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Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:24 pm
by shmick

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:42 pm
by AntonZ
shmick wrote:Focusrite OctoPre MkII Dynamic - http://www.focusrite.com/products/mic_p ... i_dynamic/


Any comments on this and/or other Octopre models? I'm on a budget, currently have 2x ADA8000 in my rig (which I try to keep very portable). I may need another 8 channels in the future, not to happy about what's being said about recent batches of ADA8000's and various Octopre models appear to pop up used every now and then here. So I'm wondering how these compare to the Behringers.

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:53 pm
by jlepore
They work great and sound great. Their more expensive than the Behringers, but worth it.

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 7:57 am
by gdougherty
jlepore wrote:They work great and sound great. Their more expensive than the Behringers, but worth it.

Joe, I know you've had some preamps on long snakes and noted SQ issues with some like the ADA. Have you compared Profire's vs the Octopre Dynamic Mk2?
Function-wise and price-wise I know I prefer the Profire since I don't need or want the extra knobs to do compression pre-converter.

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 8:10 am
by gdougherty
It's not super popular, but I'll throw in the MOTU 8pre as a near ideal preamp only option for most. At least on paper. Haven't used it, can't vouch for SQ. Only cons are that the outputs are ADAT only, no analog outs and for many SAC users the lack of any DA outputs fed from ADAT would put it out of the running.

If you need inputs only and your system is all based around ADAT and won't be changing, it looks like a good option.

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:09 am
by AntonZ
Thanks guys, much appreciated. Any major differences between the various models? As far as I can tell, there's an Octopre LE, Octopre Platinum, Octopre MK II, Octopre MK II Dynamic. There is currently an LE version offered used around here, looks to me like an older model than the MKII and MKII Dynamic.

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 10:28 am
by jlepore
gdougherty wrote:Joe, I know you've had some preamps on long snakes and noted SQ issues with some like the ADA. Have you compared Profire's vs the Octopre Dynamic Mk2?


No I haven't had the chance to check them. There are in an install with about a 100ft snake. No noise there, but not quite the same as a 300ft run.

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 3:19 pm
by gdougherty
AntonZ wrote:Thanks guys, much appreciated. Any major differences between the various models? As far as I can tell, there's an Octopre LE, Octopre Platinum, Octopre MK II, Octopre MK II Dynamic. There is currently an LE version offered used around here, looks to me like an older model than the MKII and MKII Dynamic.


If you want I/O, you want the Mk2 Dynamic. Look closely at the units. Some are 2 in front, 6 in back for the preamp inputs and I think some are input only.

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 3:20 pm
by gdougherty
jlepore wrote:
gdougherty wrote:Joe, I know you've had some preamps on long snakes and noted SQ issues with some like the ADA. Have you compared Profire's vs the Octopre Dynamic Mk2?


No I haven't had the chance to check them. There are in an install with about a 100ft snake. No noise there, but not quite the same as a 300ft run.


In general would you put the audio quality on par with each other then, or is one better than the other? I could see the compressors being a liability on the Focusrite for both price and quality.

Re: Popular preamps for use with SAC

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 9:38 pm
by jlepore
Actually, I would have to put the quality of both preamps close enough to not make a difference. We had done tests with the Octopre, profire, ada8000, and the native preamps in a SC48. The profire and octo's were just about identical with the 48 slightly better and the ada slightly worse.

The surprising thing was HOW close they were. It was really nitpicking to hear the differences.