• jes5e
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Topic: Connecting a Great River mp2nv mic pre to a Babyface Pro

I've seen conflicting info on the internet and I'm not really sure if there's a good way to go about this.

I would like to simply connect the balanced line level output of my great river pre to the babyface like I used to do on my ff800. Problem is the babyface's balanced inputs are for the internal mic pres, and it's not clear to if I should just go ahead and connect the greatriver into these inputs with an xlr cable.

The great river has pretty high output and on the ff800 I always had to set it to low sensitivity. Will the babyface work correctly with this preamp?

Can anyone advise if I'm going about this correctly?

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
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Re: Connecting a Great River mp2nv mic pre to a Babyface Pro

No problem to do so. The BF input has PAD, and the mic amp is technically the same as a line amp with adjustable gain, means  fully transparent to preserve the 'sound' of the Great River.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

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  • jes5e
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Re: Connecting a Great River mp2nv mic pre to a Babyface Pro

Thank you so much for the helpful response!

So just to confirm, plugging the great river into the xlr input on the bf pro (set to 0 dB gain and PAD active) is equivalent to (and should have the same, or better performance as) plugging into a rear 1/4 inch balanced line level input on the rear of the ff800?

I'm really hoping that is true. If that is indeed the case then it's really frustrating how much misinformation is on the internet... like this for example, these, which I found on the cakewalk forum while doing a Google search:

"The problems is the XLR ins on the Babyface pro are expecting mic level input, so there is a possibility of overload.  The 1/4 in inputs are unbalanced, but they are the ones you should use, just keep your cables short."

"Pre-amps generally output at line level and are likely to overload another downstream mic pre. The RME pres are very quiet, but they still have a little noise which will be added to the other pre's noise floor, while the line inputs don't apply as much amoplifiation to the signal and so are quieter."

Which are both incorrect?

4 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2018-06-19 18:46:42)

  • ramses
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Re: Connecting a Great River mp2nv mic pre to a Babyface Pro

Sorry to jump in, but pls be so kind and re-read post #2, it answers all of your questions already.

In the internet you find information of different quality...
Here in the RME forum you talk to RME CEO, Lead Designer of products, Technical support, sales ...
and the community of users. If Mr Carstens tells you its possible with that device, well then its ... possible wink

Also the handbook tells in ch 9.6: "[...]Additionally a PAD can attenuate the input signal by 11 dB, to prevent overloads by hard driven microphones or high level line signals. This useful feature extends the gain range and increases the maximum input level from +8 dBu up to +19 dBu at the XLR input.[...]"

Simply try it out and report back wink

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • jes5e
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Re: Connecting a Great River mp2nv mic pre to a Babyface Pro

Thanks. I'm sure you're right. I was just trying to make sure I was understanding correctly. I'm glad I came here to get info instead of trusting misleading posts in other forums!