ART TPS

Pretty idiot proof. I am an "impulse overdubber", eg I might be listening to a mix and get the impulse to add a vocal harmony, guitar line, percussion part, etc. I really like the fact that I can dial in a setting QUICKLY that gets me in the ballpark with the "voicings" dial. These settings are subtle, but I find they do help a part sit in the mix like is supposed to with less processing in the computer. Would I do a lead vocal without taking the time to tweak further with a proper compressor (I use a DBX 1044 after the TPS)? No. Actually I would, but I SHOULDN'T! Again, I'm impulsive. Maybe that's good sometimes in the recording world. Another convenience I really appreciate is the front panel I/O. Makes life a lot easier because my audio interface has no front panel I/O access.

I do like the "warmth" (sorry, overused word) that the tube imparts, but I found the stock tube to be very crunchy, like fuzz, which might be nice on guitar, but makes me sad when I am trying to do clean vocals. I replaced the stock 12AX7 with a Electro Harmonix 12AU7 and it's MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH cleaner when driven. Perhaps this is because that's a lower gain tube, I don't know, but I would HIGHLY recommend this change to anyone wanting a cleaner sound from this box. I can't really emphaize how much of a difference this made for me (did I mention it's MUCH MUCH MUCH cleaner with the 12AU7?). Sidenote: I made the same mod with my Art Tube Pac and it made an even BIGGER difference. The compressor was unusable with the 12AX7... it just had a really sharp attack and "breathing" (not good compressor breathing either). Much smoother with the 12AU7. Like, now I can use it. And I know it wasn't a bad tube because I tried a fresh 12AX7 too. So now all my art gear has the 12AU7, except the Tube MP, becuase I figured I could use that for a cunchier sound on guitar. Overall pretty great sounding for the price with the 12AU7. I sold my Blue Tube upon making this mod to the TPS. The Blue Tube just doesn't sound as good, regardless of tube choice.

The backlight on the left VU meter burned out within a month. This bummed me out because it looked silly in the rack with one VU lit. Certainly didn't bother me enough to send it off to be fixed, because it was purely cosmetic (I rarely record in the dark, so I could still see the meter without the backlight). But then, a wonderful thing happened. The right VU backlight burned out! No more "cyclops". So I'm going to give it a 10, since the problem it developed was (eventually) symetrical. Isn't that Zen of me?

Never dealt with them.

Unless you use this as a distortion unit, get the 12AU7. WIth that cheap mod, it really is surprisingly good for the money. Someday I'll get a RNP for a clean sound, but for now my various art units and the VLZ pres are doing me just fine.

In terms of ease of use, the unit is simple. The mirrored gain knobs are annoying. It appears to be very rigidly constructed. I found the convex VU meters to be difficult to match visually if you are recording something in stereo, because you can't look at them both at once, but have to move your head directly in front of each meter.

I used two condensor microphones(langevin CR3A, and an APEX tube mic), then I tried a shure sm57, and a 58. I don't like the coloration of this unit. With no mics plugged in and gain maxed, it delivers this horrible pink noise wall of sound. if you want alot of noisy circuitry filling in the noise floor get this preamp.

I don't know how dependable this unit is because it isn't staying in my studio. I would not use this on a gig without a backup, simply because the one I received brand new doesn't work properly.

Haven't dealt with ART yet.

I got a bad unit that was purchased brand new from mega pro audio on ebay. I don't know if it was b stock that they were trying to sell off, or if it was really new. It looked new, but barely worked, and was noisey.

well..hmmm hmmm, I love my unit but you need to get used to the front because the 2 channels knobs deceive you. the output knob is talking about the output of the unit coming in and not the unit's output! and the knobs arent the same on both sides they are mirrored.once you get use to this face plate it it a fine unit and I still love mine

I love mine and did alot of research on mic preamps at this price range and I picked this because it sounds great, gives me a warm tube sound and a/b'ed to compare it with the original signal because I wanted to hear the difference and it truly is a nice unit.it warms the tone better than the other brands I was comparing it to.

it is built great but art is a good company so it goes without saying that this isnt a piece of turd... mine is buld really welll..like all other great units are

awesome...had to deal with them for the front panel!!!bugged them and bugged them until I got it right and they never made me feel like I was bugging them...really great bunch

If it were stolen I would check out the gold unit for $500.00 because of my faceplate experience, but heck I understand it now!!!I love the sound and really like the unit. I have become attached to it because of the warmth I get and it was worth the trouble because I think alot of people want the "magic box" because they dont want to learn about signals and get educated...they want a sound and thats it...learn to use your gear and you'll appreciate this unit as well as others you used and wish you had back because you realize you were using it wrong!!!!

"Mirrored" channel controls are aesthetically pleasing, but pointlessly confusing. Keep the two channels the same, dang it!!

Also, on the unit I purchased, the detents on the voicing knobs are positioned exactly between the voicing marks on the front panel, so I have no idea what the settings really are at.

Great warmth, but the "OPL" compression settings have too much attack and delay, causing very blatant and useless compression

Have had zero problems so far.

I got this to soften up mic signal for my new digital PC based studio. It gets a really nice sound when piping a RODE NT1 with a comp/limiter on the output. This unit is VERY quiet. I've even run a bass lined straight in with success. The front/rear mounted inputs are very handy for a small studio.

Quirk 1: The "voicing" control knobs have detents on them, but unfortunately they are positioned exactly BETWEEN the setting marks on the front of the unit, so it is almost impossible to know for sure which voicing you really are on.

Quirk 2: The controls are laid out in a "mirror" fashion so it is very easy to confuse your knobs and switches from one channel to the other.

Quirk 3: The "OPL" settings are supposed to use compression/limiting to control wide dynamics, but they are mostly useless. The compression settings are not adjustable and have far too much attack time and way too much release time. This causes very obvious-sounding compression, especially on vocals.

Don't expect this unit to be a one-stop shop between your mic and your soundcard, I would advise using a seperate comp/limiter unit after the TPS, especially on highly dynamic vocals. Also, like the manual says, their voicing settings are suggestions, feel free to experiment and use your ears. I only use the "appropriate" setting on the voicing control about 50% of time. But the TPS ain't too shabby if you don't have $2000 to smack down for an Avalon!!!

Good layout easy to use.

Love it!!!

So far so good. I use it for gigging and recording I love ART stuff. Well engineered, well built, good value.

Great value for the money. I tried a PreSonus blue tube before this (defective pots, piece of crap) Spend the extra money, and get this rackmount pro gear. Love this thing. Definitely warms my voice, and sounds great!!! Well built! I recommend this and the ART SP 4x4 power conditioner (much better designed and built than a Furman PL Plus.) Thanks to ART for making reasonably priced, good quality gear that does what it's supposed to do easily. Well done.

The TPS is simple to use. Just plug in and tweak the knobs.
My one complaint: The Limiter. It is slow and if the gain is super hot a big spike will be the result. I can look at the waveform after recording a take of guitar, bass or vocal and see a big peak before the limiter kicks on. So you have to make some gain vs. output adjustments in order to solve this problem.

I have experimented using this pre for just about everything. As a bass DI its great, a pre for condenser and dynamic mics its great too. This unit sounds best when used with guitars and vocals, athough the 'voicing' knob only makes subtle changes in tone. I have had one bad experience with using this on snare drum, but with the right adjustments it can work.

I have never had a problem getting this unit to function in 10 months or so that I have used it. It has performed as expected in the studio and in a road rack at an outdoor gig.

N/A

I have been recording for 5 years and have little experience with great pre amps so I can only compare it to other inexpensive(cheap) pre's and I say this is the best so far. The sound of a mic pre is objective and is impossible to rate good to bad, some people say they should be transparent and the best ones dont alter the sound of the mic at all. I've heard this about Presonus stuff for example. The TPS is not one of those type of pre's, it is disigned to atler/warm up the mic sound. It does this without adding much noise.

I find this unit terrific. The presets ,opl knobs work great but are a
little to subtle in changes for me.

i am using this as an acoustic instrument rig i also use it with a shure sm81 inst mic which requires phantom power ..the tps has phantom..it is dead quiet.i also use it for recording
and was able to get a nice warm distortion(heavy) out of
my old 50's kay semi hollowbody ..Sounded great

terrific so far ..have had it for a year with no problems

i have never called them..They apparently suck though .
It took me 6 months to get this unit some apparent mfg problems
but it has worked good so far

mostly folk,blues,blugrass it is a good match.
i would probably try something differnt if it was boosted.

easy . the voice dial is the new thing for companys. this one has far more character than the t1953 behringer but the t1953 is far quieter. any way easy to use the combo input on the front panel is very practical. this gets a nine because people might think the buttons are too close toghter as i.

sounds tite. the voicings all have charcter the limiting its supposed to do has not been put to the test yet but ... i have a compressor limiter so... its way quieter than the bellari rp503 but not the behringer t1953. it makes me (am going to) want to sell my presonus blue tube. the combo connection on the front is great. i am spoiled with behringer having all ins & outs balanced. why don't all the other companys follow there lead on that convenience. 1/4" out is unbalanced. i have run guitar, bass, vocals, and as a di box for my aw16g on the monitor outs and then to magician t1950 then a denoiser to record my final mixes. dont forget. tube mic pre amps do not run hot like guitar pre's do. the voltage is very low to keep from distorting, so when the bulb doesnt glow like if you were expecting it too, theres an actual little light bulb behind the pre amp tube just to make you feel better.

i carry mine with me in a rack bag with a dbx desser, behringer t1954 ultra efx, with a mic inside and a bunch of cables and its a very solid unit with good knobs. it seems like it should pay for itslef in a years so thats what i expect from it at this point.

well i emailed them to see where and when they were gonna sell the alto r127 and they have yet to hit me back. they are the us distributor for ALTO. the r127 is a single rack space spectral analizer.

good peice of gear that can suite a wide variety of users and can get you into tube gear with great sound and $

Very easy to use. I love the presets. I don't know too much about the technological stuff but it seems pretty easy to use.

Vocals-Sounds great I have used a couple of these things and this doesn't sound better than the best but it sounds just as good.

Guitars-Sounds good. Havn't done a side by side comparison with others but I have used it through the line 6 pod quite a bit and it sounds unbelievable.

Bass- Don't know yet but considering that bass is one of the easier things to process I assume that it will be pretty good.

I've had it for about three weeks now. I've used it about everyday since than recording vocals and guitars especially vocals though. I havn't had a single problem with it yet.

This was the one weakness that I noticed right away. When I got it out of the box I couldn't get the output level gauge to read any sound levels. So I called tech support. The first person to answer the phone was some lady that had no idea what she was talking about, She than transfered me to the one guy that could possibly know what he was talking about. He didn't answer the phone and never called me back after leaving two or three messages on his machine. Just a note there wasn't anything actually wrong with the product.

The product I'll give a good rating. Since I havn't had any real problems with it I wont rate the Service here. I love the product though and it sounds good so I'll give it a good rating and recommend it to anyone who wants it. I play Hard Rock music and for heavy guitars and vocs it sounds fantastic. I would buy it again if it were lost or stolen.

Very easy to use, since you can just flip through the tone presets until you find the tone that sounds best to you. Easy to get clean yet warm tones, and of course you can turn up the gain to add some tube distortion if that's what you're after.

Before the TPS I made the mistake of buying a Presonus Bluetube, which drove me up the wall because I couldn't get a decent clean tone out of it and the amount of hiss was ridiculous. The TPS is only $30 more, and whoo! ya get what ya pay for!! I LOVE the tones I can get with this thing!! The difference is like night and day. Warm yet clean tones with no problem, great for vocals, acoustic guitars, anything you want to put a mike in front of, and the hiss level is much lower than the Bluetube. I'm sure there are a few tube preamps out there that have a lower hiss level, but they're nowhere near the price of the ART. The TPS gives you a HUGE bang for the buck.

It stays at home, so it hasn't been put to much of a test. No problems so far, though.

I haven't had any need for any support! No problems. I love the tone so much I called one of the engineers at ART just to say thanks for making such a great product at a great price.

LOVE IT!!! I'd recommend it to anyone. A good tube preamp is basically a MuST if you have a digital recorder. Without one the sounds you get sound waaaay too sterile and cold. The TPS is by far the best preamp in its price range. Just dial in the tone preset that sounds best to you, hit record and away you go. Couldn't be happier with it.