thinking about buying art tube pre

[ignastyo]

yeah, so I was thinking about buying one of these. i'm using the pres in my yamaha 6 ch mixer right now, but I was wondering if the art pre would sound better. I don't wanna spend much more than $100 right now, so i'm just wondering if anyone thinks it would make a difference, or if i'm better off staying with the pres in my yamaha until I can spend more money. If it matters, i'm recording punk, somewhere along the lines of older green day

oh, and if anyone has any better suggestions around the same price range, I would like to hear them

 

[DonF]

In the $100 range you're not going to get anything special. The ART tube will be different, but not necessarily worlds better than the ones on your mixer.

FWIW, I use an ART MP Studio pre, and I'm very happy with it.

DonF

 

[Slackmaster2K]

I like it quite a bit...it has sort of a dark grit to it that really compliments vocals and guitars in a lot of cases compared to more sterile preamps.

Slackmaster 2000

 

[Wide Awake]

I bought an ART Tube MP OLP recently, they are selling for $59.95 at both www.americanmusical.com and www.musiciansfriend.com

They work well once you figure out how much gain to use, they are a simple design.

I bought mine mainly to use as a distortion device for synthesizers and drum machines but I don't hesitate recommending it for a mic pre. It is as good or better than most budget mixers and it's always good to have another tool to work with. Especially at $59.95

 

[ignastyo]

cool, looks like i'll probably pick one up today

 

[Seanmorse79]

Does the OLP limiting do a nice job for tracking vocals? I'll pick one up if it means I can remove the limiter from my signal chain.

 

[DonF]

Does the OLP limiting do a nice job for tracking vocals? I'll pick one up if it means I can remove the limiter from my signal chain.

FWIW, I'm not very thrilled with what OLP does to vocals. Too harsh for my taste.

DonF

 

[kid klash]

I like the ART Tube MP's; the OLP circuit works quite well as designed (it's a "brick wall" limiter to prevent digital clipping).

 

[Robert D]

The OLP circuit, like most limiters for tracking, should be thought of as a last line of defense against clipping, not something to add to the sound like a compressor. If it's limiting for anything other than an ocasional over, then you should trim down the gain. Used correctly, it should sit around and do nothing most of the time, but can save a great take occasionally that would have been ruined by a couple of overs.
Regards, RD
P.S. I've always thought those little ART pre's were pretty cool, with a colored sound that works well in the right places, and they make great bass DI's and acoustic guitar preamps. I own nicer pre's, but I'll always keep my "toob" MP around.

 

[Seanmorse79]

Very cool. That's exactly what I'm looking for (I never track with compression, just limiting). Now if I can only find the studio MP for under a hundred bucks (gotta have a VU)

 

[Michael Jones]

If there is ANY way you could spring for one of these:
http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?ProductCode=1455&Category=Audio_Processors
or find one used on e-bay, I KNOW you'd be happy with it!

 

[ignastyo]

so I went and bought it, and i'm glad I did. It is a great bass DI, and I like the way it sounds on guitars and vocals too. It sounds darker and smoother than the pres in my mixer