Art Tube PAC - Good or Bad

[Baster]

Holla!! 50% of People over internet say that Art preamps are good and cheap, and rest 50% of them say "DON'T BUY IT"... I readed that from reviews... But I want real answer, please help me decide if should my friend buy it... He wants warm tube sound with compressor/limiter preamp for less then 200$ also he have RODE NT1-a microphone. He record rap in acoustically treated room

 

[dementedchord]

if you're buying it for its tubyness dont bother... the reason they take heat is because of it being whats called a starved plate design... it doesnt have all the supply voltage a tube really wants to see... that said though i do have one here somewhere... it's been used as a di for bass and shit like that...

 

[mattkw80]

I have owned and used several ART "toob" pre-amps.

Not impressed, and have since got rid of them.

For $200 to $300 I believe there are better options.


For example: http://www.blacklionaudio.com/auteur.html

 

[Baster]

I'm asking about sound quality of vocals recorded from ART TubePAC. (he also has audiophile 2496 interface).
But I see that VTB 1 will be much better purchase, no?

 

[mattkw80]

That's a M-Audio product, not ART. Never used it before, sorry.

 

[Baster]

No no i did ask about ART. just i said he has m-audio interface.

 

[mattkw80]

Yeah... I just can't give a thumbs up to the ART tube stuff. As I mentioned above, it just wasn't really that great.

If your friend wants a nice tube preamp, roughly in that price range, check this out....

http://www.ehx.com/products/12ay7-mic-pre


I own one of those, and really like the results.

 

[Baster]

Hmm here is list of products that are available in my country:
http://www.artistsystems.net/mex/kategorija_sa_artiklima.php?glavna_kat=17&kat=116&pod_kat=160



So they dont have
12AY7 Mic Pre, i guess, but I'll ask...
He don't really need tube preamp just something good for 250$

 

[Hard2Hear]

My go to for warm fat bass di. Don't use it for anything else, but worth the price for that to me.

 

[Baster]

I tried this cr4p !!! It sucks, vocals sounds atoo muddy and it gives a feel like i was singing in another room/toilet... Also sometimes signal is too low, or has brummmmmmm...

 

[mattkw80]

Baster,

from the list you posted... the prices are listed in Cena.

How much Cena did you want to spend?

There are many nice choices in that list.

 

[Baster]

Cena means: Price
And prices are listed in Euros.
He can spend around 200$