Samuel Dilworth

I tried to buy that Sound Devices 302 for €200, plus another one for slightly more, but I was too late for one and the other seller flaked out. Used Zoom F4s and MixPre-3s are thin on the ground here. Haven’t seen any. I could buy a new MixPre-3 (the discontinued model) for €530. More than I really wanted to spend but maybe worth it? New MixPre-3 IIs are about €800 by comparison – more than I can spend (remember, I have no professional aspirations). Would anyone explain the practical timecode differences between the -3 and -3 II? For reference, I have a Pana

That was the hope, yes. I guess it would be a pain compared to recording directly on something modern like the MixPre-3 or Zoom F4 … but I’ve never used one of those so don’t know what I’m missing. Alternatively, my camera has line-level audio-in via a 3.5 mm jack and there’s an XLR adaptor available for it (though I don’t have it). But I want this for more than camera work. Shoulder bag or attached to a camera rig somehow. I’m trying to do a variety of things including voiceovers for video, interviews, sound effects for tutorial videos (e.g. the noises made

Thanks, Patrick. The MixPre-3 looks great, but it’s still a fair bit more expensive than a Sound Devices 302, for example. Would the 302 be at all viable for what I want? It’s not a recorder, but I could use its preamps and record with something else, e.g. the Zoom or my camera (Panasonic GH5S). Is the 302 generally reliable? I see one available locally for just €200, but it has heavily worn paint suggesting many hours of use in the field. Risky?

Great. Thanks for the tips. Some of those look very attractive at first glance. I’ll have to look for a bargain on one of the cheaper models though (that MixPre-3 looks great! But no line-level out then, even via the headphone port or something?).

It’s hard to say how cheap without knowing what I’d be giving up or gaining. Can a significant improvement be made for €300, used? I see tatty Sound Devices 302s at that kind of price (specs claim EIN of –126 dB and 2.5 kΩ mic input impedance, but I’m far from certain what those mean in practice compared to what I’ve got). A FetHead Phantom would be €80. Two would be €160. Meanwhile, I could probably sell my H4N Pro and FetHead for nearly €200 if I got a recorder that made them unnecessary. So let’s say ‘cheap’ can be a bit more than €300 if necessary. Two X

Hello. I have a Zoom H4N Pro. It has served me well, but it’s tiring to work around its noisy microphone preamps and lowish input impedance (1 kΩ). For example, a couple of years ago I had to get a FetHead to make a Rode Procaster dynamic mic sound better (which it duly sure did). But the FetHead doesn’t support phantom power. Oh, there’s another FetHead model that does, but would a fleet of FetHeads be throwing good money after bad? Instead I could put the money toward a better mixer or recorder, maybe selling the H4N Pro and first FetHead to partially fund it.