A Quick Tube Mic Pre Comparison

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RecordingMaster

RecordingMaster

A Sarcastic Statement
Sorry guys, not much of a poll, but I am torn between these two pre-amps. Haven't heard either in person so I have no experience with these models whatsoever. But I came across used versions of these locally (both mint) for a much lower cost than the sticker price.

I know they both have their limitations like the fact that they're not "true" full on tube pre's or that the tubes should be changed out, or that there are much better more expensive models, but all in all...Which do you guys/gals recommend and why?

Presonus BlueTube Dual Path Stereo Tube Mic Pre
ART Pro MPA II Two-Channel Tube Mic Pre

I should mention I'd be using this for a variety of home studio recording purposes such as mic'ing vocals, snare, kick, drum OH's, guitar cabs, DI bass and DI keyboard or synth.

Thanks for your opinions/help! :D
 
This is just "IMO/E" and yada, yada, etc.

The BT sucks horrifically and the MPA just sorta sucks.

Why on earth anyone would look for tubes in that price range (as if the tubes have anything at all to do with "tube sound" in the first place).

If you're looking for a "character pre" for cheap, maybe try the GAP73. If you're actually looking for a decent "everyday" pre for ridiculously cheap, you can certainly do worse than M-Audio's DMP3 -- It has *zero* usable headroom (what would you really expect at that price) - But if you don't beat it like a red-headed stepchild, it's actually a quite decent sounding unit. Easily better than either the BT or the MPA.

Again, IMO/E, YMMV, etc.
 
Massive Master said:
This is just "IMO/E" and yada, yada, etc.

The BT sucks horrifically and the MPA just sorta sucks.

Why on earth anyone would look for tubes in that price range (as if the tubes have anything at all to do with "tube sound" in the first place).

If you're looking for a "character pre" for cheap, maybe try the GAP73. If you're actually looking for a decent "everyday" pre for ridiculously cheap, you can certainly do worse than M-Audio's DMP3 -- It has *zero* usable headroom (what would you really expect at that price) - But if you don't beat it like a red-headed stepchild, it's actually a quite decent sounding unit. Easily better than either the BT or the MPA.

Again, IMO/E, YMMV, etc.
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Thanks Massive! Yeah I had another audiophile friend of mine recommend the Golden Age Pre-73. I guess my situation I'm in is I'd like at least 2 channels. I have TASCAM US-1800 which has 10 pre amps, but I want something alternative to the straight digital sound. Just a little warmer for certain things - a lil more edge if needed. The MPA in high voltage would at least give me SOME warmth compared to all solid state with no tube involved at all wouldn't it? I'd probably change out the tube with some EV's, JJ's or Tung-Sols or something. So I've read - those are great mods for the unit.
 
Some of the warmest sounds come from Pres without tubes... Transformer saturation can accomplish the same thing.

Sounds like you're dead set on one of these pres so I'd recommend the one that just sorta sucks, some people out here like that one.

But I'm not sure why you'd prefer two sorta sucky channels when you already have ten of them in the tascam, you'll get much more bang for your buck with the better single channel pre in this situation
 
MOFO Pro said:
Some of the warmest sounds come from Pres without tubes... Transformer saturation can accomplish the same thing.

Sounds like you're dead set on one of these pres so I'd recommend the one that just sorta sucks, some people out here like that one.

But I'm not sure why you'd prefer two sorta sucky channels when you already have ten of them in the tascam, you'll get much more bang for your buck with the better single channel pre in this situation
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Thanks for the advice. Noted for sure! Not dead-set yet.
 
The MPA in high voltage would at least give me SOME warmth compared to all solid state with no tube involved at all wouldn't it?
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Some of the warmest sounds come from Pres without tubes... Transformer saturation can accomplish the same thing.
Click to expand...
Backing up on that -- EVEN WITH tube pres -- "That sound" has pretty much always come from the transformers. The "warmest" sounding preamps out there are almost all solid-state.

And don't get me wrong - There are some very nice tube preamps out there. Manley, Tube-Tec, Avalon (although Avalon's solid-state units blow away any of their tube units IMO/E), etc.

But can anyone ever argue that Neve / API / Langevin / Hardy / Great River / Daking / Chandler / Harrison / Prism preamps aren't at least as "warm" sounding as just about anything with a glowing (actually with most of the more budget-friendly stuff, NON-glowing / starved-pate / probably could jump the connections with a bunch of paper clips) set of tubes?

