ART Digital MPA
- Thread starter ZPDRUMMER
- Start date
devouredremains
Matt Van Daele
To anybody jumping into this thread who isn't familiar with this product, It is a real tube preamp running a full 300 volts to the plates. This is unlike the starved plate preamp offerings from ART.
Yes, it most certainly is worth the money. I have had it for a couple weeks but have only used it on vocals and in that area it does quite well. Tons of gain for dynamics and ribbons. The stock chinese tubes in the unit are nothing nothing to write home about but anyone can replace a tube so this is not an issue for most. The stock tubes seem to lack detail or anything nice in what my ears tell me would be the 13k+ range. And yes replacing the stock tubes with higher quality tubes will improve this problem and give a nicer sound in general. Keep in mind you don't have to spend $100+ for fancy NOS tubes for this upgrade. I put in some groove tubes mullard reissues which my guess are also most likely chinese tubes but they have a visibly better build quality and sound good in this preamp.
One of the greatest features of this unit is the A / D converter in the preamp. The specifications in the user manual state it having a dynamic range of 115db which is a huge step up from let's say...something like a firepod which specifies a converter with a dynamic range of 110db. What also makes this great is it has inserts which will enable you to use the converter with other preamps if you have it connected digitally to an interface with a lesser quality converter. Specs on paper often mean sweet fuck but I clearly hear additional detail using it's own converter. This is not a replacement for something like an Apogee or RME converter but it's a step up from most prosumer preamps and conversion.
Again I haven't used it's internal tube preamps for anything but vocals with an LDC but the vocals sound fat and have nice harmonic content that is not distracting. Other outboard preamps through it's converter sound excellent in comparison to most prosumer firewire interface conversion I've heard. That alone makes the small price worth it.
If you have a local music store that stocks this product ask them to rent it to you. My local music store will rent me anything I ask for, brand new or used. There is no way to judge whether a piece of audio equipment is worth the cost to you until you hear it.
Cheers.
Yes, it most certainly is worth the money. I have had it for a couple weeks but have only used it on vocals and in that area it does quite well. Tons of gain for dynamics and ribbons. The stock chinese tubes in the unit are nothing nothing to write home about but anyone can replace a tube so this is not an issue for most. The stock tubes seem to lack detail or anything nice in what my ears tell me would be the 13k+ range. And yes replacing the stock tubes with higher quality tubes will improve this problem and give a nicer sound in general. Keep in mind you don't have to spend $100+ for fancy NOS tubes for this upgrade. I put in some groove tubes mullard reissues which my guess are also most likely chinese tubes but they have a visibly better build quality and sound good in this preamp.
One of the greatest features of this unit is the A / D converter in the preamp. The specifications in the user manual state it having a dynamic range of 115db which is a huge step up from let's say...something like a firepod which specifies a converter with a dynamic range of 110db. What also makes this great is it has inserts which will enable you to use the converter with other preamps if you have it connected digitally to an interface with a lesser quality converter. Specs on paper often mean sweet fuck but I clearly hear additional detail using it's own converter. This is not a replacement for something like an Apogee or RME converter but it's a step up from most prosumer preamps and conversion.
Again I haven't used it's internal tube preamps for anything but vocals with an LDC but the vocals sound fat and have nice harmonic content that is not distracting. Other outboard preamps through it's converter sound excellent in comparison to most prosumer firewire interface conversion I've heard. That alone makes the small price worth it.
If you have a local music store that stocks this product ask them to rent it to you. My local music store will rent me anything I ask for, brand new or used. There is no way to judge whether a piece of audio equipment is worth the cost to you until you hear it.
Cheers.
