›
Please familiarise yourself with the forum, including policy on feature requests, rules & guidelines

Fet Head

▲ 0 ▼
JoangeJoange EspañaPosts: 52
in Off Topic

Hello, has anybody tried these Fet Heads, to improve the gain from a dinamic microphone, like an SM58? Or am I doing better using a preamp? I found an XLR to minijack stereo cable and this would be cool if worked.
Thanks!

Best Answers

  • ▲ 0 ▼
    percussijanpercussijan GermanyPosts: 50
    Answer ✓

    Hey Joange, the Fet Heads definitely work with more or less good results, depending on the mic used. Generally I would prefer decent preamps, though... For direct connection with the Deluge without any extra preamplification I already tried different dynamic mics (SM 57, SM 58 and a Beyerdynamic T201) using said XLR to minijack cable and it works quite good with all of them. Enough gain for most situations, not too much noise either. Perhaps just get the cable first ;)

  • ▲ 0 ▼
    percussijanpercussijan GermanyPosts: 50
    Answer ✓

    The Fet Head is the most portable solution, I think. But it needs 24v/48v phantom power to work. So for direct connection with the Deluge you´ll need something to power it. To keep it small and portable 2 devices come to mind:
    This baby is top-of-the-line: https://www.sounddevices.com/product/mm-1/ (not cheap)
    Or you could get this: https://www.xviveaudio.com/p1-portable-phantom-power-supply-p0085.html and use it together with a Fet Head.
    Cheers, Jan

  • ▲ 0 ▼
    HeptagenHeptagen Posts: 277
    Answer ✓

    The solution I use is more versatile: Get a mobile recorder with xlr and phantom power (like a tascam dr-40x or one of the famous zooms). I use a Tascam DR100 MK2. I connect the mic via xlr with the recorder, then headphone out to the deluge mic in. This way I don't even have to record stuff into the recorder, I just pass the audio through directly into the deluge.
    benefits: on top of powering the mic of your choice, they come with internal stereo mics which are great for recording ambiences to use in your projects. For an even more lightweight setup just set the internal mics to mono and use the recorder itself instead of a separate mic. And if you're carrying the recorder with you, you get the chance to record interesting sounds in your day to day life. Then, back in the studio, just connect the headphone out to the deluge and play back the one clear "caw!" of the 5 minute recording of the bird that you thought sounded nice and record that into the deluge. No need for file transfers and unnecessarily big files on the deluge.
    This would be the whole gear for travelling for me: deluge, headphones, tascam. Maybe a guitalele.

    If this is not what you're looking for I hope that at least I could give you some new ideas. :)

    Soundcloud | YouTube | bandcamp | Buy me a coffee (:

Answers

  • ▲ 0 ▼
    JoangeJoange EspañaPosts: 52

    @percussijan said:
    Hey Joange, the Fet Heads definitely work with more or less good results, depending on the mic used. Generally I would prefer decent preamps, though... For direct connection with the Deluge without any extra preamplification I already tried different dynamic mics (SM 57, SM 58 and a Beyerdynamic T201) using said XLR to minijack cable and it works quite good with all of them. Enough gain for most situations, not too much noise either. Perhaps just get the cable first ;)

    Thank you, Percussijan! :wink: I will try one of the Fet Heads, already got the cable and it's a bit quiet, even with the mic gain set to high. Looking around for a portable preamp, but it's hard to find something...do you have any reccomendation?
    Cheers!

  • ▲ 0 ▼
    percussijanpercussijan GermanyBeta Tester Posts: 50

    Please don´t get me wrong on this one Heptagen. Of course, this works... and it can be a solution if your mobile recorder provides a decent sounding headphone out. Unfortunately, with almost any consumer-grade moblie recorders like Tascam, Zoom etc. this is not the case. If you want to record the actual sound of your mic into the Deluge without quality loss and coloration/artefacts from the mobile recorders headphones output (this is often caused by low quality D/A-converters used in these devices for the phones out) a good preamp should always be preferred :)

  • ▲ 0 ▼
    JoangeJoange EspañaPosts: 52

    @percussijan said:
    The Fet Head is the most portable solution, I think. But it needs 24v/48v phantom power to work. So for direct connection with the Deluge you´ll need something to power it. To keep it small and portable 2 devices come to mind:
    This baby is top-of-the-line: https://www.sounddevices.com/product/mm-1/ (not cheap)
    Or you could get this: https://www.xviveaudio.com/p1-portable-phantom-power-supply-p0085.html and use it together with a Fet Head.
    Cheers, Jan

    Wow, I don't know how I missed the fact that it needs phantom power! Thank you mister! I will try the second option, but I'll keep looking for a nice voice preamp (or a pedal like the TC Helicon Machine 2 looks fine but unfortunately it's not avaliable at thomann for a few weeks).

  • ▲ 1 ▼
    JoangeJoange EspañaPosts: 52
    edited October 2021

    @Heptagen said:
    The solution I use is more versatile: Get a mobile recorder with xlr and phantom power (like a tascam dr-40x or one of the famous zooms). I use a Tascam DR100 MK2. I connect the mic via xlr with the recorder, then headphone out to the deluge mic in. This way I don't even have to record stuff into the recorder, I just pass the audio through directly into the deluge.
    benefits: on top of powering the mic of your choice, they come with internal stereo mics which are great for recording ambiences to use in your projects. For an even more lightweight setup just set the internal mics to mono and use the recorder itself instead of a separate mic. And if you're carrying the recorder with you, you get the chance to record interesting sounds in your day to day life. Then, back in the studio, just connect the headphone out to the deluge and play back the one clear "caw!" of the 5 minute recording of the bird that you thought sounded nice and record that into the deluge. No need for file transfers and unnecessarily big files on the deluge.
    This would be the whole gear for travelling for me: deluge, headphones, tascam. Maybe a guitalele.

    If this is not what you're looking for I hope that at least I could give you some new ideas. :)

    Ouch, now you comment on this I just realized I had already read you and your setup on another post and thought it was a brilliant solution, for all the reasons you mention (but totally forgot because I'm updating a lot of my setup, lots of forums, ideas and manuals. You know, usual business). In fact I have a small zoom and will try this afternoon, let's see how that headphones out sound!
    Thank you for sharing!

    Post edited by Joange on
  • ▲ 0 ▼
    HeptagenHeptagen Posts: 277
    edited October 2021

    @Joange Glad I could contribute something useful :) Keep us updated on how your test went!

    @percussijan said:
    Please don´t get me wrong on this one Heptagen. Of course, this works... and it can be a solution if your mobile recorder provides a decent sounding headphone out. Unfortunately, with almost any consumer-grade moblie recorders like Tascam, Zoom etc. this is not the case.

    Well, my tascam dr 100mk2 also has a line out, so I guess it's not just "ye old headphone jack" but probably a better signal. Still my way to think about stuff like this is: Do I hear the difference? I'll be honest: I don't. Maybe others might? But I think only in comparison and only dry, not embedded in a track. I have yet to encounter a piece of music where I think "oh my goodness, this is such a great song! The composition, the instrumentation, the vocals... it would really take me on a journey and touch my heart - if they only used better preamps" :D
    No offense taken. ;) Everyone keep doing what you feel good with.

    Post edited by Heptagen on

    Soundcloud | YouTube | bandcamp | Buy me a coffee (:

  • ▲ 0 ▼
    percussijanpercussijan GermanyBeta Tester Posts: 50

    Ahh.. thin ice :D Of course you´re absolutely right about the "Do I hear a difference?" thing!

Sign In or Register to comment.