Tube PreAmps - Request

Riverdog

Riverdog

New member
Hi Guys... I've been experiencing some distortion problems with my NT1 (I thought) for a few weeks... At a Gig last Friday a friend of mine wanted to borrow my ART-TubeMP preamp... He loved the sound... The problem is about half way through the warm-up, his acoustical guitar started to distort terribly... My first thought was the Tube - Releived and upset because the NT1 was not damaged, I took the Tube-MP into the shop to have it checked...

Low and behold - 3 days later, I get it back with a little note on it saying that everything is fine... Hmm...

I took it home and tried it... No distortion at this point, But I still am not getting ANY clip signal from the one Indicator on the box...

I'm beginning not to trust this little box...

SO - My question is - Is there anyone out there who has compared the low cost pre-amps on the market and come up with one that they are happy with that is along the lines of the TubeMP... I've heard the "blue" something or other for 150.00 Bucks is really nice... But, I haven't encountered anyone who's used them and can make a valid comparison... OR - What about that Behringer, thingy? Any Good?

Please comment,

Tx,
Bry
Riverdog Productions
http://www.members.home.com/bkriverdog
riverdog@mac.com
 
The ART MP is a funny device.

I've had the exact same problem.. Recorded a kick drum with it. One mic into the mixer, one into the ART.

On playback, the track using the ART was distorted sounding, not a clipped waveform -To me it sounded like really bad cable. But it wasn't the cable.


As far as preamps go, can't think of any to recommend, just thought I'd let you know your not the only one with a flakey ART MP.
 
Yep

Thanks for the reply Emeric...
There are a lot of people on the Logic users group who are having the same results with the little puppy...

I love the sound, Just don't understand why it distorts...

Anyway...
Thanks for the comments...

bry
 
Wall Warts

This is just a gut feeling kind of thing,not necessarily based on science,but I've always been a little leary of Tube devices that use wall warts 'cause tubes are inherently high voltage devices and I don't see where the tube can get what it needs to operate properly on 9 or 12 volts.BTW,I have the ART Tube PAC which uses a regular power cord and althoughit is possible to make it distort intentionally by maxing everything out,in normal operation it stays quite clean.
 
I have a Behringer Ultra Gain Pro 2200(stereo tube mic pre), and for $160 I'm impressed. Yeah, it's made by Chinese slave labor and it's by no means "top end" gear, but I haven't found anything better for the price. The Behringer Ultra Comp Pro (stereo compressor, limiter, $150) also does a decent job. I've put my money in to the best mics I can afford (Rode NTV, AT4050, and AKG3000)(I can't afford better). When I can afford to upgrade mic pre and compressor, I'll take a look at the dbx576 (x2). Anybody checked it out yet?
Rock On
 
Reply to preamp suggestions

Hi Riverdog,

I have a Tube MP also. I like it, but it
creates noise when the gain is about half way.
I use it to warm my acoustic guitar recordings.
Some people are high on the Joe Meek preamps.
They have a compressor and equalizer on board,
so adding those items into a rack won't be
necessary for gigging. Recording magazine has
a great article on these units this month.
I may go for the VCQ6 unit myself.

Chuck
 
Thanks yet again...

I'll be looking at the Joe-Meek stuff too...

Has anyone had any experience with that little "Event" pre amp?
 
Yes

I took one home to try out a few months ago.It's a good sounding well built piece of gear,but I didn't keep it 'cause it wasn't different enough from the pre's in my Mackie to justify the purchase.It's very clean with good headroom,I would say diametrically opposed to the Tube PAC and the MP.
 
The tube MP isn't real clean or dirty it's goes from warm to gritty to distorted. I'm happy I own one but I'm also happy that I only own one (well actually 10 would be nice :D)

Hey here's a question- has anybody used both a Dual MP and a single MP, and were there differences in the sound? (i.e how much better is the Dual MP?)

Also- anybody ever modded their MP by changing the tube?

-jhe
 
Hey James,

I was about to ask that but notice you did. Has anyone changed the tube in the MP? I got a box of old (new) RCA's Sylvania, Sovtek tubes. Maybe I'll just try it. After tonight's recording in case it blows up.
 
I had a tube mp for about two days before I returned it. Like almost everyone else's, the clip indicator never worked, and the sound wasn't as *warm* to me as everyone claimed it to be. Just another preamp...no better, no worse..well maybe...than those on sub $1000 mixers...and then on mixers, you get a dozen or more preamps....not just one little crappy one (that even kinda looked like a toy to me)
 
Defintly let us know how that goes Emeric. I just have a feeling that the tubes in the MP aren't all that. It would be intresting to see a tube shootout or something for mic pres. And compare which ones were better next to a test for guitar amps.
sort of related- anybody tried those new Electro Harmonix tubes?

-jhe
 
Now, let's see, RE, is that wink and joke supposed to mean that capacitors are usefully replaced, or is this another version of the left-handed monkey wrench?

Speaking of tube shootouts, I thought something that would be cool would be varieties of cheap gear shootout. I mean most of the people who hang out here don't get anywhere near the level of gear you find over at 3D Audio, for example.

ART Tube MP
ART Dual MP
Presonus Blue Tube
dbx 386

I want to put the ceiling on the dbx, just because. Add to my list, please...

We'll follow this up with a cheap mic shootout, and then a cheap beer shootout, and then...
 
Presonus Blue Tube mic preamp...

I've only had my Presonus Blue Tube for a few days and have only got a chance to play a little bit with it - little acoustic guitar and little vocals, just playing around, testing it. As soon as I started playing I thought the sound had a sweet texture to it. I already like it better than the Tube MP, which I unloaded. Anyways, this thing is great in a rack, cuz the inputs are in front! This isn't a review yet, there's something with my recorder (Tascam 414) - when I record, the levels are fine, when I play back, it's all too quiet. Still, I think the Blue Tube is quite nice (I got it for $129 from SamAsh, that's my "preferred customer" deal ;).

I'll follow up when I get a chance to play some more with it. It seems that this thing is comparable to a tube guitar amp. The "gain" knob let's you increase amplification "clean" and the "drive" knob lets you add more and more tube processed signal.
 
Presonus are doing their best...

...to displace ART as the preamp of choice at this price range. But how can they put *two* channels into the thing and have it sound as good or better than the Tube MP? GJ, talk about it again after you're used to it.
 
DBX386

Hello all,
I recently purchased a digi 001
and though I love the software, the
mic pres were really sucky. so I went out and bought a Berhinger mixer with six mic pres - really unstable. So as a last resort I put my family on a diet of crackers and
water for a couple weeks and purchased the Dbx386 with the left over grocery money. I have to say that for something in this price range 499.00 G.C. it has made a tremendous difference. You can set it around 0db and get a nice clean open sound or you can add a little boost and make everything a bit grungy. It has some sort of Dbx limiter thingy that helps prevent distortion, two mic pres, two direct lines, spdif , and stereo outs. Quite a buy I me thinks.
 
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