Always a lovely day when Podcastage drops a gear review :D

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Aww shucks Dapper Dan. Thank you!

I owned it in 2010-2011 and loved it! Brings many memories.

@thestratman7903

3 ай бұрын

Me too....I got it for $19 on MF.

Music test was really dope on this, great review as always!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

I really appreciate that Jeremy. Thank you so much.

i still have the art tube preamp i've purchased back in 2008-2009 and it's still very solid. still using it in all of my home recording shenanigans

You're at it again with gloriously well made music for just a small test... My hats off to you, this is beautiful...

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

That really means a lot. Thank you so much.

I've got 4 of these for my studio. Love 'em. I've had them since 1999. I used to have the Art ProMPA (the dual channel rack) I sold it a few ears back because, well, I'm stupid. I love your music demos. I'm glad you love them. Keep doing it!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

I have heard some pretty bad experiences with Art stuff so I wanted to give them a shot and I guess I got lucky with a functioning unit. Soudns like you got lucky with four of these. Are you telling me that this thing has been out for 25 YEARS!?

I did a test last year with 16 of these on a drum kit. It was kind of hilarious. We compared it to my racks of Neve preamps. Realistically the result wasn't terrible.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

16 OF THESE!? What!? You, good sir, are an absolute maniac! I would love to hear that test if you have it somewhere!

@legacyShredder1

6 ай бұрын

@@Podcastage I save everything so it's filed in my hard drive vault. I'll dig it out tomorrow. But Yes, I did. A friend of mine is building his home studio, and he believed to his core that it was all Neve preamps or nothing. Nothing else would do, not another brand, style, or more affordable clones. So we trolled him to a degree. I asked him to come in and we'd compare cheaper API's, API Clones, and Neve clones to my original Neve preamps. The twist was that the "Neve" preamps were a bunch of these ART MP's. No matter what we compared it to, he kept choosing the "Neve" even though they were all ART preamps. After I revealed he wasn't listening to Neve products, which he didn't believe, we did a pass going through the real Neve's. I was trying my hardest to show him that he didn't need the most expensive preamps out there to get great commercial results. He ended up just being mad at me for a month lol. No lesson learned.

@surreal_youtube

6 ай бұрын

2nd that statement,you’re my kinda kråzÿ 👍 would love to hear that 🤘😋🤘

@boimesa8190

6 ай бұрын

@@legacyShredder1 Pls share!

@chinmeysway

6 ай бұрын

@@legacyShredder1great story. if he was not absolutely smitten w you doing such an awesome experiment then that’s pathetic seriously. could have had some at least sound antidotal data on the nerve placebo / confirmation bias!

I've had one for years, the older version with the meter. Fifty bucks back then. For electrical noise, a ferrite bead on the power supply line helped A LOT. It's had various uses over the last six or seven years; right now we're feeding three powered monitors from our mixer's single output. The impedance of three loads was too much (yeah, OK, too little, you know what I mean) for the mixer, so I grabbed this out of the closet. It's just fine with a 1/4" line to one monitor, and the other two are daisy-chained from the XLR output. It handles everything, no problem; fire and forget. No noticeable noise or distortion added on stage, but we're not really pushing the tube very much, it's more of an impedance-matcher than anything else, which is exactly what we needed. Oh, and in a pinch, it got whipped out to act as a DI for a keyboard when a buddy sat in with us. It was distorting a little, his signal was kinda hot, but he liked it, so . . . Handy.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your experience with it. Fascinating hearing how these things are implemented in the real world.

A fair and balanced review as always. Appreciate the work you do for this channel.

I got the very similar ART MP/C compressor/limiter with a 12ax7. I used it in many applications. I have a passion for tone exploration and hacks...The most unexpected impressive thing is plugging an electric guitar in the input of this ART and the output directly into the "power amp in" of my early 90s Fender solid state amp, which means it's plugged right to the power amp section bypassing my amps' preamp section. Increasing the gain on the ART clips into a wonderful soft warm overdrive and gives me the best tone ever. No other preamp, no treble or any other tone control besides my electric guitars' volume and tone controls. The responsive character and dynamics of the ART with my stratocaster's volume and tone control is huge. And this is actually my main guitar rig rightnow and i do own 2 regular tube amps, 2 modelers. But my solidstate old Fender amp with this ART plugged straight in the power amp section is the best most touch responsive dynamic thing. No clue why it's never mentioned in forums and KZread, because it kicks serious ass with electric guitars also, not just mics.

man your the goat I watched u couple years back on mic reviews great stuff happy I found your channel again

@Podcastage

Ай бұрын

That really means a lot. Thanks so much for watching, and welcome back.

