prosonus blue tube?

[MartyMcFly]

Anyone here have a Prosonus "blue tube" tube mic/amp preamp?
The one Im talking about is two channel. about $140.00 to $150.00.
Discuss amongst yourselves...

[TimOBrien]

Got one. Works nice, no problems.

[MartyMcFly]

Right...
What I meant was for you to be a little more detailed. Is it worth the price... Am I just better off to go up to the $500.00 models or is this one good enough? Horror stories? anything else?

[chessrock]

I'd get an audio buddy or a dmp3 if I were looking in that price range. If you must have tubes, then get a couple of art tube mp's.

To be more detailed, the blue tube really isn't even good for it's price. You can get much better, even for 200 bones.

The examples I have heard recorded on them have ranged from decent to average to crappy.

[MartyMcFly]

I guess what I wuz trying to say wuz...will it make my recordings sound that much better. Right now Im just doing everything without a preamp.

[B.SABBATH]

Originally posted by MartyMcFly
I guess what I wuz trying to say wuz...will it make my recordings sound that much better. Right now Im just doing everything without a preamp.

Yes.... I have one and it made my recordings sound better than they did before without a pre....

BUT, I have recieved advice from the big guns(Blue Bear etc.), and he says get the most expensive pre you can afford, and use it as often as possible.... That sums it up right there..

[sfumato]

It's an okay preamp if you don't use the "tube" functionality, it can be pretty clean. If you are looking for the "tube warmth" this device will not really give it to you. I would suggest going with the audiobuddy, and saving for something better down the line once you are creating good sounding stuff with the Audiobuddy.

I own one of the blue Tubes and find it does have its moments, but thy are far and few between.

Cheers,

Bryan

[StevenLindsey]

I've got a Blue Tube and a Blue Max. I get a pretty clean signal from the BT IF I don't crank it very much. It was a great improvement in my instrument sounds from going directly from my mixer to the recorder. Korg D8. So, it makes a pretty good DI box to get a balanced signal out to a recorder or mixer. I get a good clean electric guitar sound with it. Fairly good bass. Nice for stereo keyboards. IF you don't crank it. I compared the Blue Tube sound for a condenser mic with the mic pres in my Soundcraft mixer ( an older powered model, not a newer unpowered mixer ) and am sticking with the mixer pres. The mixer pres sound much more open - brighter - cleaner. However, the Blue Tube was not that bad. Kind'a dark. Might be nice on some vocals though. It is useable. Given the restraints of my budget, I am satisfied with it. If you can afford a better amp, by all means get it. You will be able to tell the difference. The little 1 channel Joe Meek is almost cheap enough to compare with the BTube. And I'll bet the Grace 101 is very nice. But I can't afford it right now. I will upgrade when I get a bit richer. But for now -- I like the Blue Tube.

[MartyMcFly]

Well I went out and got one.
The main thing I noticed was this.....
Normally when I attempt to do vocals with my Equitek e-200 condenser mic I will stand or position myself so that Im about 6-8 inches from the mic. I notice that if I accidentaly move away from or closer to the mic my sound level and quality will change drastically.
Also when I adjust the trim on my VS-1680 I had to turn it up so far that I was getting just as much hiss and backround noise as actuall vocals(yes I was using phantom power).
NOW...with the Blue Tube I pretty much dont even have the trim on my VS-1680 turned up at all. I just adjust the drive and gain on my Blue Tube and that gives me enough signal to record...and for some reason I dont get any hiss or backround noise. I also can move up to atleast a foot away and get a decent sounding vocal, and you can hear the words I am singing unlike before with out the preamp.
And in my opinion...The blue tube really did give it some warmth...atleast more than I had before without a preamp at all.

[darrin_h2000]

Ive got 2 of them and I feel that sometimes they get a bad rep from some of the guys on the board. This is because the tube drive adds noise to the track,due to the design being for guitars and basses as well as vocals. So a user may tend to crank up the tube drive while tracking a vocal instead of the Intended tasteful amount which lies arround the 9 o'clock position.

If used right you will get smooth vocals, If used wrong you get some distortion. The fact is you dont even have to have the tube drive up to use this to Increase mic gain. Use tube drive tastefully.

[Randy Yell]

Marty,keep the trim on your recorder all the way down and make all of your gain adjustments from your preamp.You might be doing that already but I couldn't tell for sure from your post.

[MartyMcFly]

Yeah...Ive been using the preamp only for recording shit and not the trim controls on my recorder. I did notice that there was a little noise from the preamp...not exactly noise...Ill call it a "warm" sound. Which is what Ive actually been looking for. Without the preamp my recordings sounded too sterile.
Thanks yall

[darrin_h2000]

That sound was distotion, thats what tubes do. they round off the eges of an othewhise harsh digital sound. Wait untill you have a 24/96 digital recorder, It will be pure silk, If you are tasteful with the tube drive.

[ad0lescnts]

on my blue tube, rather your using the gain or the drive it doesnt sound any different. It sounds better than no preamp, but it doesnt make a difference between the two. also the pad doesnt seem to work, it feels flimsy, and cant even stand straight without wobble. ?

[jet-rocker]

The blue-tube is passable, but pure silk???

No way. It always made vocals sound like they were recorded in a cardboard box.

Since I've got my Mackie, I've never used it.

I have one use for it now. I use is as a tube distortion pedal type device for guitar. I get some beautiful chunky tones from that. Otherwise I'd get rid of it.

-Jett

[pratt]

turn the 'drive' the whole way down (ie. don't route any signal through the tube)....and only use the 'gain' for preamp level

I've found that without routing signal through the tube, you can get a good clean sound from the bluetube....now - if you're going to use it as a DI for guitar/bass that's another story (crank the tube up!!)

[darrin_h2000]

And if your vocals sound if you were in a box, try a new mic or treat the room.

[jet-rocker]

The problems dissapeared when I stopped using the Blue Tube, without changing any other factors.

Yes I know how to use it. It is alright when set low, not noisy, definite lack of detail, ok on snare.

When you crank it it gets awfully noisy, wouldn't use this one with a ribbon, not enough gain before noise. BTW mackie pres ain't so hot on ribbons either. I'm holding my breath for RNMP (and turning blue, its been awhile)

If you need phantom and can get one cheaper than an audiobuddy....

And it really does make a great distortion pedal.

-Jett

[geekgurl]

I have a BT and bought it because it sounded better than the other tube-like pres in that price range, namely the ART TubeMP and the Bellari something-or-other. I went to the store and demo'd them on vox with my Rode NT2. BT was the clear winner.

Having said that, I am no longer happy with the BT on vox. I splurged and got a single channel racked Neve. Obviously night and day diff in sound. I've tried the Neve on DI bass, and on guitar. Like it better on all, but here's the thing: the BT sounds very good on bass. And like someone else here said, yes, I know how to use it. In fact, I've never gotten distortion, just a warmth with a certain low-grade noise from the BT.

What I didn't like was the "flattened" sound I got out of the BT. It could be noise floor, I don't know. I think this is the "cardboard" sound someone else referred to. I know it's the pre, because I use the same techniques with the Neve and my recordings sound fine. But maybe that's why I found I'll never use the BT on vox again but find it very usable on bass and guitar (electric). Try it on bass going in without printing compression (add that later). See what you think. I think it's good for that. I was thinking of selling mine, but I think I'll hold onto it.

[darrin_h2000]

Im in the prosess of either getting a Paia, or the Peavey. Those rack neve pres are a little out of my range, Besides Ill need 2 channels when I do because I normally mic amps that way. I did how ever find a boxy sound happens when Im in a room with lots of reflections, But my tracking room is dead so I dont see it there.