KVR Audio

irpacynot · Post by **irpacynot** » Thu Oct 05, 2023 9:21 am

I want to purchase a Triton Fethead for gain boosting when using an SM58 to record my acoustic guitar. There are two versions of the Fethead, and it's my understanding that both require phantom power to power the Fethead. I'm thinking I would get the standard version, since the SM58 is dynamic. I also figured I could just buy a cheap phantom power supply to power the Fethead.

These would be feeding into an old Roland VS-880EX DAW, which has built-in preamps that are not phantom powered. I want to make sure I'm wiring everything to the VS input(s) properly so as to not damage anything.

Advice?

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Oct 05, 2023 10:55 am

Hard to get it wrong, cables fit one way only..

But this site lists 6 variations:
https://www.tritonaudio.com/products

Just get the top one, for dynamic mikes.

irpacynot · Post by **irpacynot** » Sat Oct 07, 2023 12:56 pm

BertKoor wrote: Thu Oct 05, 2023 10:55 am Hard to get it wrong, cables fit one way only..

But this site lists 6 variations:
https://www.tritonaudio.com/products

Just get the top one, for dynamic mikes.

Thanks

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Sat Oct 07, 2023 1:29 pm

Come to think of it, acoustic guitar & sm58 is not ideal. An extra preamp will amplify background noise as well.

If you're going to spend money, a different mike would be my advice. Small capsule electrolytic condenser (on batteries) for instance

irpacynot · Post by **irpacynot** » Sun Oct 08, 2023 11:19 am

BertKoor wrote: Sat Oct 07, 2023 1:29 pm Come to think of it, acoustic guitar & sm58 is not ideal. An extra preamp will amplify background noise as well.

If you're going to spend money, a different mike would be my advice. Small capsule electrolytic condenser (on batteries) for instance

Yeah, well, the difference between a decent condenser mic and a gain booster like FetHead are pretty night and day. The reason I'm using the SM58 is because I've had it for years. I don't even wanna spend the money on the FetHead, but it seems the more reasonable way to go in terms of cost effectiveness. Noise reduction only goes so far, and when it goes too far, you end up carving away all of the tones you want from an acoustic guitar. I've negotiated it thus far by recording tons of guitar tracks, whittling them away, and then blending them together. Now, I enjoy woodworking as much as the next guy, but it gets too exhausting after a while.

But a good condenser mic is gonna be at least in the neighborhood of $200, will still need to be powered, and in order to bypass my main issue (preamps that aren't supplying enough gain), I'm still either going to have to purchase the gain booster, or purchase a decent external preamp, of which will then drive my costs into a stratosphere I don't have the space gear to travel to.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Sun Oct 08, 2023 1:03 pm

I'm afraid adding a fethead doesn't structurally change anything for you. The signal/noise ratio will roughly stay the same. Gain itself cannot be a goal in itself.

The word I was looking for yesterday: Electret mics! They run on a AA battery and are better suited to pick up softer sounds. Doesn't need to be expensive.

irpacynot · Post by **irpacynot** » Tue Oct 10, 2023 5:02 am

BertKoor wrote: Sun Oct 08, 2023 1:03 pm I'm afraid adding a fethead doesn't structurally change anything for you. The signal/noise ratio will roughly stay the same. Gain itself cannot be a goal in itself.

The word I was looking for yesterday: Electret mics! They run on a AA battery and are better suited to pick up softer sounds. Doesn't need to be expensive.

I can't see how that would be correct. The built-in preamp turned all the way up still does not show much signal on the gain meter, with me about six inches from the mic. But that preamp turned all the way up is adding tons of noise, which then needs to be dealt with in editing. When I do that, it strips tons of tone from my acoustic guitar tracks.

If I can simply eliminate the need to jack the preamp all the way to max, boost the gain and get the preamp to an ideal setting with an ideal signal, that should do EXACTLY what I want it to do.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:08 am

Well, it's worth a shot...

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Sun Oct 15, 2023 12:37 pm

irpacynot wrote: Tue Oct 10, 2023 5:02 am [...] that should do EXACTLY what I want it to do.

And you're absolutely right! Sorry for causing some confusion earlier...
I've done a bit of research and learned something new: passive devices like dynamic mics and guitar pickups don't have a noise level of themselves. It's only the preamp after it which adds background noise.

So enjoy that fethead.

lfm · Post by **lfm** » Sun Oct 15, 2023 7:28 pm

A Mackie mixer 402 VLZ4 with Onyx preamps cost about $130 range.
- 60 dB gain
- but fixed +4 dBu out if that mix with your system

I've looked at FetHead once and today €79.

Onyx are quite good preamps too.

irpacynot · Post by **irpacynot** » Mon Oct 16, 2023 6:33 am

BertKoor wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2023 12:37 pm
irpacynot wrote: Tue Oct 10, 2023 5:02 am [...] that should do EXACTLY what I want it to do.
And you're absolutely right! Sorry for causing some confusion earlier...
I've done a bit of research and learned something new: passive devices like dynamic mics and guitar pickups don't have a noise level of themselves. It's only the preamp after it which adds background noise.

So enjoy that fethead.

Thanks

Money's been so tight, I've just been trying to find the most stingy ways of getting the sounds workable. I've worked around most of the limitations utilizing creativity and free software, but the noise issue has been my white whale, so to speak.

Phantom power supply questions