best preamp under $200

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frist44

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I'm in the market for a new tube preamp mainly for vocals. Most of the vocals will be over top of acoustic guitar, but may be used for other types of stuff as well.

Obviously, the ART Tube MP and Presonus blue tube are the ones most talked about under $200.

The difference I can see is that for another $50 on the presonus, you get another channel which looks very appealing right now.

I have a delta omni studio and i'm buying this preamp so i can have all 4 ins powered.

Between the ART and the presonus, which is better in terms of quality of sound?

Thank you,
Brandon
 
What about the Bellari thing. Anyone have that? I saw it in Sweetwater and wondered if it was a piece o crap or not.

H2H
 
I've got both the ART and the Blue Tube. I prefer the Blue Tube most of the time with the drive set lower than the gain. Both of them get pretty noisy when you turn them up but to me the ART just sounds dull. But that's just what I hear out of my unit. Plus it quit working after a week and I had to send it back and get a replacement. But its been fine since. According to Sonusman and Harvey and everybody knowledgable around here the quality control is always something to watch out for on the budget stuff.
 
Its weird tha I'm giving advice to somebody with more posts than me. I've been a lurker for 3 or 4 years but I just now started posting. Odd.
 
Hard2Hear said:
What about the Bellari thing.
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Eau de Garbage....

Bellari is Rolls "high-end" line -- and Rolls makes some of the cheapest, most godawful crap I've ever seen............

Bruce
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Eau de Garbage....

Bellari is Rolls "high-end" line -- and Rolls makes some of the cheapest, most godawful crap I've ever seen............

Bruce
Click to expand...

Ah, so how is that different from ART? In this price range, most are going to be comparable, maybe even clones of each other (ART tube MP vs dbx MiniPre). You may be just as well off using the pres in your board unless you absolutely must have a glowing piece of glass in it. Search around the forums here and musicplayer for Ward Beck. You won't be sorry. The stuff is good - even by pro standards, and with the low demand, they're still cheap (about $200 for a full channel with pre, eq, etc). Downside? Wire it up yourself (takes basic schematic and soldering skills and a few dollars in parts), or pay more for prewired. Class A discrete. Seriously.
 
theglitch said:
The stuff is good - even by pro standards
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Er, no... not even close..... I guess it depends on which "pros" you're talking to.... :rolleyes:
 
To tubedude: same company, it seems, but the modules I refer to are 70's M series.

Blue Bear Sound said:
Er, no... not even close..... I guess it depends on which "pros" you're talking to.... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Let me better qualify my statement by any of these three comebacks...
1- This stuff is good - even by pro standards - FOR THE PRICE.
2- This stuff...standards - in the same way as the RNC is.
3- This stuff...standards - not great (it's no Manley), but good enough to use.

Out.
 
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