ART pro vla II - Page 2

peeder · 24th April 2008, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yung

well i got mine first ver. today with an sm7.. still tryin to dail the sound in tho. anyone else happen to be using the compressor with a sm7 and getin a decent sound? what comp levels are you using on vocals?

Stock the VLA is really fat and slow and the SM7 is already a bit that way. I would retube the thing for SM7 vocals...JAN Philips 12AT7. Unplug it before retubing.

Settings depend on your taste. I would probably put the knobs at noon and the buttons all out and crank the preamp until you get ~6db of compression on vocals.

Yung · 24th April 2008, 12:44 AM

I had a feeling that would be the suggestion.. my next question is which tube would you go with for it the jan 12at7 or the mullard 12at7?

RDA · 24th April 2008, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattioliCo

I saw the post and checked prices online for the ART VLA II, musician's friend has it on sale for only $199!!
I'm curious to hear how the VLA I sounds as well.

Not sure about this one. looks like version I is $199. Unless I missed it on the site?

-r

dijon · 25th April 2008, 03:19 PM

refurbished units are selling for $169 on musicians friend - I was thinking this looked too good to pass up. should I be concerned that these may be the earlier american units? I was planning on upgrading the tubes anyway so is this a factor at all?

jbuehler · 25th April 2008, 04:51 PM

Can someone answer a stupid question for me?

Is this thing a compressor, or a preamp/compressor?

I was under the impression it was simply a compressor.....

rarseman · 25th April 2008, 04:53 PM

I guess its easy to put the tubes in yourself?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dijon

refurbished units are selling for $169 on musicians friend - I was thinking this looked too good to pass up. should I be concerned that these may be the earlier american units? I was planning on upgrading the tubes anyway so is this a factor at all?

PlugHead · 25th April 2008, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbuehler

Can someone answer a stupid question for me?

Is this thing a compressor, or a preamp/compressor?

I was under the impression it was simply a compressor.....

Compressor only.

jbuehler · 25th April 2008, 05:16 PM

So what are peeder's comment about?

Quote:

Originally Posted by peeder

Settings depend on your taste. I would probably put the knobs at noon and the buttons all out and crank the preamp until you get ~6db of compression on vocals.

PlugHead · 25th April 2008, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbuehler

So what are peeder's comment about?

AFAIK, he's telling you to crank your (separate) pre-amp's gain before hitting the Pro VLA II...

jbuehler · 25th April 2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PlugHead

AFAIK, he's telling you to crank your (separate) pre-amp's gain before hitting the Pro VLA II...

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I SEE!!!

Thank you!

kingofswing · 25th April 2008, 06:05 PM

So which is the better one sonically - classic or mark II?

BudgetMC · 25th April 2008, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dijon

refurbished units are selling for $169 on musicians friend -

Doh! Sold out.

peeder · 25th April 2008, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PlugHead

AFAIK, he's telling you to crank your (separate) pre-amp's gain before hitting the Pro VLA II...

Yes.

If you get too much distortion, turn down the threshold knob and the preamp gain/output until you still have ~6db of compression but without distorting the preamp or the compressor's input stage.

Also works at mix time, setting your converter levels. You can overdrive the input stage of the VLA mk 1 pretty easily...which you may or may not like. They claim to have increased headroom a bit in VLA mk II.

MattioliCo · 25th April 2008, 11:44 PM

My bad! I saw "ART VLA 2 Compressor bla bla bla" on musician's friend for $199.
The number 2 actually stands for 2 channels...I'm an idiot

Any reviews of the VLA II compared to the earlier model?

sanjari · 7th May 2008, 04:35 AM

Any reviews on the Pro VLA II yet ?

zulusound · 7th May 2008, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dijon

refurbished units are selling for $169 on musicians friend - I was thinking this looked too good to pass up. should I be concerned that these may be the earlier american units? I was planning on upgrading the tubes anyway so is this a factor at all?

