Tube Preamp

[farewellending]

Hey, I'm looking for a decent tube preamp to go along with vocals, what would you guys recommend, something not overly expensive at all. Thanks
open topic

[ryanformato]

You can't really get a decent tube preamp except for the Brick which is about $400. Don't waste your money on anything cheaper than that. If you don't even have $400 to spend, then just buy an M-audio DMP3.

[mentalattica]

Studio Projects VTB1 is a good bang for your buck at only $100. For budget (under $200) pre's I would only reccomend that or the DMP3.

[studiomaster]

Originally Posted by mentalattica

Studio Projects VTB1 is a good bang for your buck at only $100. For budget (under $200) pre's I would only reccomend that or the DMP3.

I second that.

[daav]

the thing about the SP tube preamp is that eeryone says "turn off the tube"

Daav

[studiomaster]

Originally Posted by daav

the thing about the SP tube preamp is that eeryone says "turn off the tube"

Daav

Why would you do that?

[Myriad_Rocker]

Please let us know what your budget is, what mic you're using, where you're recording, what type of voice you have, male or female, what sound you're going for, etc.

[homestudioguy]

2 channel ART GOLD MPA at $299 (or maybe less) and then think about replacing stock tubes. It has plate voltage switch, variable mic impedance and ability to dial in varying amounts of tube. You can get some very very clean gain with the plate voltage on!

[fraserhutch]

Originally Posted by ryanformato

You can't really get a decent tube preamp except for the Brick which is about $400. Don't waste your money on anything cheaper than that. If you don't even have $400 to spend, then just buy an M-audio DMP3.

Sure you can get a decent tube preamp - there are a number of really nice ones. I own a couple.

They just aren't available at your price point of $400. For $400 I would not consider tube, in fact, I suspect that the OP is thinking "warm" when he asks for a tube. If that is the case, and he is on a limited budget, I would go solid-state.

The OP didn't mention what "overly expensive" is, though.

[SonicAlbert]

There's also the ART Tube Channel (I think that's what it is called). The channel strip with a preamp, eq and compressor.

Solid state isn't so great in the low budget area either. Let's face it, if you buy cheap you are making compromises, there's no way around that. But you can find gear that is usable and you can make good recordings with.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by farewellending

Hey, I'm looking for a decent tube preamp to go along with vocals, what would you guys recommend, something not overly expensive at all. Thanks
open topic

Decent tube mic preamps start around $400 a channel and go up from there. The Brick is decent, as is the single channel Sebatron. You might want to consider saving up and getting two channels. Although only one channel is needed for vocals, there are many times two channels are needed or at least useful. Plus the cost per channel drops when you get two or more channels sharing the same power supply and case.

Take a look at the Sebatron mentioned as well as the Hampton tube pre.

Excellent solid state preamps can be found in these price ranges. Consider the Hamptone JFET, DAV BG-1, FMR RNP and Rane DMS 22 (a bargain).

[hungovermorning]

Track down a nice old Bogen tube PA off ebay. I use it and LOVE it. Way in your price range and with a couple of mods you've got an excellent tube pre. The only downside is that it's only mono outs (but they are indeed line outs). But on the plus side it's a tube circuit and it lets you switch between hi and low impedence (I own some older high impedence mics and it's nice). I like it a lot personally and it's probably the best you can do in the price range of less than $300 (I've seen them go lately from $60-120). Just seems like something that's unique enough to keep as opposed to something out of the Sweetwater catalog you'll outgrow in a year that isn't a true tube circuit. Just a thought.

scott

[pohaku]

Peavey VMP-2. Two channels with phantom power, pad, and basic EQ. Real tube preamp. About $600 used (which is all there is since they don't make them anymore). One of the few great things Peavey ever made (actually I believe they bought the company, Audio Media Research, that made them).

[Big Kenny]

The Brick is pretty cool at this price, that's the caveat though, at this price. If you can find a Peavey (pohaku) grab it.

[farewellending]

well I have a Rode NTK, presonus firepod, and my singer sings like in a higher range, he is a male although we do wonder sometimes. should i not worry about the tube preamp since i have the presonus preamps and the tube in the ntk?

[XLR]

I have two EH 12AY7 pre's and like them. High voltage plate, balanced output.

Tim

[nicolaad30]

Originally Posted by farewellending

well I have a Rode NTK, presonus firepod, and my singer sings like in a higher range, he is a male although we do wonder sometimes. should i not worry about the tube preamp since i have the presonus preamps and the tube in the ntk?

Instead of the NKT I use a MXLV69M and it rocks... I'm happy with the pres on the Firepod, but I want something different, I was thinking on the Brick and also the RNP, as far as I know, the RNP is not a hell of an upgrade from the pres on the Firepod...

I thought this image could be usefull...http://www.helios.nl/productinfo/gro..._inside_l1.jpg

[mamm7215]

Another vote for the ART MPA Gold, really an undervalued piece. 2 channel, non-starved plate design, excellent choice for the home/semi-pro studio.

[Orchestrator1]

I would be very very careful of ART PRO Products.
I just purchased a new Art MPA Gold twin channel Preamp.
Both VU needles stuck, Tube warmth LED meter is malfunctioning, LEDs in switches don't go.
I also purchased an ART Pro VLA compressor. It didn't go at all.

