Q: i am setting up and home recording studio for recording electric and acoustic guitar, no vocals, hopefully in the future i will be able to record entire bands and stuff, but just at the moment acoustic and electric guitar, i am looking around for a preamp for increase the sound quality of my recordings, do i just need a plain preamp, or a preamp with a EQ or a compresser, or mic plug ins, i'm not sure what i need just for guitar recordings, hey what is the difference between these two, one is a 2 channel and one is a 1 chanel but the 1 channel has the EQ and the compressor, which once would be better off? http://www.nady.com/tmp2_micpreamp_pg.html http://www.nady.com/tmp3_micpreamp_pg.html
A: You probably want a preamp with 2 channels (giving the flexibility of voice + guitar, or 2 different mics on one guitar) and which can provide phantom power to a microphone. That gives you the greatest flexibility. EQ and compressor are nice to have, but you can also EQ and compress in the computer after you have captured the dry audio. It would be good if the compressor also offered a high-impedence instrument input for plugging in an electric guitar / bass. There are many, many models on the market, from $100 to $4000. Go to the library and get some magazines - Sound on Sound, Recording, ComputerMusic, EQ, Electronic Musician etc. They often have how-to articles and comparative reviews of preamps There's lots of discussion online too.