I got one of the MF blowouts, the one I got was Chinese, but it did not have the hex screws. I opened up my other Chinese one and noticed the transformer was different. At $169 everyone should have one of these. I have lots of "nicer" comps, but the VLA always finds a spot in the mix. The only criticism is it can be a bit hissy.

dijon · 8th May 2008, 02:13 PM

I ended up getting one but at the last minute I balked and got the non-refurbished for $199 - eh, extra 30 bucks. Just tracked some vocals on it and thought it sounded pretty nice so I'm thinking I'll wait on the tube 'upgrade' - if it is even that - diff sound maybe, but definitely not a priority.

mr. moon · 12th May 2008, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanjari

Any reviews on the Pro VLA II yet ?

Bump...

-mr moon

tympanica · 15th May 2008, 01:13 AM

hey folks. yesterday I tried the vla 2! and I´m very sorry to tell you that it really disappoints! We ( three studio owners ) plugged it in hoping it will kick our a... after reading so much about it on gs....but soon we thought " is it even on?" We took a joemeek, rnc and rnl against it just to hear again what a low end compressor could / should do. ( the big boys even left untouched ) the art really has absolutely no sound. ( Yes...we found the bypass knob...:-) You can crank it all the way up and see a lot of gain reduktion going on but there is no way to make it pumpin or rockin in a way...the joemeek felt like a 1000 tons tank against that nothing. sorry but just for pure leveling without adding any power I can use my itb stuff! Maybe there are some tasks for it ( 2bus if you don´t want any color on your mix, but why just leave it out then anyway?) I wanted to love it but in the low end market the fmr stuff is just too good or lately art is selling expensive vu meters.

elektrovolt · 15th May 2008, 01:36 AM

well, that could be the power of the VLA, quite transparent compression...
I once had an old VLA and it was great and thick, only a little dull (a chinese, not u.s.) but great on some recordings, for sure !

peeder · 15th May 2008, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tympanica

hey folks. yesterday I tried the vla 2! and I´m very sorry to tell you that it really disappoints! We ( three studio owners ) plugged it in hoping it will kick our a... after reading so much about it on gs....but soon we thought " is it even on?" We took a joemeek, rnc and rnl against it just to hear again what a low end compressor could / should do. ( the big boys even left untouched ) the art really has absolutely no sound. ( Yes...we found the bypass knob...:-) You can crank it all the way up and see a lot of gain reduktion going on but there is no way to make it pumpin or rockin in a way...the joemeek felt like a 1000 tons tank against that nothing. sorry but just for pure leveling without adding any power I can use my itb stuff! Maybe there are some tasks for it ( 2bus if you don´t want any color on your mix, but why just leave it out then anyway?) I wanted to love it but in the low end market the fmr stuff is just too good or lately art is selling expensive vu meters.

Whataver you do don't buy an LA-2A, which the ART is trying to emulate. The LA-2A is very transparent to about 20db of compression.

That's reason enough to spend $3000 on one channel of it. Spending $300 on two channels that, while not as stellar certainly, do the trick, ain't too bad.

And I have probably most of the great ITB compressors as well as those and the others you mention...

PoorGlory · 15th May 2008, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tympanica

hey folks. yesterday I tried the vla 2! and I´m very sorry to tell you that it really disappoints! We ( three studio owners ) plugged it in hoping it will kick our a... after reading so much about it on gs....but soon we thought " is it even on?" We took a joemeek, rnc and rnl against it just to hear again what a low end compressor could / should do. ( the big boys even left untouched ) the art really has absolutely no sound. ( Yes...we found the bypass knob...:-) You can crank it all the way up and see a lot of gain reduktion going on but there is no way to make it pumpin or rockin in a way...the joemeek felt like a 1000 tons tank against that nothing. sorry but just for pure leveling without adding any power I can use my itb stuff! Maybe there are some tasks for it ( 2bus if you don´t want any color on your mix, but why just leave it out then anyway?) I wanted to love it but in the low end market the fmr stuff is just too good or lately art is selling expensive vu meters.

