Today - Spending mini-madness

[Lunch Money]

OK,

"Madness" isn't really the word, but since I rarely have the opportunity to spend $ on music, on Tuesday I shall have fun. Of course, ultimately any decisions I will make will be my own, but you guys are welcome to help me out if you like.

The dough:

-A $70 small-diaphragm condenser mic for exchange/return
-A $100 gift card
-A $200 cheque

For a total of CDN$370

Now, here are the things I'm coping with:

-I like this mic even though it's a cheapie-- it's an Apex 170 pencil condenser. But I still want a large diaphragm mic, so I haven't decided whether or not to keep this AND get the large diaphragm, or to return it. I record guitars a lot, so either the large or small will do the trick, but the small is a bit less awkward to position at the right spots on the acoustic's body.

-Which large diaphragm to get? I know for sure it'll be cheap-ass, so I guess there's really not much difference between them, but it's between the Studio Projects B1, the Behringer B1, and whatever's on offer by Apex (the 460 has 9 switchable patterns, though I'll usually default to cardioid anyhow...). I suppose Marshall might be a consideration, but I'm not sure that Long & McQuade carries Marshall. They may be stocking the M-Audio stuff, too.

-I hate the 'levels' game, so even if it f**ks with my sound quality a little bit, I want to get one of those little ART pre-amps like the Tube MP with output limiter. I'll trade off a bit of sonic smear (which I wouldn't likely notice anyhow, and may even prefer) for not having to always worry about one wee little clip screwing up my whole take. Any thoughts? The newest version allows for different "valve voicings" which seems gimmicky but may prove useful.

-If I get the ART pre, what do I do with my current UB802 mixer? Wouldn't going from the ART to the mixer and THEN to my soundcard add an unecessary phase of noise?

-If I have leftover money, I'd like to add to my bag of guitar tricks... but I can only afford one of the following: used J-Station from eBay, used V-Amp2 from eBay, or new Amplitube LE. I mostly want clean amp sounds.

Thoughts? Opinions? Alternatives? My main concern is the microphone issue-- to return the small condenser or not. Will the large condenser mic make it redundant (remembering that I'm a hobbyist, not a pro)?

Cheers!
Greg

[IIRs]

-If I get the ART pre, what do I do with my current UB802 mixer? Wouldn't going from the ART to the mixer and THEN to my soundcard add an unecessary phase of noise?

most pre-amps provide more than one output: plug one straight into your soundcard to be recorded, and the other into the mixer for no-latency monitoring..

[Mental Audio Deviations]

Yeah, keep the mixer for monitoring and record the pre amp direct into the soundcard. I'd keep the small mic cause it might come in handy sometime and you can never have to many mics. Variety is the spice of life or something.

[Sequent]

FWIW... you mentioned the Tube MP and in case you don't know, I think Behringer has their own take on that kind of unit too for a little less. I want to say for about $50 U.S.? I don't know much about it, but maybe it might be worth looking into as a way of stretching your budget a little further. Perhaps there are some reviews online or someone else here is familiar with it.

Good luck with your purchases.

[Lunch Money]

platinumears and MAD-- I usually monitor the soundcard's output, so I probably wouldn't need to go to the mixer as well; however, you're right that the mixer would still be useful. Dunno what I was thinking.

Liondream-- I didn't know that! I'll see what L&M have when I go shopping. I only do this for fun, so I don't mind buying 'cheap' components most of the time, as long as they're serviceable.

I'm tempted to keep the pencil condenser mic, but if I return it I'll be able to get 'more, now'. Ie. it'll almost cover the cost of the large diaphragm mic, meaning the leftover cash would be used for the mic pre. However, new information-- today I was given my birthday present (Dec. 29, but they gave it early) which was... more cash! So budget isn't as much of an issue.

Decisions, decisions.

What I DIDN'T mention because I know I'd get flamed for it is that I still need a good monitoring solution. Now, *I* know, and all of YOU know (hence my knowing I'd get flamed! ) that it should probably be my PRIMARY concern, and I should ditch all other equipment in favour of some active monitors. But... well... you know. If my WHOLE budget gets spent on the monitors, I won't have the large diaphragm or the Tube MP, which just won't do.

Greg

[pheeleep]

You might want to check out CAD condenser microphones. They are cheap and they sound good: http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--CADGXL2200

[Lunch Money]

Thanks, pheeleep!

[Sicklecell666]

get a high dollar Colonic wash.

[Lunch Money]

Heh!

Well, I used a $5 squeeze bottle right up my arse once to cleanse myself as part of a ritual cleaning. Does that count?

The instructions say something like "You will feel the strong urge to evacuate, but keep from doing so for as long as possible."

No kidding it's a strong urge!!!! Also a strong urge to never shove something squirty up my ass ever again.

So, er...

Today's the day! I don't want to mail order anything, so hopefully their stock isn't completely decimated by the Christmas season. Quick question, then-- out of the 3 similarly-priced cheap ass mics available (not sure if they carry that CAD line):

-Studio Projects B1
-Behringer B1
-Apex 460

Any strong opinions? I suspect those will be my main choices. If I feel decadent, I might get the SP C1 instead, but I'd have to sacrifice everything else to do so. For a hobbyist that until now was doing just fine with a Shure PG58 (budget dynamic mic) with no major complaints about quality, would it be THAT much better?

Greg

[Lunch Money]

quick bump before bed. Will check in tomorrow before shopping, and then I guess I'll stick to whatever I end up with. Peeked at that Behringer box, and it seems to do what I need, too, but I feel slightly more confident in the ART. We'll see how things pan out.

Greg

[nuisance sonore]

I ordered this some time before Christmas:
http://www.kelaudio.com/thehm1.htm
And I'm actually very please with it. It's warm sounding without behing muddy and very low self noise, well built with a quality feel to it,it's distributed by a Canadian company for $69.00 until January first, then price will be $99.00. There's a 21 days try period, you don't like it, send it back (I kept mine).

[Lunch Money]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've long been wanting that Kel microphone, actually. However, since it's mail-order, I hadn't gotten around to it.

Ended up getting--

-Apex Studio Pack. There's a 435 (medium-diaphragm cardioid) and 2 180 pencil condensers with 2 capsules each, for omni or hypercardioid patterns. 3 shockmounts and foam wind-socks included. I don't expect that ANY of the microphones are absolutely spectacular, but for my noisy environment and less-than-professional needs, they should do the trick!

-ART Tube MP StudioV3. That'll help lend a bit of character to the mics, as well as serve for better D.I. on my guitars and bass than the UB802.

So, for CDN$350 I got 3 microphones and a fairly respected tube pre-amp. Since I returned the first pencil condenser, that filled out my music budget perfectly!

Cheers for reading and all that.

Greg

[Mental Audio Deviations]

Good choices I think. Have fun with your new toys.