is this true?

M

Milkfaj

New member
I read a review on the musicians friend website for a cheap hybrid tube pre (pro-sonus i think it was) and the review said that you can get a lot of variety and good colored sounds out of the units by simply swapping out the tube inside for something better. has anyone had any experience with this?
 
Alot of people claim to make low end tube "things" (i use things as a generality for lots of tube items) sound better by removing the crappy tube and replacing it with some nice one...im sure it helps...just buy a real tube amp...dont cut corners...unless your doing it for fun.
 
Janesaid2me said:
Alot of people claim to make low end tube "things" (i use things as a generality for lots of tube items) sound better by removing the crappy tube and replacing it with some nice one...im sure it helps...just buy a real tube amp...dont cut corners...unless your doing it for fun.
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I've heard somewhere that the tube in a tube pre doesn't do too much anyway, it was put in to sell it to people who want "tube things"...
But someone else told me that was pure bs. I don't know who to believe. But if you are going to switch tubes in anything, it's best to make sure the tube you are putting in there will not mess it up.
 
The tube in a low-end toob pre doesn't do very much -- it's really just a parallel circuit going through a starved-plate tube for extra coloration. You take the tube out and you still have a signal (only without the TOOB coloration.)

It in no way resembles the high-end tube mic pres costing upwards of a couple of thousand minimum.
 
If you look at them as "effects" instead of quality mic pre's, you might find use for them here and there. If you're looking for a quality pre....stay away, keep shopping and prepare to spend a lot more.
 
I don't know, the really high end audiophile guys are going nuts over the ART stuff. They're dropping high end tubes in those and swearing by them. Obviously they're not using them as mic pre's, though. I know the DIO Tube AD/DA is one of the units they're just going crazy over (and these are the same guys spending 2000.00 for their CD player, 5000.00 on the record player, etc). These guys are usually more anal than pro-audio folks when it comes to stuff like that. I think there have been some threads on audiogon, etc, but it's been a while since I read them. Anyway, there may be something to be said for these boxes, and it was the cheaper ART models that were getting the most crazy attention.
 
Neelix said:
I don't know, the really high end audiophile guys are going nuts over the ART stuff. They're dropping high end tubes in those and swearing by them. Obviously they're not using them as mic pre's, though. I know the DIO Tube AD/DA is one of the units they're just going crazy over (and these are the same guys spending 2000.00 for their CD player, 5000.00 on the record player, etc). These guys are usually more anal than pro-audio folks when it comes to stuff like that. I think there have been some threads on audiogon, etc, but it's been a while since I read them. Anyway, there may be something to be said for these boxes, and it was the cheaper ART models that were getting the most crazy attention.
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If these are the same guys that rim their CDs with green marker, then there's your answer! :eek:

The budget ART pres really are useless as mic pres - as I said, they make fairly decent bass DIs, but that's about it. I guess what other factions of the audio community use it for is their business, but in the studio, it certainly has functional limitations!
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
If these are the same guys that rim their CDs with green marker, then there's your answer! :eek:

The budget ART pres really are useless as mic pres - as I said, they make fairly decent bass DIs, but that's about it.
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Different class of guys than the CD rimmers. These are the one's that daily check the borometer and swap cables accordingly! (Ok, never heard of anyone doing that, but that may not be far off the mark...). Definitely higher up than the CD rimmer guys, though!

I'll see if I can find something out about what they're doing. I know the DIO was and is a huge deal, and it seems like they were swapping the tube. There was something else in the ART line that made a big splash, but I'm not sure what it would be. Not like they would use a mic pre or a compressor, ya know.
 
Neelix said:
I'll see if I can find something out about what they're doing. I know the DIO was and is a huge deal, and it seems like they were swapping the tube.
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They're actually taking the tube out altogether and beefing up the power supply. Some guy in Colorado who makes high end cable has been making a killing off these wack jobs (doing these mods). Oh well. At least they figured out that the tube is just sitting there, unnecessarily overheating the box and adding noise. That's not to say the DIO isn't a decent enough budget a/d d/a. It'll get the job done, but it's not like it's going to be a giant leap forward from what you already have on your sound card.

In fact, you could probably stick a tube in your sound card and you'd have something pretty similar. Then I'll have to start charging people 200 bucks to perform my "mods" on them where I either remove the tube from your card or replace it with a mullard.

The one that people with half a brain cell like is the Pro VLA opto-compressor.
 
pulling the tube from a ARTtube mp will make it not work at all. not all toob pre-s are the same. i love my tube mp. i changed the op amps in it to 2134-s and what a difference combined with a euro tube 12 ax/7.
 
I used the Presonus Tubepre a while back. I traded it back because I was getting more hiss out of it than if I mic'ed a snake pit.
 
Neelix said:
I don't know, the really high end audiophile guys are going nuts over the ART stuff. They're dropping high end tubes in those and swearing by them. Obviously they're not using them as mic pre's, though. I know the DIO Tube AD/DA is one of the units they're just going crazy over (and these are the same guys spending 2000.00 for their CD player, 5000.00 on the record player, etc). These guys are usually more anal than pro-audio folks when it comes to stuff like that. I think there have been some threads on audiogon, etc, but it's been a while since I read them. Anyway, there may be something to be said for these boxes, and it was the cheaper ART models that were getting the most crazy attention.
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Actually, those ART DI/O converters are not bad, I have a couple myself. The audiophile types like to mod them, I don't think they use them as is. It seems like it is a pretty easy box to tinker with.

The only mods I've done on mine are to take out the tube, and use a beefed up power supply. The bigger power supply does make a difference.

For a budget converter it really sounds pretty good, better than you would expect.
 
Track Rat said:
I had an idea once. It died of loneliness.
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Like a blonde's brain cell? :D


How did that blonde's brain cell die?
Alone.

OK, it was a stupid joke...




Here's a hi-jacking question though... If I have a Yamaha MG10/2 mixer, and it had phantom power for a condensor, would I even bother with a mic pre?
 
Neelix said:
"The new SoundBlaster Valve!" Gotta love it...
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actually they've already come out with vacuum-tube sound cards.
a couple years back aopen released a mboard with a vacuum-tube sound output...
 
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