ART MPA Gold

[Aaron Smith]

Do any of you have much experience with ART stuff?

I have a feeling it may be kind of poor, but this preamp actually looks kind of enticing. I'm sure they come with some cheap 12AX7s in them, but if I replace them with something trustworthy, would it be worth having a couple in the rack for some different coloration on certain tracks? $299 is cheap...but it doesn't quite seem so cheap that this preamp would automatically go to the junk pile. Also, the "Variable Input Impedance" stage seems cool, as it lets you play with the sound of the mic.

For $399 they have something that seems pretty identical but has digital outs...would this be worthwhile? I'm thinking no, because I don't know if I want ART clocking my whole DAW...haha.

 

[AudioPhile777]

as long as it has BNCs, it wont... doesnt look the case though, for $400...

I dunno... I heard that changing out the tubes and/or a couple capacitors/resistors can REALLY have a desirable affect on gear such as this...

 

[Aaron Smith]

Yeah I've been finding every review I can, and there are a lot of people who say that swapping out the crappy stock Chinese tubes for some Groove Tubes or Electroharmonix makes the unit sound MUCH better. I'm probably gonna end up grabbing a couple honestly, because although I love my Presonus Digimax, I don't think it's really optimal for me to use it for EVERY part of an entire mix, you know? Training my ears to at least hear how a different preamp can make something sound different is something I should be concerned about...as long as I have preamps to use that are not only different, but worth using.

 

[devouredremains]

I've been wondering the same thing. In the low-end forums over at gearslutz I've read it's quite decent after the stock chinese tubes have been replaced. If you end up grabbing one let us know how it is.

 

[Aaron Smith]

as long as it has BNCs, it wont... doesnt look the case though, for $400...

Say what?

 

[JBroll]

My chain right now is a pair of ART Tube MP preamps with a couple of slight changes (note: my definition of 'slight' may vary from yours - chances are it does quite a bit) and a Tesla 12AX7. Sounds great - I got mine to just stay out of the way and color as little as they could, and it didn't take that much work.

Jeff

 

[Gnash]

Check out the Art Pro Channel as well.