This is not my experience at all with the VLA 2. It is somewhat transparent, but on sources with a lot of transients, like drums, you can get your attack.release settings to really bring the punch out of the drum mix. I can imagine if you use it on some vocals or guitars or whatever, it might not give you that VCA compressor sound. If I wanted audible compression artifacts, I'd use something else. If you didn't think the VLA is working, you would be even more disappointed in something like the DW Fearn VT-7.

Benmrx · 15th May 2008, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tympanica

You can crank it all the way up and see a lot of gain reduktion going on but there is no way to make it pumpin

I know that in your opinion this is a bad thing, but that sentence really makes me want to pick one up!

htieksppircs · 17th May 2008, 08:49 AM

This is a fantastic sounding compressor, for the price or otherwise. I PICK IT OVER MY DISTRESSOR in a lot of circumstances. It's not as fast, but it's warm and nice w/ a clean high end. It's quieter and much more versatile than the old one and the metering is great! Looks cool in the rack. I put in some NOS Siemens ECC801's from Tube Monger. That's it. Tried NOS Tung Sol, and of course the original Ruby 12AX7s which weren't bad, actually better than the NOS Tung Sols, but the ECC801s make it SING. Very clean. Love this thing. Run don't walk before they raise the price! Don't let any of these high end - "it must be Pro Tools HD, Genelecs, Manley, API and vintage Neumann" or it ain't worth a crap snobs influence you. On certain sources, I'd put this thing in a blind fold test against any compressor at any price and win. If you don't have a problem having something that says ART in your rack, then park the Toyota next to the Ferrari. You'll probably drive it more.

tympanica · 18th May 2008, 09:36 PM

Maybe I was a little fast with my opinion about the vla2. Yesterday I tried it on an outboard mixdown session with my midas venice and truely it was his transparent sound that I needed in that case. As all of you mentioned it is not that slamin kind of compressor but when you have a lot of color on the board ( otb mixing with channelstrips+group compression and midas eq) it is nice to have the art vla to control the main bus without adding another color which sometimes would overpimp the mix. We first tried it on a stereo mix out of the box, where it not really shines but in an analog mix situation it is a precise tool. the outboard mixdown was "as allways" a little bassy but a world greater against the itb mixes i tried on that song...but that´s anther story...

apfEID · 22nd May 2008, 07:45 PM

so any shoot outs on the VLA vs VLA II?

Also, VLA (I or II) vs RNC? Both are well regarded cheap as hell analog stereo compressors, and both are on my shopping list. I like that the VLA has meters etc, but I also like that the RNC is 1/3rd rack width at 1 U high, vs full size 2-U.

cdog · 22nd May 2008, 07:53 PM

Its not horrible. I think if you modded it it MIGHT be OK for pro use.

Stock unit is noisy.

Personally, unless its for live performance, I'd rather use plug ins than anything ART.

warhead · 22nd May 2008, 08:03 PM

cdog, are you referring to the new VLA II being noisy?

I spent an evening with one recently (posted around here somewhere I think) and it was really, really quiet.

War

peeder · 22nd May 2008, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdog

Its not horrible. I think if you modded it it MIGHT be OK for pro use.

Stock unit is noisy.

Personally, unless its for live performance, I'd rather use plug ins than anything ART.

You know that there are tubes that are noisier than others, right?

My (Chinese Mk I) unit has very little noise with my NOS JAN Philips in it. And the noise floor is nice and smooth.

Benmrx · 27th May 2008, 11:44 PM

Just picked up the Pro VLA (version 1) off Craigslist a couple days ago. Finally got a chance to plug it in and double check everything works alright. And it does, no scratchy pots, all the lights come on, all the functions seem to work, etc.

