microphone preamp and home stereo

[Robert J]

I have an older NAD receiver that has a built-in preamp for phono (turntable).

Can I use this as a mike-preamp, or is the boost too high? I am looking at recording my acoustic piano.

(excuse me if this sounds like a dumb question)

[Jim Alfredson]

Robert,

It probably will not work very well. Not only is the impedence wrong, turntables use something called the RIAA curve to EQ the signal. Vinyl is very top heavy when it's not EQ'd, so the RIAA curve brings the high-end down and boosts the bass. Putting a mic through such EQ will not give you very good results.

I suggest something like this:

M-Audio DMP3

You can usually find them used for around $100 (like here).

Another option is this guy:

Presonus TubePre

It's only a single channel (ie, not stereo), but it's around $99 new.

And finally, another option would be to buy an inexpensive mixer, like:

This one for $79

or this one for $49

That way, you could plug in a couple microphones, pan them the way you want, add a little EQ, and then output them to stereo and hook up that output to any recording device you want... tape deck, computer, etc.

Hope this helps!

[Dr. Rat]

Something like this might do, if you don't mind stripping wires. It's a lot smaller than a mixing board.

Stick on amp

[Robert J]

Thanks Jim, I thought as much. Just doing some armchair ideas while at work.

Like that Eurorack UB802, and inexpensive too. Like the stick on amp too, kind of sexy.

Or I could go to Radio Shack.

http://www.ee.washington.edu/circuit_archi...its/micamp.html

Edited March 9, 2005 by Robert J

[Jim Alfredson]

Something like this might do, if you don't mind stripping wires. It's a lot smaller than a mixing board.

Stick on amp

That's a line amp, though. Not a mic amp. I don't think it would have enough gain for a microphone.

[Dr. Rat]

Maybe more like this. We've got a couple of these things around here, but they all look the same!