[dkelley]

Originally Posted by Orchestrator1

I would be very very careful of ART PRO Products.
I just purchased a new Art MPA Gold twin channel Preamp.
Both VU needles stuck, Tube warmth LED meter is malfunctioning, LEDs in switches don't go.
I also purchased an ART Pro VLA compressor. It didn't go at all.

For what it's worth, stories on the web, personal experience, and recent return numbers from my local ART dealer indicate that ART has improved it's reliability quite a bit from when they moved all manufacturing to china originally.

ART was built in the USA for a long time, very well made stuff but with often less than high end components. Then ART moved manu. to China and the quality went to hell but they started putting higher end components in their pro gear. Now their build quality has improved significantly and the number of DOA units has reduced to numbers comparable to other non-chinese manufacturers.

I own a few ART items (MPA GOLD for one) and have found the build quality to be very good, quite superior to alesis, behringer, and a few other budget brands. I found the circuitboard thickness to be equal to that in my drawmer compressor, and the pots are quite a bit better than ART gear of the past. I personally have no problems with scratchy pots in my recent ART gear, although I know some people have had that trouble with their gear that was manufactured more than a few months ago.

If you bought two art pro units and they were both dead, that really sucks, but it is extremely unusual and certainly the company would have given you new units, fully tested by the salesman. I bought a tascam digital mixer that was DOA a few months ago. It happens to everybody.

I wouldn't dismiss ART PRO gear because one person posts about his two DOA items. DOA and bad performance don't equate, and in fact have nothing to do with each other. Lots of hand built american and british gear dies too. To me, the main thing is, how long will it last (ART gear lasts VERY well from personal experience as long as you take the same care of it as you do of your more expensive gear) and how does it perform (VERY well in the case of the MPA gold, even with stock tubes, a very nice preamp).

oh yea, and what does it mean when a pro vla "won't go at all"? To where should it be going? And the mpa gold with stuck meters, what the hell were you putting through it to pin the meters like that? You should never get a signal that hot. LOTS of vu meters will stick if they're pinned hard for a while, I hope that isn't what caused your problem because that certainly wouldn't be covered by warranty. But if you just got a bad one, I'm sure by now you've had it replaced and discovered how great a preamp the gold mpa is. And the pro vla is an excellent compressor, really one of the better ones available today in my opinion at any price, another useful flavour for your collection. I've used one a lot but don't own one yet, probably will get one sooner or later though for my own studio to go with my focusrite, drawmer, dual dbx 900 series (160A in over easy), modded 3630 and so on down the scale of good design until I hit my bizarre dod 866 series II (a great compressor for a few things, pain in the ass to setup with no metering and useless control numbering).

Cheers,
Don

[amzavareei]

Originally Posted by hungovermorning

Track down a nice old Bogen tube PA off ebay. I use it and LOVE it.

Damn right brother! Mine sounds amazing. I've got one in in the middle of modding the F$@# out of! Sounds simply amazing with new filter, bypass and signal caps. Auricaps, cardas, sprague atoms, a sonicap, jupiter on it's way! Mullard tubes... It's a model LOM mixer. 5 in 1 out. Modded it's 3 discrete outs now. Two channels share 1 tube, but there was leakage between channels. So 1 channel per tube. Besides, only 3 of the transformers worked. But I'm going to put the outputs back into the second half of the tubes. I'll be able to switch between 1 stage and 2. For double extra gain. And one of the channels will be going through the rest of the mixing circuit, if I choose. And I'll put a 1/4" jack on the front to bypass the rca on the back for a high z input! DI city, here I come. Oh, and it's got a high pass on every channel. See if that comes in handy. Crazy 9 pin transformers though. Might want to replace those. They don't exist! I'll just have to hard wire some new one's in, if I figure I want to upgrade them. Will have to figure out a good winding I guess...

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Originally Posted by farewellending

Hey, I'm looking for a decent tube preamp

Originally Posted by farewellending

something not overly expensive at all.

Contradiction in terms.

Why do you want a tube preamp?

I'm not a gear snob or anything (if only I could afford to be!) but if your budget is low I'd go for clean. Some decent clean pres out there for not much money (DMP-3, Symetrix SX202 etc.). Most of the tube pres in the budget range don't sound anything like a 'proper' tube pre (although I have to say I've never used any of the Art stuff, personally I'd steer clear! ). Some of them can sound ok but still nothing like the real thing. The EH pre gets close and is cheap, it's fussy about what it gets plugged into though (needs to be balanced).

If you can pick up one of those Peavey's then I'd say that's your starting point price wise for the real deal.

[ridgeback]

Originally Posted by SonicAlbert

There's also the ART Tube Channel (I think that's what it is called). The channel strip with a preamp, eq and compressor.

Solid state isn't so great in the low budget area either. Let's face it, if you buy cheap you are making compromises, there's no way around that. But you can find gear that is usable and you can make good recordings with.

That's the PRO Channel Albert and yes as a owner of two I like them. You can dial in how much tube you want in the sound, built in compressor, and EQ. For the buck I believe you can't beat it. If you want just straight pre, then the MPA should fit the bill nicely. Note that these are low end pres but great starter units. Once you learn how to use them correctly, you'll want to save for something better but, you'll know what to listen for and how to use it.
Good Luck