sings its praises.

Would we be better off renting something high end (if possible)?

I realise engineer(me) skill comes into this, i just want to ensure we capture the highest quality performance we can.
 
I know price is always an issue but putting a $3k mic on a $60/channel preamp is just wrong.

Universal Audio Solo 610 if you want warm tubey sound.
Grace 101 if you want transparent fidelity.
 
Unless i can find someone with one i can rent or borrow, there's no way we'll be using a £700 preamp. Thats more than it'll be costing to record our entire album :)
 
The DMP3 is actually a pretty good preamp and will do the job but if you can stretch the funds a little further the Focusrite ISA One is a decent preamp at £399. Also, the GAP PRE73 is excellent at £249 and I would pick either of these above the DMP3 for recording vocals 90% of the time!
 
Most of the higher end mics are higher end because they work well in almost ANY preamp. Not that you'd want to put most things through a < $100 a channel preamp. A DMP3 being one of the few exceptions.

Check the places in your area. A lot of the bigger boys survive more from gear rental, than actual studio time. There's a place locally that lets me rent a NEVE for $90 a month ($40-ish a weekend). Although at current gas prices, it's about $30 in gas to acquire and return it relative to where I live.
 
Actually, I'd start by checking yourself to see if you know what you are doing. Does this ultracheap Behringer mixer produce phantom power, and did you turn it on? If the answer is yes, did you try the mic with a different lead, and were you using an XLR to XLR mic lead? I'm betting the problem with the mic is a PBCAK error (problem between chair and keyboard).-Richie
 
I thought that it was PEBKAC. Problem exists between keyboard and chair.

If it's not working you do need to find out why. If it's just no phantom power on your mixer, which is likely, then you should be okay. If there's something else that's keeping it from working, that could run some serious cash and risk. More so than most low end preamps with phantom power would cost.
 
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