First preamp what can I expect ?

maxman65

maxman65

Member
Just ordered a budget preamp . Art studio tube v3 ( I have a cheap standalone tascam dp008ex multitrack) . All things being equal on environment mic placement etc what can I expect in potential improvement with this
A. Zero percent
B. 1 percent
C. 5 percent
D. 10 percent
E. 20 percent
F. Greater

Ball park answers appreciated
Many thanks
 
Probably in the single digits unless there's some real deficiency in the Tascam's mic pres. There might be an advantage having some tonal options. If nothing else, it will give you a third mic input.
 
Yes that's my instinct . But my guess would be the pre amp/s in a 250 dollar 8 track standalone are likely bare bones compared even to a hundred dollar dedicated preamp
 
Not sure you can match a percentage to a device designed to deliberately distort a signal, in any scientific test, producing the usual figures for noise and distortion, it would actually be worse, on paper. You might like what it does, but this is always subjective. Better or worse is never a decider that everyone agrees with. It will give you, er, flavour. If that’s what you are after, all good. Stick it on a test set and it will perform worse, with an elevated, designed in, increase in harmonic distortion.
 
maxman65 said:
Yes that's my instinct . But my guess would be the pre amp/s in a 250 dollar 8 track standalone are likely bare bones compared even to a hundred dollar dedicated preamp
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but I wonder how much of that $100 goes into giving it its own case, power supply etc.
 
Yes colour was part of the thinking (re tube /vintage ) . Various presets including neutral .also hopefully a bit more presence whatever that means. Fair point probably 10 dollar preamp and 90 dollar metal box . Did emerge in one blog somewhere that the valve can be easily swapped out from a Chinese to a Russian for what it's worth . Not going down that potential road for a while yet. Aways Trying to keep it simple and focus on significant flaws in music and "production " overall
 
I think it will be 10%.....maybe on some settings 20% if your ears like the FX.
In Neutral setting, I still think you will get some tone-color you like, and fullness compared to the often anemic dry interface preamps sound.

Expectations... the gang here turned me onto my first preamp (DMP3) and it was an improvement over the units stock preamps.
But as I went into the rabbit hole of preamps it was pretty small changes, in hindsight...

enjoy! the V3 should be great for a mic or instrument, clean or crushed or slightly rounded. as for the wal wart, even some of the Neve stuff uses external 24ps... I dont see any downside to it. Sometimes outboard are great little boxes to plug into for ease of access and turning a large real knob is more refreshing than using a mouse...

If you use the internal FX of the Tascam you might find you dont need the V3 though for sounds.... thats a 50/50 thing.
Improvement over the Tascam effects turned on? maybe <10%.
 
Before you start thinking about swapping valves you need to get comfy with avoiding distortion and maximising technique. I own quite a large amount of mics, including some very nice ones, but have never had a need to buy a tube mic. Just for me, totally pointless for my music, and music pays the bills for me, it’s also a nice hobby, but I’m just one of those people who do buy pointless things on a whim, and have never yet had a desire to buy into valves/tubes. Some of the whims are crazy, like buying a Theramin, but a tube mic just is subtlety I cannot really hear.
 
1.Technique yes . Constant trial and error with all available parameters
2. Anemic is the perfect adjective . Hit the nail on the head
 
maxman65 said:
( I have a cheap standalone tascam dp008ex multitrack)
Click to expand...

Just curious, why aren't you using a DAW ? You can get a used computer, a copy of Reaper, free plugins, an interface and be on your way, for a few hundred bucks. Have you, or are you considering that ?
 
Tube preamps and mics IME add "color" by adding analog distortion that we perceive as "warmth" and "presence" which to me are just tonal qualities found in the midrange. Rounding some of the spikes in the upper mids is a subtle and pleasing effect of this.

