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In article <10fb3f36.0409132227.2c462f8a@posting.google.com> andrew.brown@computershare.com.au writes:
> I'm about to get a JB3 for live recording stuff. And was wondering if
> anyone had any recomendations for a A/D convertor/Mic Pre.
I'm in the same situation (had the Jukebox for quite some time now)
and I haven't found a satisfactory solution. For me, it's not so much
about sound, but convenience and reliability.
I had a Core Sound MicPre 24/96 for evaluation and it worked fine with
the Jukebox, providing reasonably clean and quiet mic preamps with XLR
inputs, decent A/D conversion, phantom power, and battery operation,
but I just couldn't bring myself to adding it to my portable recording
suite. I continue to use the analog line input on the Jukebox (which
isn't all that bad) and either borrow a line level output wherever I'm
recording or carry along my Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro mixer if I need my own
mic inputs.
My primary problem with the Core Sound preamp was too much haywire.
The secondary problem was the cost. I just can't bring myself to
spending nearly twice the price of the recorder on a mic preamp.
To clarify about the haywire - it's not with the preamp itself, but in
using it with the Jukebox. You need at minimum a lightpipe cable going
between the MicPre output and the Jukebox input. Since there's a
limited bend radius for that stuff, it can only be so short, and a
short fiber optic cable is a bit stiff, particulary since on the
Jukebox end it's going into that sleazy mini phone jack. Then you need
either an adapter (comes with the preamp) or special cables to connect
the mics (XLRs) to the preamp. And if you want to use it on AC power,
there's a wall wart. That's too many cables going in too many
directions to make for a compact and reliable small footprint system.
I'm still in the waiting mode. I like the idea of the Sound Devices
and Fostex portable digital recorders, (the Fostex is about half the
price of the Sound Devices) but since media is a la carte with those,
I'm waiting to see what's going to happen - will media be cheap enough
(and large enough in capacity) to make the price of the package
attractive before the next design comes along?
The Jukebox 3 is a fantastic buy for a recorder - it's more than a
good buy for the money, it's a good buy for the function if you can
live with a few risks and do your own system assembly. At this point
I'm willing to live with its internal converters, use an analog mic
preamp, and pray that the mini jack doesn't fail.
--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo