Product: ART ART Tube MP Studio Mic Preamp
Price Paid: USD 29.99
Submitted
10/05/2009
at
02:17pm
by
Tennessee
General
:
9
A basic, one tube preamp that is entirely portable. Meant for one channel. Features a VU meter, one 12AX7A tube, +48 volt phantom power for condenser mikes, 1/4" and XLR input jacks.
Has clip limiting, vairable output and gain controls, phase reversal.
Metal case.
NO off-on switch.
No onboard software, just a preamp.
It claims up to 60db of gain. I believe it comes close.
Kind of a lay it on it's back desktop. No rack mount. Portable in that it is small, but surprisingly heavy.
Comes with a very nice, heavy duty power supply with noise limiter in the wire.
For the price, a real value
Connectivity
:
6
1/4" and XLR. End of story.
The instructions say you can use both at once, like a mic and a guitar, but there is absolutely no way to control or balance the two save for incoming levels from the units themselves. They do not recommend it, but I'm sure a lot of people do it.
Just make sure you start out with low levels on the incoming items and work your way up from there. Like say, an acoustic guitar with a volume controlled piezo pickup, and a dynamic mike might work together in one channel. Experiment is all I can recommend.
It's basic, it's a $29.99 preamp!!
I/O
:
8
Input is simple like output. 1/4" and XLR.
One channel, dude...
There are seperate controls for input and output, and there is a boost button, as well as a clip circuit that seems to work pretty good. Phase reversal as well. The VU meter is not as sensitive as my meters on downstream equipment. They say it is reading output, I think input.
No Cue, Mix, Surround - none of that. Just a really nice, basic preamp for a very low price.
Power
:
6
AC Powered by a surprisingly nice heavy-duty power supply with a noise limiter in line. No battery power available. Crying for an off-on switch!! Hey ART, too cheap to put a lousy Chinese Off-On switch on it?
Phantom power, +48, is true.
If it had an off-on switch it would be a 9 at least, based on the ridiculous price.
But I believe I am slamming some electrical part that is not ready for a signal yet by turning this on with a plug or a power strip. AARRUGH. Down to a 6 it goes...
Technical specs
:
6
No sampling here, just a straight db gain through a simple circuit and a 12AX7A tube. No drivers needed
Direct monitoring in the form of one VU meter.
But what it says it does, it does pretty well for the money.
Other
:
7
No software needed.
No mixing save for input and output controls, and the boost and phase reversal.
Obviously no grounding post.(Although it might help with some of the talked about noise) I have not experienced that noise yet.
Works best in conjunction with a simple input, like a dynamic mike, or a passive guitar pickup.
Again, just a simple tube driven single channel preamp.
Overall
:
10
This product has been around for a few years, and although ART has produced a number of "enhanced" versions, the original $29.99 model with VU meter seems to be the most desired.
For me, it did EXACTLY what I wanted, put some db into my Tascam DP-02, which otherwise I had the preamp controls at 9 or higher. With this unit they drop to 5-6 and I get a cleaner, smoother sound that is not so stark digital.
This is one of those little add-ons that just about everyone who amplifies should have somewhere.
People have reported using this as a guitar pickup booster going into their amp setup. Where can you find a preamp that will drive an amp into distortion early for $29.99? And have a VU meter and clipping circuit to boot? And give it a little tube sound, if your amp is all digital? That's just one of the creative uses I've read about. Voice miking lends itself to all kinds of possibilities. For the price, this thing is great.
I would buy this again in a heartbeat. The exact same model.
I want another one....
