ART 254 Preamp or dbx 286a Preamp?

J

Jason Hancock

New member
Hi Everyone,

I'm itching to get a preamp. I was thinking about the ART 254 Dual MP. I like this unit because it appears to be a good no-frills, stripped down unit. But then I see the dbx 286a is packed with other processing features and at lower cost. I'm not sure that I want all those other features (very basic compression, gating, de-essing, enhancing) because I plan to get each of those further down the road anyway.

Any recommendations?

(For reference, I'm mostly recording guitars, vocals, and drum machine using a Tascam portastudio but plan to go with something like a Korg D-1600 in the next six months.)
 
Jason -
I have the older version of the Dbx- the 286. The only thing I use on it is the phantom power (for my C3000) and the gate, which works well. The compressor section is too obvious, so I use an Aphex 108 for compression. And, it's only a single channel. If I were you, I'd get the ART. Just my $.02


Bob
 
Really...

>the consensus around here is that it will blow both of the preamps you mentioned out of the water<

This is based on what exactly?


Tom Cram
dbx Senior Technical Support
(801) 568-7530
tcram@dbxpro.com

"Jazz, pfffft...They just make it up as they go along."
-Homer Simpson-
 
Miss Cleo from the Psychic Friends Hotline told him so. It only cost him $4.99 a minute for that information.
 
Nobody consulted me for that "consensus".

....and I didn't even know that the dbx preamps were in the water to begin with! :D
 
Maybe "blow them out of the water" is too strong.

I said "the consensus around here..." based on my perception of recent previous threads in this and the Rack forum anticipating the VT-1. You can do a search yourself and see what has been said and make up your own mind. Maybe I'm wrong. If so, I stand corrected.

I'd still wait for the reviews before buying.:cool:

And, Buck, you wern't consulted because everybody knows your are a biased, close-minded, ne'er-to-reason-with Mindprint Envoice fanatic. :D That's just my perception, though.:)
 
Not completely true, duke...

I really like the Presonus VXP. It was one of my finalists in my quest for a preamp.

So were a couple of Meek units, the dbx 386 and 586, and the ART Pro Channel.

All of them are fine preamps.

This stuff is all subjective, though. That's why I always suggest that people listen to these preamps for themselves before they buy.

The MindPrint is my favorite affordable unit.
You get alot of product for the money.

But, in reality, there's much better preamps that I'd LOVE to have, but the budget won't let me. :(
 
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