BTW, my guess is that this is a "chinese version" based on the fact that there are phillips head screws on the faceplate.

The unit came with a pair of Groove Tubes installed. I'm curious if anyones checked these out with their VLA, and what your thoughts might be on the GT vs. something else. I don't care about noise too much, as long as it's not crazy, but would love to find something a bit "brighter" than the GT. My initial reaction is that it sounds like the reviews I've read based on the stock tubes. It's seems pretty dark and slugdy to me. Then again I've only used it for a total of 5 minutes or so.

My hopes are that it will usually live on a guitar buss mult, BGV's, or effects returns.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Art pro vla	stickstome2	Geekslutz forum	9	7th August 2008 04:52 AM
Art Pro VLA	loydma3	Low End Theory	5	14th February 2007 05:58 PM
ART Pro VLA	jseveriniii	So much gear, so little time!	4	14th February 2007 04:24 PM
The ART Pro VLA	74thstreet	So much gear, so little time!	23	21st July 2006 04:15 PM

15th May 2008, 01:36 AM	#50
elektrovolt Gear Head Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: den haag, NL Posts: 40	well, that could be the power of the VLA, quite transparent compression... I once had an old VLA and it was great and thick, only a little dull (a chinese, not u.s.) but great on some recordings, for sure ! __________________ http://www.myspace.com/elektrovolt

17th May 2008, 08:49 AM	#54
htieksppircs Gear interested Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 11	Just get it... This is a fantastic sounding compressor, for the price or otherwise. I PICK IT OVER MY DISTRESSOR in a lot of circumstances. It's not as fast, but it's warm and nice w/ a clean high end. It's quieter and much more versatile than the old one and the metering is great! Looks cool in the rack. I put in some NOS Siemens ECC801's from Tube Monger. That's it. Tried NOS Tung Sol, and of course the original Ruby 12AX7s which weren't bad, actually better than the NOS Tung Sols, but the ECC801s make it SING. Very clean. Love this thing. Run don't walk before they raise the price! Don't let any of these high end - "it must be Pro Tools HD, Genelecs, Manley, API and vintage Neumann" or it ain't worth a crap snobs influence you. On certain sources, I'd put this thing in a blind fold test against any compressor at any price and win. If you don't have a problem having something that says ART in your rack, then park the Toyota next to the Ferrari. You'll probably drive it more.

22nd May 2008, 08:03 PM	#58
warhead Jai guru deva om Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: South Carolina Posts: 7,768	cdog, are you referring to the new VLA II being noisy? I spent an evening with one recently (posted around here somewhere I think) and it was really, really quiet. War __________________ Warren Dent Email: warren (at) frontendaudio (dot) com Front End Audio Sells Gear Tuesday Testers: Hear the Gear Shootouts Product Videos on YouTube: Overviews of Gear

27th May 2008, 11:44 PM	#60
Benmrx Lives for gear Join Date: May 2005 Location: Seattle Posts: 1,423	Just picked up the Pro VLA (version 1) off Craigslist a couple days ago. Finally got a chance to plug it in and double check everything works alright. And it does, no scratchy pots, all the lights come on, all the functions seem to work, etc. BTW, my guess is that this is a "chinese version" based on the fact that there are phillips head screws on the faceplate. The unit came with a pair of Groove Tubes installed. I'm curious if anyones checked these out with their VLA, and what your thoughts might be on the GT vs. something else. I don't care about noise too much, as long as it's not crazy, but would love to find something a bit "brighter" than the GT. My initial reaction is that it sounds like the reviews I've read based on the stock tubes. It's seems pretty dark and slugdy to me. Then again I've only used it for a total of 5 minutes or so. My hopes are that it will usually live on a guitar buss mult, BGV's, or effects returns. __________________ http://myspace.com/mysteriousredx www.mysteriousredx.com

24th April 2008, 12:44 AM	#32
Yung Gear Head Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 49	I had a feeling that would be the suggestion.. my next question is which tube would you go with for it the jan 12at7 or the mullard 12at7?

