Cascade Fathead Mics....

ohmygodtheykilledkenny · Post by **ohmygodtheykilledkenny** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:05 pm

Being that my recent attempt to acquire a Strat seem to have failed, I'm devoting my attention to procuring some gear with which to record. My friend has a killer laptop and a mixer (alesis?), so all we need is some decent mic'ing equipment.

My co-guitarist has a decent codenser for room mic, not sure what brand, but we need a decent mic for close mic'ing. My drummer is ordering an Apex mic kit for his drums, and we can also borrow any of those mic's to experiment with.

The Fathead seems to be getting great reviews, and Flame's fathead clip sounded nice and full, and warm, which is really what I want.

I'm looking and getting the Fathead 1, and I was wondering what else might be beneficial to getting good recorded sounds. For example, a preamp, like the PreSonus Tubepre, or the D-POWER PLUG. Which of these would help the most with conveying what my amp sounds like. I'm leaning toward the power plug since a ribbon will warm up the sound anyways, making a preamp redundant. Remember I'm on a budget here.

Let me know any thoughts on these so that I can best plot out the purchases.

Travis

gutpile · Post by **gutpile** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:49 pm

I just picked up a Presonus Firebox... I love the Fathead mixed with an SM57!! The Fathead has the round warm sound and the SM57 delivers some higher end punch... GREAT combo IMO...

ohmygodtheykilledkenny · Post by **ohmygodtheykilledkenny** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:02 pm

Cool man! I might be able to get a SM57 at work for like, $85, so maybe I'll have to snag both. So the Firebox is treating you well?

Travis

gutpile · Post by **gutpile** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:08 pm

no issues at all... I bought if for recording my own clips, if you are going to try and record band stuff you may want to upgrade to the 8 input model... roughly $400-500 vs. $200-300... two inputs were perfect for my situation... OR you can be a REAL man like George and get the 16 inputter!!!

His unit is killer!

gutpile · Post by **gutpile** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:20 pm

BTW OMGTKK... I always catch myself reading your posts hearing Jimi speaking (your avatar)... like I'm reading an interview with him... this contributes absolutely nothing to your post

ohmygodtheykilledkenny · Post by **ohmygodtheykilledkenny** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:32 pm

Awesome!!!

I'm the white, overweight, middleclass Jimi Hendrix!

At least in forum voice....

Cheers bro,

Travis

ohmygodtheykilledkenny · Post by **ohmygodtheykilledkenny** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 5:14 pm

Damn, the guy with the Strat got back to me, now I have to choose between an awesome Strat, or an awesome mic setup.

Travis

gutpile · Post by **gutpile** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:38 pm

I wish my life was FILLED with those complicated, stressful decisions!!

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 11:27 pm

You will want some kind of preamp for the ribbon, it requires a fair amount of gain to get the signal up where you want it for recording. I was using an SM Audio 8-channel preamp, enough gain for the ribbon and each channel had switchable phantom power for the condensers (nothing like the huge buzz of flipping the global phantom power on from your mixer, right?) The ribbon took over twice as much gain on the knob as the condenser for the same output level.

ohmygodtheykilledkenny · Post by **ohmygodtheykilledkenny** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 12:57 pm

gutpile wrote:I wish my life was FILLED with those complicated, stressful decisions!!

Yeah, its my cross to bear..

I will probably snag the Strat now, then in a month or so snag the mic.

Flames, if you were me, would you A) get a Presonus TubePre or similarily priced preamp, or B) get the Rode D-PowerPlug and go straight into the mixer. Both are priced at around $100. The Rode advertises a +20 db boost. I can't spend too much because theoretically, I should be saving for university right now.

Travis

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 1:45 pm

I've honestly never heard of the Rode piece in question......I have eyeballed the Presonus mic pres before, but a keep shying away from "tube" pres in that price range because the tube can't possibly be running hot, more likely a starved plate situation with low voltages.

If you already have a mixer you may be fine either way in any case. I liked the SM 8-channel because I could eliminate the mixer from the equation, but the cheap little Behringer mixer I had been using to record did the job just fine too.

ohmygodtheykilledkenny · Post by **ohmygodtheykilledkenny** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 4:38 pm

I actually don't have a mixer yet, what exactly is your model called. I did a product search and all their stuff seems reasonably priced. Maybe what you've got is the way to go. I found the Rode plug attractive because it ran on phantom power, and was a small package, but it looks like the 8 channel preamp is in the same price range.

I know what you mean about cheap tube preamps, it would probably sound better to get a decent solid state preamp at the same price point.

Travis

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 5:12 pm

The preamp I have is the PR-8, but I'm not sure if they still make it. There may have been an updated model instead though.

ohmygodtheykilledkenny · Post by **ohmygodtheykilledkenny** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:12 pm

Cool, so this preamp could also function as a recording mixer? If they don't make yours anymore then they will have replaced it with another model in the same pricerange, in order to stay in that market.

Cool, I will purchase the Strat, save up some beans, then go for the recording stuff.

Thanks Flames,

Travis

45auto · Post by **45auto** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:01 pm

i just used the fathead to record some vocals. it again sounds very soft & warm. i love the thing.