What do you think of the ART tube MP pre amp?

[Newsboy]

I am thinking of getting one, it seems to have good reviews and fits my current budget. Obviously I would love to have a good Avalon but until they can't pinch me awake from that one do you think this will suffice?

[anthonylv64]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

I am thinking of getting one, it seems to have good reviews and fits my current budget. Obviously I would love to have a good Avalon but until they can't pinch me awake from that one do you think this will suffice?

Hi there, I'm Anthony, from Las Vegas, new to this forum.
I'd say, yes, go for it, I bought 2 ART MP's, I couldn't resist the price at MF. They might not be Avalons or Manley (insert your favorite) but they sure do a decent job. I use both of them L, R out of the POD XT, and into my MBox 2, and I got excellent results, I compared previous tracks, and the guitar tones come up to live, besides, it's always good to add more gear to your studio arsenal, sooner or later you'll find a place for it.

[1 M.I.C]

i got a tube mp, im really happy with it, gives alot of headroom, dont push it too hard or you'll find out why its only 50 bucks but if you really need alot of gain, set it maybe half way and then use the line-in for the rest of the gain.. i mean doing vocals or anything as loud or louder you should have plenty good results with the tube mp

[brandondrury]

it's always good to add more gear to your studio arsenal, sooner or later you'll find a place for it.

Welllllll....being a "Vietnam Vet" of the "gear acquisition war" I'm not exactly sure I'd say "always". I'm about to sell $9,000 worth of stuff I don't use. Sometimes that "place for it" is Ebay.


Personally, I don't get nearly as excited about preamps as most of the recording world does. At $50, I guess the most you can lose is $50. Don't expect a life changing experience unless you are the type of person to artificially create life changing experiences when necessary.


If I was you, I'd probably put that $50 into getting more channels for my audio interface than I would into a different volume knob.

Brandon

[Jroye82]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Welllllll....being a "Vietnam Vet" of the "gear acquisition war" I'm not exactly sure I'd say "always". I'm about to sell $9,000 worth of stuff I don't use. Sometimes that "place for it" is Ebay.


If I was you, I'd probably put that $50 into getting more channels for my audio interface than I would into a different volume knob.

Brandon

I'd buy a monster cable...or or or or


Watcha sellin???

[brandondrury]

I'm selling A BUNCH of stuff. Some of it I still use, but I'm going to swap it out for something different.

Vintech 1272
Trident S20
Mytek AD 96
1971 Marshall 100 watt Superlead
Marshall JCM 800 4x12 cabinet
Rocktron Prophesy
VHT 50/50 tube power amp
Unopened copy of Kontakt2
Mackie HR824 studio monitors.

Brandon

[anthonylv64]

Actually, the Tube MP is only 29.00 including shipping, which is free, a tube, 12AX7, the cheapest would be around 15 bucks, including shipping, so that's already half the price of the Preamp already, even if I didnt use the preamp, I could probably, during an emergency, pull the tube and use it in one of my amps, LOL. Now seriously, in my case, I use it to add a new "flavor" to my PodXT, and I love the results, then again, everything is very subjective, what I might consider a nice tone, some other people might not like it, for instance, Dream Theater is one of my favorites, however, I don't like Petrucci's tone at all.

[brandondrury]

I use it to add a new "flavor" to my PodXT, and I love the results, then again, everything is very subjective,

It seems VERY VERY VERY werid talking about "flavor" AND PodXT in the same sentence. I'll go easy on the Pod (and bite my tongue) this time, but it needs to be said that flavor is USELESS if the overall tone sucks. Only you can decide this. If you are getting what you want out of a Pod, then go ahead and try the MP. It could be perfect.

Just understand that a preamp is just the salt and pepper (and you only get one shake through a shaker with small holes). There is a big difference between putting salt and pepper on a steak vs putting it on a turd.

Just to be clear, I'm not exactly defining the pod as a "turd" in this case. I'm defining "like the sound" as a steak and "not like the sound" as a turd.

Brandon

[anthonylv64]

Once again, it's all a matter of personal perception, some purists swear by a 59 Fender Strat, or a Les Paul, or some boutique amp that it's worth 3 times my car, however, Steve Rothery(Marillion) has used on most of the albums and live performances a cheap Squire, and I'm sure him and Marillion are more acomplished and woldwide famous than 90% of the people on this forum. Music (production and performance) is an art, sometimes you have to work with what's available or what you can afford at the moment you are struck by inspiration. I'd rather use a Plexi, and a Reverb Deluxe at recording, but 1- The equipment is not gonna make me a better engineer or musician, and 2-Not having an expensive piece of equipment is not an excuse to abandon a dream.
I know my Pod is not your "Marshall", or whatever you play, but, do we even have the same music preferences? do we have the same ideas? are we looking for the same end results at tracking a sound?
The Beatles recorded with a 4 track R2R, I own an 8 track, is that gonna make me more famous or talented?
When I started on this forum I was expecting an exchange of knowledge and opinions, your replies, however, seem more like "The Holy Bible of Sound Engineering" Seems like only your opinion counts on this subject at least, in a word, you are a DICK.
Now you can exclude me from your forum, I won't be posting here any longer

[brandondrury]

Steve Rothery(Marillion) has used on most of the albums and live performances a cheap Squire, and I'm sure him and Marillion are more acomplished and woldwide famous than 90% of the people on this forum.

Gear is ALWAYS optional. While I'm not familiar with Marillion, I'll have to check them out tommorrow when it's not 3:45am.

It's all about tools. I've never paid a carpenter based on the brand of hammer he used. The same applies here. I've been very impressed with a lot of the direct guitar settings with bands like Marilyn Manson. There are several others. I'm even more amazed how they got the late 80s Def Leopard sound through direct guitars. I just never have any luck with direct guitars, myself.

you are a DICK.

If you re-read my post whe maybe you are feeling a little more secure about your situation you'll find that I wasn't being a dick at all. In almost every case, this is an issue where I should have used more smiley faces and simply didn't think about it.

My main point was that preamps are a very subtle change and tone and a person must be 100% happy with the tone of the instrument before they consider the tremendous investment that most preamps cost. It's common to dump $1k per channel into a preamp.

I NEED everyone to know that this flavor won't do NEARLY as much good as they think it will.

You are free to your opinions, but you took what I said out of context. I re-read my post and my opinion stands. I was nice to your Pod. I said that only the user can decide what great tone is.

Brandon