comp sound of ART tubepac?

[paranoid]

I was looking to get another "dirty" compressor for my studio (for adding punch and distortion artifacts to drums mostly) and I was looking at the TubePAC by ART. What I like about it---> (1/2 rackspace, few controls, two different modes(2.3:1 and 6:1), and has an extra preamp I'll use if needed...)

1- anyone used this unit?
2- does it at all sound like the VLA compressor?
3- what else should i look into (at this price range)...
BTW- i already have an RNC( great on snare and vox), 2 BlueMax (best on bass, kick and toms), Tube Composer , and a dbx 266XL (which sounds god-awful 90% of the time....

[Stefan Elmblad]

I had a Tubepac for a couple of years, and have a Pro VLA now. The tubepac sounds close to the VLA, but obsviously, the VLA is a (big) step up. You have less control parameters in the tubepac, and it sounds somewhat "smaller". Nevertheless, I was pleased with the unit while I had it.

[scarboro78]

I own a TubePac right now which I'm STILL looking to upgrade from but I must admit.. for a small little device it sounds pretty good. I tried it's simple compressor side by side against the 3630.. and it blew it away.. not that that says much... but it does sound pretty decent in my opinion.

[Stefan Elmblad]

Most things blow the 3630 away, but the compressor in the tubepac is good nevertheless.