Posted by: "oryoki2000"
> "Walter Knapp" wrote:
>
>>> ...one should say in the title your list is of pocketable field
>>> pre's, not a inclusive list of all field capable preamps...
>
>
> Point taken. It's "pocketable preamps" from now on.
I wasn't going to say anything, but when people started in like this was
a inclusive list of all field pre's it seemed necessary to point out
it's limitations.
Since a pocketable pre is really only something that makes sense when
coupled with a tiny pocketable recorder, it's only about a subset of
recorders that would use it too.
> Like I said in the body of my message, if you're willing to pack an
> external battery to power a device that was designed to be plugged
> into an AC outlet, then the list of "field preamps" is much longer. I
> leave the task of compiling that list to others.
I don't consider a pre that requires a AC outlet to be a field pre. But
there are certainly pre's that take fairly small batteries and won't fit
in a jacket pocket. Those are the ones I'm pointing out. When you
consider the extra bulk created when the cables are plugged in some of
the ones you can carry in your pocket while not in use are going to be
challenging to get in the pocket with the cables attached. This is
particularly true for those that use XLR connections. I could probably
get the MP2 in one of the huge back pockets of my vest with cables
attached, but that would be totally useless. It will fit in the big
front pockets of my vest with no cables attached.
I consider the better way to go is to have recorder and pre in a
shoulder pac that you can work with and see everything well while
recording. And if you need to set it down the entire set with the
interconnecting cables is easy to take off your shoulder and hang on a
branch or set on the ground. Shoulder pacs come in all sorts of sizes
and can be customized to just about any setup. Think of them as a mobile
jacket pocket.
I have my portadisc in a shoulder pac that also contains two extra sets
of batteries (easily over 10 hours recording), a spare battery caddy, 8
extra minidiscs, and field record cards and pens to fill them out. Hook
the headphones on the shoulder strap and I have everything in one
package except the mic. Just grab and go. I have considered making a
combo pac that would add the MP2, but I really don't use the MP2 enough
to be carting it around all the time. So it has it's own smaller
shoulder pac that holds it, the interconnecting cables, and extra
batteries for it. While a little more bulky than a single pac I can have
both pieces of equipment in a easy position to access all the controls
while still holding the mic with one hand. And the whole package can be
set down with one hand. Neither piece of equipment needs to be taken out
of it's pac as they are completely customized for access yet still are
reasonably rainproof.
Walt
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