Preamp bypass

[Phil.c]

I have had a Focusrite ISA 430MkI for about fifteen years, I rarely us it exept for DI'ing an instrument, apparently the pre amp is supposted to be very good but if it's used for say, a mic and then going into the d8b, both preamps are used?

If the ISA's preamp is better than the d8b's then the question is, how to bypass the d8b's preamp, I read somewhere that this could be done by removing the earth? From the XLR feeding the d8b, any input with this?

[Crash]

I use the Alt I/O slot with an analog card for that sort of thing. That seems the cleanest way in as to avoid a mic pre or line amp on a channel.

[Phil.c]

Question is.....how much better is the ISA 430 than the d8b.......if it is?

[Crash]

Question is.....how much better is the ISA 430 than the d8b.......if it is?

Don't know. I've never used one of those. I would venture to guess that it's probably more different than better. I find the d8b pres to be kind of dark to neutral, which can work with some mics and not others. Just a different color crayon in the box.

[Bruce Graham]

Hey Phil;

On channel 1-12, if you use the Insert Return. That should post pre-amp.

The level should be -10dBu, but could be 0dBu. I don't have a a block diagram at the moment to say for sure.

Channels 13 to 24 your hooped, as there are no inserts.

You can unbalance your pre-amp out by taking Pin 3 to ground.

Or as Crash says.

Hope that helps.

Bruce

[Phil.c]

Thanks all, worth a try.

[Old School]

Hi all,
I'm glad you guys brought this up, I've always wondered if there was a way to bypass the mic preamps and I'm going to try these methods and see if my external mic pres are any better than the D8b's. Thanks guys!

Have a blessed day,
Mike W.

[arjepsen]

I think I'm missing something here due to being a total noob at mixing, but since the mic preamps are only on channel 1-12, wouldn't it work to just use channel 13-24?
Or use the optical out of the focurite into channel 25+? (of cause presuming you have optical cards equipped).

[Bruce Graham]

Hey Anders;

Generally we don't want to have more than one preamp (processor) in the signal path. Even though ch 13 to 24 don't have mic pre's it does have line level preamps. thus possible addition noise and "distortion".

Most would try to have the preamp output directly in the channel of the recorder they wish to record onto, thus bypassing all processing in the console and recording just the signal source with just one processor. The outboard preamp.

The way Crash has suggested is the easiest to do.

Hope that helps.
Cheers
Bruce

[arjepsen]

ok, thanks