25th April 2008, 03:19 PM	#34
dijon Gear Head Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 39	refurbished units are selling for $169 on musicians friend - I was thinking this looked too good to pass up. should I be concerned that these may be the earlier american units? I was planning on upgrading the tubes anyway so is this a factor at all?

25th April 2008, 04:51 PM	#35
jbuehler Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 869	Can someone answer a stupid question for me? Is this thing a compressor, or a preamp/compressor? I was under the impression it was simply a compressor.....

25th April 2008, 06:05 PM	#41
kingofswing Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 866	So which is the better one sonically - classic or mark II?

25th April 2008, 11:44 PM	#44
MattioliCo Gear maniac Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, Brazil Posts: 192	My bad! I saw "ART VLA 2 Compressor bla bla bla" on musician's friend for $199. The number 2 actually stands for 2 channels...I'm an idiot Any reviews of the VLA II compared to the earlier model?

7th May 2008, 04:35 AM	#45
sanjari Gear nut Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 83	Any reviews on the Pro VLA II yet ?

8th May 2008, 02:13 PM	#47
dijon Gear Head Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 39	I ended up getting one but at the last minute I balked and got the non-refurbished for $199 - eh, extra 30 bucks. Just tracked some vocals on it and thought it sounded pretty nice so I'm thinking I'll wait on the tube 'upgrade' - if it is even that - diff sound maybe, but definitely not a priority.

15th May 2008, 01:13 AM	#49
tympanica Gear interested Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 6	hey folks. yesterday I tried the vla 2! and I´m very sorry to tell you that it really disappoints! We ( three studio owners ) plugged it in hoping it will kick our a... after reading so much about it on gs....but soon we thought " is it even on?" We took a joemeek, rnc and rnl against it just to hear again what a low end compressor could / should do. ( the big boys even left untouched ) the art really has absolutely no sound. ( Yes...we found the bypass knob...:-) You can crank it all the way up and see a lot of gain reduktion going on but there is no way to make it pumpin or rockin in a way...the joemeek felt like a 1000 tons tank against that nothing. sorry but just for pure leveling without adding any power I can use my itb stuff! Maybe there are some tasks for it ( 2bus if you don´t want any color on your mix, but why just leave it out then anyway?) I wanted to love it but in the low end market the fmr stuff is just too good or lately art is selling expensive vu meters.

18th May 2008, 09:36 PM	#55
tympanica Gear interested Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 6	Maybe I was a little fast with my opinion about the vla2. Yesterday I tried it on an outboard mixdown session with my midas venice and truely it was his transparent sound that I needed in that case. As all of you mentioned it is not that slamin kind of compressor but when you have a lot of color on the board ( otb mixing with channelstrips+group compression and midas eq) it is nice to have the art vla to control the main bus without adding another color which sometimes would overpimp the mix. We first tried it on a stereo mix out of the box, where it not really shines but in an analog mix situation it is a precise tool. the outboard mixdown was "as allways" a little bassy but a world greater against the itb mixes i tried on that song...but that´s anther story...

22nd May 2008, 07:45 PM	#56
apfEID Gear interested Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Kearny, NJ Posts: 25	so any shoot outs on the VLA vs VLA II? Also, VLA (I or II) vs RNC? Both are well regarded cheap as hell analog stereo compressors, and both are on my shopping list. I like that the VLA has meters etc, but I also like that the RNC is 1/3rd rack width at 1 U high, vs full size 2-U.

22nd May 2008, 07:53 PM	#57
cdog Lives for gear Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Brooklyn Posts: 2,177	Its not horrible. I think if you modded it it MIGHT be OK for pro use. Stock unit is noisy. Personally, unless its for live performance, I'd rather use plug ins than anything ART.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes	Rate This Thread
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode	Rate This Thread: