AEA RPQ Placement

[Vic]

I was reading in the manual for my AEA RPQ Pre that for low output mics it's best to set up your RPQ in the live room, close to the microphone to shorten the cable length from microphone to RPQ.

I was just wondering, if anyone out there is finding that they have to keep their RPQ in the live room or are modern Ribbons ok to deal with that longer cable runs?

Vic

[rick]

I have 8 of them , I run them from the control room out to the rooms , kinda 20 feet or 50 feet depending .
I have had some mystery buzzes from the rca 44s with the long runs and extended cables and then waving them way up in the air probably too close to the lights , but nothing i could isolate at the time , I doubt it was the cable run mic signal but then again could well have been ?

I am running rca 44 and coles 2038 on them and occasionally some mystery model reslos so nothing new and sometimes any number of different neumann types depending on whats what but with no loss issues to speak of , ideally right next to the microphone is the perfect spot for any pre but real world stuff makes me no bother to do it .

the AEA are my ultra clean no noise preamp choice ( only) so when i get above 45-50 db of gain on the neves I switch to the aea and get another 20 db or so of no real hiss action .

mine are the 500 series aea .

[Vic]

Thanks Rick, that's all good to know. I've had mine in the live room since I bought it, but today I moved it into the control room, and patched it in and will test in the morning.

It was a real pain having it in the live room, a real pain.

Vic

[Sammas]

Do you still have the Weiss 500 series mic preamps Rick? Have you used them on ribbon mics?

[rick]

Nah
They didnt really light me up on any level
Except they were well made and dead quiet
The aea are a much better more useful device

[rowmat]

We have an AEA RPQ (stereo 1RU).

I would often locate it in the studio and use it with our R84 in order to keep the cable run between mic and pre as short as possible thought it does become a PITA to change levels. I usually asked the artist to do via talkback.

Now we have several Cloudlifters which I use with our passive ribbons.
This enables the use of all of our pre's with any of the ribbons without running out of gain or into excessive noise.

I even shortened the R84's fixed cable down to around 450mm (16 inches) which I then hook up to a Cloudlifter.

While the AEA RPQ is quiet and clean I sometimes find it a little uninteresting.

Our R84 ribbon with a Cloudlifter into a DIY Sound Sculptor MP566 tube preamp is one of my favourite combo's at the moment.

[Sammas]

Well that is a relief, Rick! The Weiss preamps cost an absolute fortunate - particularly compared to the AEA stuff. I think I might have to get a stereo cloudlifter. It seems to make people rather happy.

[rick]

I am of the mind that neve preamps and the aea preamps are all i really want
I have a tube console that i will get up one day i might go back to tube pres
But really

[gregwalker]

I've not used the RPQs but seemingly everything AEA make is pretty great. I use a pair of Fetheads that make ribbon mic noise problems a thing of the past. Love 'em!