ART tube pres?

[Amo Audio]

I've got my eye on an ART Digital MPA, I'm just wondering if anybody has one and could comment on the sound. I've heard excellent things about the tube MP, so i am just assuming that ART's top-of-the-line pre is pretty good too. It would be my flagship preamp so I want to make sure it is good.

Thanks!

[albee1952]

It is an okay unit but if its your flagship pre, don't plan on floating too much. Like many inexpensive tube pre's, it operates the tube at low voltage so it will never have the character of a high voltage tube as in a UA610. A flagship pre should be something special like a Focusrite ISA, Neve/Vintech, UA610 or API. Check out Seventh Circle audio as they have preamps available in kit form. You could start with a Neve clone, power supply and case for a reasonable price(and the case/PSU will handle a total of 8 channels). The have pre's modeled after Neve, API and John Hardy which are all really good units. The ART would be another flavor but still in the same quality level of the onboard pre's. Just my 2 cent's worth.

[beatingheart]

i have the art pre and i would never use it for any qulity recording. It`s ok if you need it for a live track, but other then that i wouldnt use it. The pres in the 002 are and just the same if not better.

[Amo Audio]

Thanks for the input. I'm now thinking twice about it.

I forgot to mention that i am a student and am on a very tight budget. What i want is a nice sounding two channel outboard pre that has decent A/D conversion (via S/PDIF) and sounds better than the 002 pres. What other options would i have around the same price range (aprox. $600-700 US)?

[Love Monkey Studios]

In my humble opinion, there aren't any. But I would remember to take all of this with a grain of salt. Of course you can't compare the ART to an Avalon or a UA or a Neve. It's 1/4 the price. I've been thinking of getting one too, and from all the looking I've done, there's just not much else out there. The only other option is the Focusrite Twin Tech, which is more expensive before you add the A/D card. Add that, and it's almost 900 dollars. There are some good preamps in that price range, but they don't have A/D cards, so you're into getting a external converter, and right there is alot more money. I trust reviewers more than the Bozos on forums like this one. I did a search on reviews for this preamp, and found alot of people who like it. Not to mention Recording did a review that was pretty good. It's got a lot of cool features to experiment with. If you end up not liking it, you'll get good money on ebay if you keep it in good shape. The relevent question really is what kind of studio do you have? if you're doing recording at home for fun, then there's alot less riding on it than if you have a commerical facility. There's alot of this kind of question on most forums, and what you usually get is the answer you got: "That's nowhere near as good as the unit 3 times the price!" Well, Duh. That's like saying "should I get a kia or a hyundai?" and someone says, "go for a BMW!" The second question is always better: Here's my budget, what do you think?" All equipment will have people who say they love it and they hate it.

Just my 2 cents.

[richsorr]

I have the MPA along with an ISA and a AD2022. Honestly, for under 500 bucks, that pre has been well worth it to me. its actually pretty clean, and has worked well for me for work i do

[nedorama]

I think a good question is -- what are you going to use it for? Is it just a general mic pre, or are you also using it as an instrument DI? Do you record multi channels at once, or do you normally just record one track at a time? Are you looking for a neutral pre or one with a lot of character?

For me, I wanted a good pre for vocals but also something with character for a DI for bass or guitar -- I settled (very happily) on the Summit Audio 2BA-221 Mic & Line Module. It has a variable tube so you can go solid state or tube, and sounds amazing on vocals, guitar, acoustic piezo, and bass for my music.

I would recommend it in your budget - you'll get more from a mono pre than a dual.

[Love Monkey Studios]

I've heard good things about the summit too, but he wanted a preamp with A/D to run into the his system.

[Amo Audio]

yes, I would definitely like some A/D converters to increase my input count. i do alot of tracking drums and 8 inputs is sometimes a bit tight. I will be using it in my project studio, but pretty much anything is an improvement over the behringer ultragains i am using for line i/p's 5-8 on my 002...

I am hoping to get an Octopre LE eventually to replace the ultragains and add an additional 4 i/p's through the ADAT. But from what i gather, the Octopre will sound almost identical to the onboard 002 pre's, which doesn't give much options for sound.

[SimpleNatureSpirit]

Of all the products I've bought and returned, ART was the quickest to get unpacked and repacked.
I was wondering who actually bought their stuff. My $.02 IMHO