Lesser of 2 evils...DMP3 or Presonus Blue Tube

[TheNewUnknown]

Hey, I'm a college student with barely enough money for ramen noodles, let alone a great Preamp. I have a Digi002 rack (with 4 built-in pre amps) but need another pre or 2...
I'm trying to decide between the DMP3 or Presonus Blue Tube.
The DMP3 goes for around $160 new and I found an older Blue Tube for $100 used (or 199 new).
Which would be the better buy?
Or is there anything else around that price range that might be just as good?
Someone told me to check out the ADA8000 for another 8 pre's but I don't really know how good quality that is .
Any help is appreciated!

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

I own a DMP-3 but have never used the presonus unit.

My experience of budget pres that try and sound like tube pres is not good though so I'd recommend the DMP-3. At that price point you're really beter off going with 'nice and clean' rather than trying to get anything funky sounding.

 

[mshilarious]

I dunno, the budget tube pres aren't the holy grail, but they have an interesting trick or two. Given that you can usually dial the tube out of the sound entirely, I think I'd lean towards the used BlueTube, just because it's cheaper, and the DMP probably doesn't sound much different than the 002.

 

[jonnyc]

I own the dmp3 and owned the blue tube, hands down the dmp3, much quieter pre amp. The dmp3 is probably one of the few cheap pre's that I'll actually keep around.

 

[brandrum]

does replacing the tubes in these things improve the sound enough to justify the price of the tubes?

 

[jonnyc]

does replacing the tubes in these things improve the sound enough to justify the price of the tubes?

Not really, its a starved plate design. When I had mine I never dialed in the tube "noise" as I call it.

 

[antispatula]

I've got a Dmp3. It's great.

 

[Robert D]

DMP-3 is a good pre, better than it's price, way better than it's price per channel. But what it's good at is clean gain x2, and it doesn't have "character". I love it for stereo micing acoustic instruments. Vocals....... not so much. For that I like a more colored pre, but that's just me.

 

[surfmaster]

ive got the presonus along with another m-audio pre, the audio buddy or something like that. anyways the presonus sounds great for somethings that can use some color, but not for others. i like it a lot on vocals and distorted guitars a lot. i think it would compliment the pres in your set up that you have already.

 

[studiomaster]

they are both good. i like the presonus blue tube better cause it adds a dimension of color to the signal. the dmp3 is another great preamp...

 

[cominginsecond]

When I switched from the Blue Tube to the DMP3, it was quite nice. The DMP3 is cleaner and more detailed where the presonus was a lot more dull, at least in my experience. I really like the presonus as a bass DI, though.

 

[EdJames]

DMP3 is without doubt considered the better preamp across these boards but I can't say I've personally used either. I can however recommend the M-Audio TAMPA if you can pick one of those up cheap.

 

[roadwarrior]

Although no doubt the ART product isn't real popular with the elitists around here I tried and was surprised by a ART TPS-II. It uses a tube for each of it's 2 channels, to augment the initial Class A transistor gain stage. This allows you to send as much as you wish in gain to the tube augmenting the output's content of even order harmonics (which is why folks use tubes in the first place). This can certainly warm things up depending on the source you wish to use. For example, I've found an otherwise even sounding Rode NT1-A to come off like a $2k Neumann when worked over on this preamp. Warm and sweet. With fully adjustable impedence it allows for a match with all mics. Something you won't get on budget preamps let alone some of the big dogs. Some have complained of noise, however I found what it was is one must adjust their gain stages along the entire chain and balance things out to get super quiet results. When I'm using anything other than a non efficient dynamic mic it is so quiet I have to check to make sure it's on. All in all a very good value for $179 brand new. Up to 72db of gain as well. Hard to beat IMHO.

 

[innobidova]

Sell your 002 and get a Firepod.

 

[Soundmind??]

I've used the budget tube pres in the past. Compared to a real tube pre...well, there is no comparison. If you want the warmth of a tube (distortion), the budget ones don't really deliver. They simply don't have the ability to "drive" the tube enough to really provide the harmonic distortion that makes tube equipment desirable...it takes a couple hundred volts to do that...which these units don't provide. In the budget class, I'd stick with solid state and use plug ins to add the warmth. The results will be much better without the noise. There are some free and some inexpensive ones available. Anyone have any suggestions? PSP offers some free plug ins, but I'm not sure about amp simulators. Many recording software packages offer them, some with decent sounds.

 

[CIRO]

I've used the budget tube pres in the past. Compared to a real tube pre...well, there is no comparison. If you want the warmth of a tube (distortion), the budget ones don't really deliver. They simply don't have the ability to "drive" the tube enough to really provide the harmonic distortion that makes tube equipment desirable...it takes a couple hundred volts to do that...which these units don't provide. In the budget class, I'd stick with solid state and use plug ins to add the warmth. The results will be much better without the noise. There are some free and some inexpensive ones available. Anyone have any suggestions? PSP offers some free plug ins, but I'm not sure about amp simulators. Many recording software packages offer them, some with decent sounds.

I try a Presonus Blue tube, and the gain(or drive)control, in my opinion is unusable; or you use all the control to left (off) or...the more you add this kind of "tube drive" , you dirtort you signal (in a "bad "way), lost definition ....

 

[LP2006]

Sell your 002 and get a Firepod.

then he won't be able to use protools anymore.