That was an extremely professional and nice-sounding "music test"! Thanks for the hard work!

I'm glad you're enjoying your music tests, I've been enjoying the stuff you've been writing and recording for them. If your extremely limited calendar allows it, I'd love to see them fleshed out into full songs

@billweaver2549

6 ай бұрын

This one especially - it was next level. Reminded me a little of Kansas or Alan Parsons Project

I bought one of these in the late aughts and don't remember it costing more than $50 USD (I think it was $45) so these things have gone up in price considerably (along with everything else!). I'm not sure it's worth it at the current price given what else is out there now. But I'm happy with it and having 60dB of gain is nice when you need it. I rarely use it on mics, mostly boosting instrument and line level signals and it performs that admirably. I haven't experienced the electrical noise issue that you did so I will have to test for that the next time I have it out. Given that you can get a Behringer MIC2200 that has TWO channels with a sweepable low pass filter and a parametric EQ on each channel for around $170 USD I don't see the ART as much of a value anymore.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Oh yeah if this was $40-$60, it’d be such a crazy deal.

@JoeStuffzAlt

6 ай бұрын

I remembering these or maybe an earlier version around for the same price. I was interested in one to use to feed mics into guitar pedals, but not at $110. It seems like it's on sale for $70 right now Update: another ART preamp is $70, but requires phantom power

There you go with awesome musical ideas again. By the time I’ve listened to your music, everything sounds fantastic. No fair!

It sounds warmer with the ART Preamp, I think it has more low end. I want to try the Behringer Mic100, I want to decide between the Art and the Behringer. Greetings from Mexico City!!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it. I hope you get to try them out and choose the one that works best for ya.

do more of these. heck i'd like to see more preamps and toneshaping/color adding device reviews. I'd also like to hear you having more fun, it's exciting! You always add such quality to the atmosphere.

That demo with the cranked gain (especially on the drum machine) sounded dope.

Love the demo’s.. nice job. It performs good better than I expected. Thanks

I used one of these with an SM58 for a number of years. Decent enough!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Yeah. I’d say it’s more than decent enough.

You should check out the behringer sl84c its even cheaper than the xm8500!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for the suggestion.

The older Art Tube is LEGENDARY good!

They used to give these away for free if you purchased over a certain amount at either AML or Musicians Friend. I preferred the Presonus tube pre over this. Didnt know the 2i2 had a line in on it. Huh. Music demo was awesome!!! I like the grit on the bass was a good touch. Video kicked butt as usual! Thanks!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

If this was thrown in free with an order, I don’t think there’s a single complaint I would have. Fun little pre here. Also than k you very for the kind words. I guess the 2i2 doesn’t have a dedicated line input with its own circuitry, so I just run in with gain at 0 which is what focusrite suggests (fael-downloads-prod.focusrite.com/customer/prod/s3fs-public/downloads/Scarlett2i2%203rd%20Gen%20User%20Guide_EN.pdf)

awe i luv that drum machine! and so glad you’re getting some better music things on now ❤ great guitaring. i use two of those for remote set up !

I didn't expect much of a difference, and the difference was very slight, but I like how it sounded better through the preamp. It just sounded more pleasant overall.

Thanks for yet another great review! I'd really like to see you test the antelope audio edge solo. Just a suggestion! Take care!

the music in the music test is REALLY good

Art makes a preamp with a voicing knob that does a lot of great things tonally on the way in. There's also the Art II TPS which gives you 2 channels of tube preamp for a decent price.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

I looked up their preamps after finishing this and they seem to have a lot. Thanks for the info.

Just wanted to say that was some really lovely guitar playing/composing!

Finally a new Preamp Review!!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Yessir. Only a few months in between them. I have another one planned in another few months.

The noise can be reduced by replacing the stock Chinese tube with a JJ or other 12AX7 tube if you have some hanging around. It may not be worth the price though.

@OogieWa

6 ай бұрын

And put a ferrite bead on the supply line, it helped us a lot.

@johnchambliss

6 ай бұрын

@@OogieWa Those are certainly an inexpensive potential solution!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Great suggestion on the ferrite bead. I’ll look into that and pick some up.

@OogieWa

6 ай бұрын

@@johnchambliss There's a good reason so many quality products use them. All my Roland keyboard power supplies come with them.

This little guy is a working-class hero. I just compared a studio v3 in its neutral setting (wich is pretty much the same than this version) and I promise it sounds as good or even better than RME preamps for those in search for warm valve sound. RMEs are a little bit more thin and slightly more detailed and this one is rich and musical. It's crazy. I used a Lewitt 440 pure for the test. I recomend any preamp to be used with a very low self noise microphone such as a Rode nt1a, Lewitt 440 pure or Neuman TLM 103.

Hi Bandrew, what about reviewing an affordable channelstrip like the Behringer Ultravoice UV1?

loved the music! made me wanna try a vocal line.was just waiting for the stoney heavy drums to come in for a raw verse part... it felt inspired and was therefor inspiring. thank you a lot. remember when i first thought of buying this thing but it was not "essential enough" to justify as a poor musician (when it actually lacked some essentials..)

Your music in the test was very nice!

oddly, back in the late 80's or early 90's when it came out i bought one (still own it) and it was the first outboard mic pre i owned outside a mixer (no interfaces then) and i found it excellent for the money, just as the original Behringer mic pre was for little outlay (sold all of those). What budget units lack is input headroom because of low voltage power rails so loud sources need not apply.

My use scenario is: I have two mic inputs and need 3, and my interface has 2 line level inputs. Simple as that, I get an extra mic pre, with the "tube/valve" flavor, for a relatively nice price.

That musical idea was actually kind of fire. Haven't caught your vids in a while but I like the new direction in test material. Nothing against the Weezer-Yankovic stuff, of course.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thanks very much.

Great review, as always... and TOP music sir :)

Nice work on that music demo!

Bandrew added a drummer to the band, and I was around to see it. 😎

I had the usb variant of this and loved it. It was around £100 back in the early 2000s

Crazy timing. I bought one of these for €25 last week. Great on DI guitar.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

For that price, hard to argue.

Hey Bandrew, thanks for the really useful review! I'm thinking about picking up an outboard preamp around $100-$200. I've watched your review on the PreSonus TubePre V2 too. Another product I've found in this price range is the Behringer Ultragain Pro MIC2200, and I would kindly wish that you can have a review on that.

Good video, I have two, but you missed an important parts: connectivity and mobile phantom power. With both XLR and TRS I/O and the phantom power, the thing fits in a backpack with your mics. The older one I have has a VU meter instead of the light.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the input on that, I appreciate it.

@ArmchairRamb0

6 ай бұрын

Cheers. I appreciate your channel.@@Podcastage

Best tune yet.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Wow that’s incredibly kind of you to say. Thank you so much.

Exactly the review I was looking for😂

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching.

I used to have one of these when i played bass in a metal band i never really heard any difference when using it. It sounded really good direct to the pa

i recorded my first 5 years of music through an ART tube-pac. great little unit. replaced the cheap tubes with some nicer ones, and that thing would immediately shine up anything you plugged into it.

@brancast116

4 ай бұрын

Do you have any recommendations on which tubes to buy for the replacement upgrade?

Sweet music making there.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thank you so much Dana.

Damn Bandrew! Your music making and mixing skills are awesome. (I have no idea what your day job is so if that comes across as condescending, I apologise) Podcast on how to do that stuff, please Prof. Bandrew!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

That really means a lto Lyvvie, thank you so much. Once I get some full releases out, I’ll try and make some tutorials for sure. Thanks for the suggestion!

They keep the power AC until it’s rectified in the unit, which I’ve never understood. The idea of having the wall wort is to avoid all that business from being heard. This may be why you’re hearing this hum🧐. I haven’t heard it from any of my Art units, but then there’s also a very basic tube that comes standard in there… and those things can do all kinds of unusual things, as well… and have different personalities. Sorry I said too many things, as usual. Thanks for the video.

I have an ART tube MP StudioV3 and I often use it because it's easy to take anywhere compared to the other micpre I have, I also have a Behringer tube ultragain MIC100 but I prefer ART because it sounds better, the only problem is that this thing doesn't last long... anyway the song is very nice... thank you

I'm pretty sure this is the preamp I used to have, I don't remember what I used it for but I think an acoustic guitar or something back when I used to play out live I had one of these art to preamps that look just like that. Remember selling it on eBay and like 6 months later I was like you know I probably shouldn't have sold that

Used one on guitar cab mics for some years it always sounded secretly good.

i use one of these so i could get a phantom power requiring microphone into my computer and i never got a "normal" computer audio interface. i like it. overloading for vocals can be cool too, i can also record my guitar DI into garageband and i do that plenty. if was still using my old tascam 4 track for recording (which i used to use for input for a while) i bet it'd work rad with that too. i probably could get something different (and i might) but for now it's doing the thing i want out of it. it would be nice if it had more of a level indicator than just an LED going yellow/red, but oh well...

