Cheap ART tube pre

Project-D · Post by **Project-D** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:26 pm

Are they as crappy as the price would imply? Will they actually do anything useful to the sound? As Ken mentioned in the "Your Primary Microphone" thread, that if you have low end mics and preamps, it's better to upgrade the preamps. But like Puce said, he may be in the pocket of Big Preamp. I'm using the preamps on my Mackie mixer going into a Tascam US224.

Any recommendations?

Dan-O from Five-O · Post by **Dan-O from Five-O** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:05 pm

Although ART recommends against it, replacing the the tube in their Preamp to a higher grade model shouldn't do anything negative. I have this model myself. I bought it on Ebay for pretty cheap, and have found it to be a little noisy for my applications, but have yet to replace the tube as the possible source of the issue. This is because I can easily work around the issue just using my mixing board pre's, and because I would really like to find a genuine N.O.S. or gently used Mullard 12AX7 to to replace it with. Ebay is full of tubes that claim to be the "genuine article", but with the reissue of these tubes available here and my general lack of knowledge on lot #'s and such to spot fakes, I wouldn't trust many Ebay sellers not to try and take advantage of the name's ability to sell.

On the other hand The Tube Store does have genuine vintage tubes for sale and have been around for years, so if I was going to buy one, I would probably look there first. In fact I just might do that now because this thread has renewed my interest in exploring what I might not be taking advantage of in my effects rack.

Project-D · Post by **Project-D** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:19 pm

I've heard a couple of reviews say the same thing about replacing the tubes. I was actually wondering about the under $100 models - can you get an adequate preamp for that price. Can you get a really good pre for $2-300?

ken · Post by **ken** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:04 pm

The ART Tube MP is okay. It is better if you replace the tube. I have a Tungsol in mine. I used it as a live guitar DI a lot and it sounds great.

The best cheap preamp you can get is the FMR RNP.

Ken

bz£ · Post by **bz£** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:41 am

ken wrote:The best cheap preamp you can get is the FMR RNP.

And they make swell compressors too!

You already have a Mackie with preamps on each channel, so a dedicated preamp may not be an item that you really need. The point is, you don't need to worry about getting "an adequate preamp" for cheap because you already have several.

Not that the ART wouldn't be a nice thing to own (I like mine, even with the stock tube, so don't count this as a negative review) but it may not be adding much to what you have.

Project-D · Post by **Project-D** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:04 pm

So bzl, what is it about the ART that you like? I'm not dissatisfied with what I have, but it's one of those, "you don't know what you're missing". I hear people all over teh internets talking about how their tube pre give them that "warm smooth" sound etc. Do they mean that it "adds that tube fuzziness that we've all become accustomed to, so now when we don't hear it we think it's cold and sterile." or does it really do something that solid state pre's cant?

So getting an adequate tube pre is probably not worth it 'cause I already have an adequate solid state pre, so would getting a really good tube pre help me? So I guess what I'm asking is do really good tube pre's (or solid state even) really do something worthwhile to my sound?

blue · Post by **blue** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 1:58 pm

Project-D wrote:So bzl, what is it about the ART that you like? I'm not dissatisfied with what I have, but it's one of those, "you don't know what you're missing". I hear people all over teh internets talking about how their tube pre give them that "warm smooth" sound etc. Do they mean that it "adds that tube fuzziness that we've all become accustomed to, so now when we don't hear it we think it's cold and sterile." or does it really do something that solid state pre's cant?

So getting an adequate tube pre is probably not worth it 'cause I already have an adequate solid state pre, so would getting a really good tube pre help me? So I guess what I'm asking is do really good tube pre's (or solid state even) really do something worthwhile to my sound?

the art is a solid-state pre that runs the signal through a tube which is warmed up with a couple of volts of heater but doesn't actually amplify the signal. you could take the tube out and it'd still work.

that said, it's an easy way to get signal into your computer, has a decent sound, and lots of gain. it's also pretty f'n noisy.

mr_lostman · Post by **mr_lostman** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:53 pm

i just came across this today after looking at reviews for my current interface and I'm wondering...

I'm currently using a Tascam US-122 to record through and I like it for the most part (could use some more inputs and outputs... but thats not in my budget at the moment to upgrade). But I kept reading that people disliked the built in pre's.

Would it really benefit me to buy a cheap tube pre like D is suggesting? I mean would it really make much of a difference in the sound?

I ask only because I was using really crappy vocal mics for a while and when i upgraded just to an MXL 990 I was blown away by the difference and wondered why I'd never done it before. Would a tube pre-amp give me a similar experience or should I just continue to make do?

ken · Post by **ken** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:55 pm

A toob preamp wont make much of a difference, but a nicer preamp should. So what I'm saying is that I'm not sure the ART Tube MP specifically will make a huge improvement, but a new mic preamp may. You could also look into the M-audio Audio Buddy.

Ken

Project-D · Post by **Project-D** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:42 pm

The last couple of posts by Ken and Blue pretty much answered my question. The ART might color the sound but not really make it any better. However it does have phantom power, which for $30 is not out of range with the strictly phantom boxes at $20.

Still, it might be useful to know how much could one expect to spend to surpass the quality of the Tascam 122? (I'm using a 224) To surpass the Mackie?