It is not immediately apparent though, so as far as a percentage difference, I would say it's pretty low
 
maxman65 said:
Just ordered a budget preamp . Art studio tube v3 ( I have a cheap standalone tascam dp008ex multitrack) . All things being equal on environment mic placement etc what can I expect in potential improvement with this
A. Zero percent
B. 1 percent
C. 5 percent
D. 10 percent
E. 20 percent
F. Greater

Ball park answers appreciated
Click to expand...
I've had three standalone preamps {a Behringer which was great, a Behringer mixer [UB1832] which is great and an ART something or other which I currently use which is fantastic} and they all knocked the preamps in my standalones {Tascam 488, Zoom MRS 8 and Akai DPS 12i} over the moon and back. I'd been recording for over 15 years before I used an external preamp and the moment I saw how much level I could get on my acoustic guitars, I wanted to kick myself. There again, believe it or not, I didn't know about preamps for many years or maybe I just wasn't listening.
Also, if they do add colour, good. I'm often after even the slightest degree of anything that makes a tiny bit of difference.
 
Maxman,

Once you get the ART, why not give us a nice example of recordings with and without the unit? If you've got two matched mics, just set them up and record some acoustic guitar or something. That way you can compare the two and see if its really doing what you like.

I like doing those types of things rather than trying to "remember" what something sounded like. In Sweetwater's recent comparison of interfaces, I heard a big difference in their comparisons of acoustic guitar, but those differences were mainly because of performance changes. Try as we might we can never repeat a performance exactly the same each time.

Its like trying to measure a golf club by hitting a bunch of balls on a driving range. 20 shots with a robot might show the change, 20 shots by me is worthless. I spray balls all over the place with one driver. Trying to see if a driver goes 5 yards further is impossible when my different drives vary by 20 yards or more.
 
For me, the best comparisons are when an instrument is recorded dry and that part is looped back through several different (hardware or software) devices being tested or demo'd - tweaking all the knobs as you go. More consistency.
 
Update . Done a couple acoustic guitar takes through the art preamp . Definate improvement . Willing to say 10 percent easy . More rounded less brittle and edgy . Warmer . Sits better with other instruments. if anyone hasn't a preamp with a standalone recorder get one even if it's a budget one like this . Recommended
 
spantini, you touch on a subject that can open a Pandora's box of variables.... "tweaking all the knobs"

a lot of gear reacts differently to even a small tweak on so many knobs or variables its why a comparison is a daunting task on some units. Similar to microphones, moving inches from a drumset produces an entirely new sound etc..

the Art V3 offers some Neutral to FX crushed or in between...it doesnt bog a person down with too many settings.
Like SOS said "I liked the confident sound of this little preamp, and the presets really do offer a useful choice of characters without getting silly. "
ART Tube MP Studio V3

maxman65 ..great feedback. I liked the Piano setting for some reason, but others work and some didnt get used.
 
The standalone 8 track records onto sd card . I have no computer . There's no way I know of getting any sample takes from there onto this mobile / cell phone
 
maxman65 said:
Update . Done a couple acoustic guitar takes through the art preamp . Definate improvement . Willing to say 10 percent easy . More rounded less brittle and edgy . Warmer . Sits better with other instruments. if anyone hasn't a preamp with a standalone recorder get one even if it's a budget one like this . Recommended
Click to expand...

Did you go in as a DI box or mic preamp?

The Balanced and Unbalanced outputs are a nice benefit too. My Line in is Unbalanced so I always needed that odd cable to go from Balanced preamp out to Line In unbalanced...the V3 has both balanced and unbalanced output. XLR and 1/4".
 
Hi. I connected the Lewitt mic with xlr cable to input of tube v3. Then output with another short xlr cable from preamp to back of 8 track . I'm afraid I dont really know what balanced /unbalanced means. I also had a new set of nickel bronze on the acoustic so tonally not really a control test but I suspect most of the improvement was still the preamp
What I've found is I can back off from the mic to about 18 inches and still have plenty of weight even at 50 percent on the input /output of the preamp . There's more control . Full sounding without being bitey
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top