I bought the 2nd gen of this preamp (with the VU meter) and have found that electrical noise to be just a distracting irritant when recording voice overs. It's a shame that ART wasn't able to clean it up but I guess that's part of the compromise at this price point. And I agree, it's probably better to save up a little more money for a better interface. I've seen used UA Volt1 interfaces going for about the same money as the ART.

@OogieWa

6 ай бұрын

Try putting a ferrite bead on the power supply line. That got rid of all our noise, surprisingly.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for that suggestion.

Holy cow, I have one of these. It must be 20 years old.

Nice, the music test made me think of Buckethead!

behringer mic 200 all the way!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Glad you’ve found the preamp you enjoy. Thanks for watching.

Music test was interesting, had like a space feel to it

Here's the golden Bandrew question, This, or a cloudlifter? I can see them used in similar ways, and I'm curious to know what you think. I said before, I have the behringer version of this (because behringer cloned it), and it works well for BassDI, this art pre seems to do an even better job in that regard so might be something I look into getting. Still fairly cheap, and still way cheaper than the Neve circuit it's (poorly) cloned from, though I really do wonder if the Neve tax is actually worth it. My gut says no..... and if you've got Neve money (and patience), to me, it probably makes more sense to go Avalon. I've heard those a fair bit, and they work well. Very different workflow using analog channel strips pre ADC, kinda, well... takes some thought. I have no envy for pre-digital engineering, nope, not one bit lol

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Nowadays most preamps in audio interfaces can drive a mic to a reasonable level and they have respectable EINs. If you’re running an outboard preamp with a super high noise floor, then I’d say go for the cloudlifter or fethead in line between the preamp you actually want and the mic that way you’re not imparting too much coloration or other distortion onto the signal. My recommendation for this over a cloudlifter can be boiled down to the recommendation for those with cheap interfaces…instead of spending $110 on this (or cloudlifter), invest in a $150 interface.

I was going to buy one. You made me realize I don’t need it.😅

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

If I’m helping you save money, then I’m doing my job. Happy recording.

So many people sleep on the ART hardware. I like it better than the PreSonus one. The ART PRO VLA II is an AWESOME compressor. Vocals, bass, guitar, microphones for instruments and even on a 2bus, it works great. Especially if you have a budget studio and you need a "do it all compressor". The ART Voice Channel is also really great. Again, awesome for instrument DI, vocals, etc. Really great for pod casting and stuff like that. As for this pre, I like it. It can be noisy, but it's a tube pre, what do you expect? Swap the tube and you may have better luck. I wouldn't put a old GE tube in it. That's like a $300 saddle on a $100 horse. The step up from here, if you want tube would be maybe the UA 610. (WHICH YOU HAVE BANDREW!) Sad there wasn't a side by side?

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Is that something that should be added in these reviews Side by side comparisons of pre to pre?

@Skykingsound

6 ай бұрын

@@Podcastage You put so much work into these, and they are perfect as they are. I was more kidding about it because of your awesome mice comparisons that have gotten crazy extensive and I love them. If you wanted to do a 1-2 minute "you decide" comparing a 610 and the ART, sure. It'd be fun.

So I have a 2i2 3rd Gen myself. How much do you have to adjust the interface’s pre to compensate for the Art? I mainly record acoustic, mic’d amps, and vocals. The Focusrite preamps seem to be just fine. Not sure if I spend the money for tube saturation going in or just use a saturation plugin?

Oooooh I asked for it ! Thanks a lot !

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching.

I'm really surprised how nice it sounded when clean as well. It looks like great fun for a drum machine or a mono synth but it's actually really sweet sounding as well. I wonder how the modern equivalent compares...

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Yeah i had so much fun dropping the drums through it. Gives them a whole other dimension.

There’s one of these at a local shop for $30, I think this sold me.

I like the distortion character but that electric hum would bother me. Awesome jams in this one. Cheers

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Yeah it sounds pretty fun on the drums and if I rolled it back a bit on the bass, it’d sound awesome!