I'm not dissing any of the Fearn / Manley / Summit types out there -- They make spectacular sounding preamps. "Warm" sound without a doubt, warm air around the preamp as well.

IN ANY CASE, if you're looking for "warm" and "cheap" there are few that can compete with the Pre73... Just having a box with a 'toob' in it isn't going to give you anything better than what you're using. I actually have a US2000 -- Assuming those are the same preamps, I can safely say that I've heard worse - Much worse - They're usable enough unless you're going to step it up a notch.

Just wouldn't want you to spend the $$$ and find that you made a lateral (or backwards) move...
 
Massive Master said:
I actually have a US2000 -- Assuming those are the same preamps, I can safely say that I've heard worse - Much worse - They're usable enough unless you're going to step it up a notch.

Just wouldn't want you to spend the $$$ and find that you made a lateral (or backwards) move...
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Nice rant. :) Covers a lot! OK so when you say lateral move, maybe that's ok with me just to have a "different" sound (until I can afford an Avalon or something) as an alternate to the US-1800. Since I can get a decent and usable sound/signal with the US-1800 digital preamps, maybe at the very least I would just get a different sound from the Pro MPA II, but not necessarily BETTER nor WORSE. I wonder. Only way is to try. I can always return it I guess. hmm.

It's either something like the MPA (in its price range) or just nothing for now.
 
digital preamps,
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And just in case -- And if you already know and others might not -- Those aren't "digital" preamps... Preamps are analog devices. They might be under a certain amount of digital control (MOTU units are notorious in a nice way for having units with digitally controlled preamps), but they're as analog as any other preamp. Yours are in a box with built-in converters and a USB interface but they're as "analog" as any other preamp you'd plug into the unit. And if the converters are putting forth a "cold" or "sterile" or "grainy" signal, plugging a different preamp into the unit won't change that.


Just for clarification ---
 
Massive Master said:
It has *zero* usable headroom (what would you really expect at that price)
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Hi John,

Could you explain the above statement?

Headroom, in my mind, suggests the room for a signal at a nominal level to peak at some higher level without distortion / clipping.

Are you suggesting that because the DMP-3 does not have as great an output voltage swing as preamps running from higher voltage rails? Or that the DMP-3 gets ugly as output approaches maximum?

Just curious.

Paul
 
Headroom is the space between where the circuit is designed to run (0dBVU / 1.23vRMS for just about every piece of audio gear out there) and the point of failure.

Some preamps are very clean and linear well above line level -- Others aren't even close.

Sidenote: This is where that whole "record as hot as you can without clipping" thing drives me absolutely batty...

Back to the DMP3 -- Very decent, very clean, reasonably quiet, nice sounding preamp at or below line level (as any preamp should be). But gets "pinched" and spectrally imbalanced very early above nominal voltage (as many budget preamps do).

Long story short, when you run it like it was designed to run, it's exceptionally decent in its price range. Push it and it falls to "typical" for its price range.
 
Massive Master said:
...as if the tubes have anything at all to do with "tube sound" in the first place...
Click to expand...
Massive Master said:
Backing up on that -- EVEN WITH tube pres -- "That sound" has pretty much always come from the transformers. The "warmest" sounding preamps out there are almost all solid-state.
Click to expand...
Massive Master said:
But can anyone ever argue that Neve / API / Langevin / Hardy / Great River / Daking / Chandler / Harrison / Prism preamps aren't at least as "warm" sounding as just about anything with a glowing (actually with most of the more budget-friendly stuff, NON-glowing / starved-pate / probably could jump the connections with a bunch of paper clips) set of tubes?
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lol @ the forehead veins this is going to pop

Seriously though... It makes me all warm and fuzzy when a demonstrably respectable poster plainly states truth about myths without sugarcoating to sidestep the voodoo crowd's wrath / psychosis. Thread bookmarked, fo shizzle.
 
Massive Master said:
And just in case -- And if you already know and others might not -- Those aren't "digital" preamps... Preamps are analog devices. They might be under a certain amount of digital control (MOTU units are notorious in a nice way for having units with digitally controlled preamps), but they're as analog as any other preamp. Yours are in a box with built-in converters and a USB interface but they're as "analog" as any other preamp you'd plug into the unit. And if the converters are putting forth a "cold" or "sterile" or "grainy" signal, plugging a different preamp into the unit won't change that.


Just for clarification ---
Click to expand...

My bad...I meant solid state. :eek: :o

PS: following you on FB now.
 
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