Pre-amp for H4
 

I bought a Zoom H4. It's ok, but the recorded level is so low, is there a pre-amp that onecould get to boost the level.

thanks,
elmer

A peamp would allow you to feed a line level signal to the recorder. Sound Devices makes some real nice battery-powered preamps that should work with the H4. If you need stereo, you may have to look at a mixer that includes preamps like the ones from PSC, Sound Devices, etc. FWIW, I've had very good experiences with Sound Devices products.

Best wishes,
Peter
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Nothing against mixers or preamps... but, have you experimented with the L-M-H sensitivity switch on the right side of the H4? There is also level setting that can be done in the input menu, but you need to have the sensitivity set correctly for your type of microphone.

I'm using a Tram TR50.

On the Zoom, I have the right side switch set at High, I'd adjusted the level settings as high as possible in the input menu, and the 48k phantom power is turned on, but it's still way too low.

And it's kinda weird how when I take this mono wav file and make a stereo file out of it, it's even lower in volume. To my ears and the volume meter.

Now, when you say "you need to have the sensitivity set correctly for your type of microphone" is there something else I can do besides what I've done?

Or is there a stereo y-plug I can first plug my Tram into and then into the 2 plugins on the Zoom, or will that cause problems?

best,
elmer

I don't have this recorder myself, but I am willing to bet money that you want to set it to "M" as in "microphone", not "H" as in "high". assuming that's the switch that Seth pointed you to in his post.

- Martin

So you think the M in the L-M-H setting refers to Mic and not medium? Gee, so what would L and H refer to? Seems like low medium high would be hard to top as a guess.

Elmer,Good guess, but it would be wrong on my M-Audio MicroTrack (which is a device similar to the H4). There, the settings are Mic or Line, and when Line you have the choice of a High and a Low signal. So MIC, or HIGH/LOW line input. Needless to say, the line input settings would and should result in a very, very low recording signal when a mic is plugged in.

Have you tried the "M" setting yet? Please tell us what happens!

- Martin