Yup, ..nice video and I loved the song 👍. I've got the purple/blue one with the chicken knob and presets on it. I changed the Chinese 12AX7 tube out for a non expensive Electro Harmonix 12AU7 with way less MU gain. I found the original tube a bit hissy with the 12AX, and this was advise of a knowledgeable person who wrote the gain would be way more liniar. Still have to try it out real good after al these years, cos the hiss those days could have easily come from my first Samson C03 condencer mic, ..stupid me 😂. On the otherhand, I read these things with the original 12AX7 are also used as DI's for Bass. Like in this video🤘🏻.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for that idea on changing out the tube. I haven’t done that on any of these cheap preamps because I’m not sure if it’s really worth the time or money, but if you’re getting usable results out of it, that’s wonderful. HAHA! The C03 self noise could definitely have been the culprits. And thanks so much for watching!

@meanmr.mustard

6 ай бұрын

In that same article that advised the 12AU7 tube for more linear gain it's also been stated it's a starved plate technique used for the tube (seen that technique in a other ART product video aswell). Works different than actual tube technique. The author showed a whole scedual - which was abracadabra to me 😅. l. But if you want to keep that bit of crunch I guess you better leave the 12AX7 inside of this little amp, ..although my replacement EH tube was only €16 😉. Keep up the nice video's 👍.

There are some very keen ears working at ART. I have products of theirs spanning almost 45 years and they are difficult to sell, as in I don’t want to.

Do you change the tube 12 ax7 made in china or not? thank's

Hello Bandrew - I need a recommendation! As a digital nomad I'm looking for a small portable microphone and desk stand that I can use for podcast / voice over / video calls, would prefer USB since I'm looking for portability while maintining audio quality and looking professional. What options should I be looking at? Thanks in advance!

great video!

Is it suitable if I want to use it on scarlett solo to record vocal and rap songs?

Can you do a video on the PreSonus ioStation 24c next?

Danke!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thank you so much Rainer!

@techmed-rainer

6 ай бұрын

@@Podcastage You're dearly welcome, Bandrew!

Excellent music!

You should also do ART Tube MP/C

What's studio projects b1 mic like I'm looking to by some good cheap mics that a can abuse, maybe do affordable rugged condenser mics

Hii sir,i want buy try for my home studio,for vocal good or not?

What was that song you played. It sounded awesome!

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

It’s something I wrote to test out the preamp. Thanks for watching.

Have you ever done a review of your Focusrite 18i20? Looking for a rack mounted multi-input audio interface to use instead of the Motu M4 I'm currently using.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

I haven’t ever done a full review of the 18i20. I don’t have a modern one, and I think reviewing the 2nd gen would be a bit pointless at this time.

I have one but I'm not sure if I would use it as a preamp that I say would be good for podcasting. Interesting.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

The only thing that would keep me from using it for a podcast is the electrical hum, but that was insanely quiet. You could probably get away with it and almost no one would notice. But if you can use a preamp that doesn’t have that, you’d be better off.

Can it be used as a preamp for a Bass guitar?

Yay! That time you didn't fall while throwed a box! 😊 Hope, it wasn't painful. Comment with useless information, but with good wishes. 😊

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

I survived this throw!

I don’t hear any background hiss. All I hear is this loud ringing, and I’m not sure what frequency it…. Oh hell, that’s just my tinnitus, yeah, it drowns out any background noise. 🙂👍🏻

Hi, do you think I could get a better sound if I change the tube?

@legacyShredder1

Ай бұрын

No. The only way a new tube would make a difference is if the original tube was broken. You can get slightly different distortion characteristic depending on the specific tube, but it wont sound better.

is this song released ???

The original ones had a VU meter.

Alchemy Audio modifies these by upgrading the 12ax7, power supply and some internals for better performance.

The full band mixes rule

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

I really appreciate that very much. ❤️

I have this since years, but rarely used it. I paid less at that time.

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

That seems to be common that people got this for a lot lower price. Thanks for sharing

I prefer ART Tube MP Studio V3

@petermollo1908

6 ай бұрын

Me too man

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for sharing your opinion. I may have to check out some of their newer preamps.

@nikolayew

6 ай бұрын

@@Podcastage It has different settings. For example I used a brighter setting with sm7b which was a nice combination.

I'ma need you to come up off this song Bandrew, 🔫 expeditiously

Please didily do Lauten Eden love you thank u

isnt that like over 10 years old?

@Podcastage

6 ай бұрын

I think it is quite old. It is really affordable and it’s pretty popular so I figured it was worth a shot.

To me, that is a noisy preamp. I could definitely pick up hiss when you went quiet.

0:35 "... the required power cable, some sticky rubber feet, and Immanuel." -- whether or not you care, this product was made in the Vatican

Art V3 it is