Joe Meek MQ3 or Presonus Tube Pre

[S.C.U.D]

Which one do I Buy

[Gidge]

Out of those 2 id much prefer the MQ3.....

[S.C.U.D]

Thanks Gidge, Any particular reason ???

[Gidge]

i rather the sound of the Meek......it has EQ and compression onboard.....of course the Meek is only one channel while the BlueTube has 2, making it the better value.....

in the end it will come down to which one YOU like the sound of better......

[Dick Flansen]

Are you talking about the original presonus blue tube, or the newer single channel that just came out?

I've gotta say, I'm a big fan of Presonus gear - I've had the mp20, currently have a Digimax LT and a bluemax compressor - but man, that Blue Tube thing is a woeful piece of crud. Really. WAY noisy, not particulary pretty even once you get past the noise... I would literally choose just baout anything over the Blue Tube. The ART tube mp thing blows away the blue tube, as much as the tube mp can "blow away" anything.

Now, if you're talking about the newer presonus single channel tube pre, I can't comment - maybe they've addressed some of the issues with the blue tube.

So, again, as much as I like the presonus gear, their cheap tube pre was a real dog. I guess everybody's allowed to make mistakes...

[Gidge]

i assume i was talking about the old one....

"woeful piece of crud" is a bit harsh, but is in the ballpark of what i heard

maybe i need to check out this new one.....

[eeldip]

first i am assuming you want a little color box. and for that i say go with the meek.

i think the blue tube may be sort of fun, but really its just a mediocre mic pre with some tube distortion.

the meek is a mediocre but somewhat interesting mic pre, with a mediocre but interesting compressor with a mediocre but easy to use eq and a totally useless POS enhancer.

in summary: the meek is more interesting.

[Dick Flansen]

Yeah, I had a Meek, and kinda liked it. Shoulda kept it. Pretty quiet, had some nice thick sounds.

The new presonus is this thing: http://www.presonus.com/html/products/tubepre.html - but, again, I have no idea what it sounds like. It LOOKS like an MP20, but, that means nothing.

Really, "woeful piece of crud" is still being generous, I think, about the Blue Tube. I was shocked just how much noise that thing pumped out - it was like poison, in my rack... never wanted to touch it.

[StevenLindsey]

My Blue Tube isn't that noisy. Unless, of course, I send a noisy signal through it from a piece-of-junk instrument ( like my old Peavy bass ). With a quiet input and with a reasonable amount of gain, mine is very quiet. I think maybe some of the units had problems. The first one I received from AMS had a bad input. Blue Tube is great for a dedicated stereo keyboard amp. Does pretty good on electric guitar and not too bad for micing a bright acoustic guitar. I doubt seriously that any comparably cheap amp like the ART will "blow it away." They are just basic, cheap amplifiers. Any of them will get a signal into your recorder reasonably well. If you want amps with great definition, great tube sound, etc...... get ready to spend a lot of money.

[cominginsecond]

When I bought my Blue Tube I was simply looking for two channels of mic amplification that beat the Mackie VLZ preamps for cheap. The Blue Tube does this, and its an all right Bass DI.

[darrin_h2000]

Mine was alot quieter when I put a new tube in it.

[Gidge]

the Meeks are a bit on the noisier side but its the flavor thats ummm umm goooood....dont know if you want that same flavor on alot of tracks though....could get ugly.......

[Ellis11]

I have a VC6Q which is very simular to the MQ3. I think it has one of the best low cost pre's. The last song I recorded uses it on everything. You can take a listen if you like. The song is called "I Love You" and is at the top of my Ampcast page.

http://www.ampcast.com/johnellis

[pratt]

Originally posted by darrin_h2000
Mine was alot quieter when I put a new tube in it.

what kind of tube did you put in it??? just curious as I have a bluetube and was considering swapping in a new tube..

and for the record...the solid-state portion of my bluetube is very quiet - it only gets real noisy when I dial in alot of tube...

[cominginsecond]

Originally posted by pratt
and for the record...the solid-state portion of my bluetube is very quiet - it only gets real noisy when I dial in alot of tube...

That's exactly right. For most sources I don't use the tube at all. I probably use it only when I'm using it as a bass DI. It's a nice, clean pre for being so cheap (I don't know how it compares to an Audio Buddy, though).