When to use a tube preamp

[XPRTNovice]

As most of my music purchases go, I found a deal on a Behringer MIC200 tube preamp so I bought it on a reflex. It is a single channel (looking at the picture, I thought it was two channel, oops) and it has a bunch of presets as well. It's a really simple little preamp that's perfect for my really simple studio.

For those of you that record live a lot - do I want to be using this every time I record anything live or are there situations where I don't want it at all?

Also, I have a two-mic stereo setup that I use especially for guitar, since the mic position on the neck of an acoustic will pick up radically different freq ranges than at the end of the body, so that brings up a second question of whether or not it's okay to use a preamp on only one of the two mics, or if using a non-preamped mic in conjunction with a preamped mic will negate the benefits.

Just looking for some sagely advice.

[Argle]

Honestly, the cheap-ass tube micpres like the Behringer just add a bunch of distortion to your sound. Most people "in the know" seem to agree that tubes aren't a big deal when it comes to micpres.

To your point about using one at all, whatever gets you a moderate input signal. Which for an acoustic guitar, will require a pre. If you don't use a pre, you'll have to boost the signal a ton in your DAW and you'll end up with a lot of noise.

[XPRTNovice]

Thanks - I'll run a test with my acoustic. I just was wondering if using one mic without a preamp and one with a preamp is going to defeat the point.

[Argle]

Thanks - I'll run a test with my acoustic. I just was wondering if using one mic without a preamp and one with a preamp is going to defeat the point.

Whatever channel you don't use a pre on, you'll have to boost a ton in your DAW to match the level of the other mic, which will result in a noisy signal. So yea, use as many preamps as you're using mics.

[SnappleMan]

Generally speaking I use the best preamps I have whenever it's possible. If you like the sound you get from your preamp, use it.

As for using it on one channel of a dual channel setup, go right ahead. The only thing I do when miccing with more than one mic is to make sure there are no phase issues. Using a different preamp on one channel is similar to using two different mics for a different character to the recording. If both mics are condensers then it's not really a matter of gain, you'll have plenty of room to mix and EQ. If you're running dynamic mics, or a condenser+dynamic I would test the preamp with the different mics and positions on the guitar. This way you can get an idea of what each mic sounds like through the preamp and you can gauge the noise:tone ratio and figure out what you're comfortable to work with.

[XPRTNovice]

As for using it on one channel of a dual channel setup, go right ahead. The only thing I do when miccing with more than one mic is to make sure there are no phase issues. Using a different preamp on one channel is similar to using two different mics for a different character to the recording. If both mics are condensers then it's not really a matter of gain, you'll have plenty of room to mix and EQ. If you're running dynamic mics, or a condenser+dynamic I would test the preamp with the different mics and positions on the guitar. This way you can get an idea of what each mic sounds like through the preamp and you can gauge the noise:tone ratio and figure out what you're comfortable to work with.

Alright, good advice. My current mic inventory is an SM58, an Audix i5 (basically an SM57) and the MXL 990 991 condenser package. I like the sound I'm getting with the i5+991 combo.

[SonicThHedgog]

If you don't use a pre, you'll have to boost the signal a ton in your DAW and you'll end up with a lot of noise.

here is a example https://soundcloud.com/aires/star-heaven