Should I buy an ART MPA II?

[Kinetic_beats]

I own the mpa ii and it's worth the money IMO

[DR Music]

If your not so serious get it, if you want to step it up to a better 2ch, which I would recommend. The ART VLA proll is a nice compressor.
The ART MPA would be an improvement over your interface mic pres...

Good Day!

[river]

I own three of the original MPA's and replaced the stock tubes with high quality NOS versions. I have no plans to replace them, they're keepers.

[icecubeman]

ART MPA II with changed stock tubes is very good preamp for various recording scenarios. You cant go wrong with it I am still using it side by side with my Daking preamp

[ivmike]

If you buy a new MPA II, burn-in the tubes (run music through the unit at high plate voltage for a couple of days) before you start tracking with it.

The MPA II and the original MPA Gold are great preamps; you'd be hard-pressed to find a better two-channel preamp for under $1000. I own both the Gold and the MPA II and I am very happy with both units.

[mattjew24]

Originally Posted by skinslapper

Hey everyone,

I've recently set up my rehearsal space to do some serious home recording with my not-so-serious equipement (budget mics, desks, delta 1010's etc).

I've got my drums sounding pretty good, but I'd like to get a couple of preamps that I can have free to mic vocals, guitar, and line bass into. I was drawn to the MPA because of the price ($300 AUS), variable impedance dial and the gain staging selector because I'd like some versatility. I like to play metal in the vain of TOOL, so not too pristine, and I would also like to play with tube selections and dials to get some dirty blues sounding stuff for my wife.

I've already been recording with some behringer mic800's and a xenyx desk and the results were not as bad as I was expecting, but I hope the MPA will be a step up, however small.

I understand that there are many here who would swear against ART gear and some who love it. I'm hoping to get some useful feedback on this unit and others in a comparable price range.

Thanks in advance.

First Tool isn't metal. They even hate the term.

Secondly, old Tool or new Tool? You can definitely achieve an Undertow quality but not 10,000 days.

Thirdly I love my MPA Gold. Definitely swap the tubes though

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by ivmike

If you buy a new MPA II, burn-in the tubes (run music through the unit at high plate voltage for a couple of days) before you start tracking with it.

The MPA II and the original MPA Gold are great preamps; you'd be hard-pressed to find a better two-channel preamp for under $1000. I own both the Gold and the MPA II and I am very happy with both units.

These are hard-pressed mic pre's.. Most definitely nicer pre's under $1000
$660 - Audient Micro - Awesome Awesome Mic Pre!
$899 - Focusrite Two - Clean with an Input Transformer.
$599 - Black Lion Audio - Autuer Mic Pre - Bad As lil monster.
$849 - Sytek 4 channel - Unbelievable Mic Pres for the money!
$585 - FMR Audio RNP - Really nice 2 Channel Pre.
$549 - DBX 386 - Dual Tube Pre I Prefer over the MPAll anyday.
$299 Presonus Studio Channel - You can buy two under $600. These Pre sounds closest to the MPAll, but you get a VCA Compressor and EQ!
$499 Presonus Eureka - 2 channels would cost you $999! At $500 this Pre is hard to beat under $1000!
Should I keep going?

Not to mention if you happen to have a 500 series power box.
$299 - Lindell 500 Pre
$399 - Chameleon Labs 581
$399 - Radial Mic Pre

Plus Do-It-Yourself! Best bet!

[DR Music]

BUT, under $300 it may be the best bet!

[Fab Macedo]

Well, I did this record last month with an Art Pro MPA II with JJs tubes, here only guitars, vocals and bass, everything passing through this pre, I like it, and the mic used in this record was the Behringer B2-Pro, I used this mic to check if this Pre could make the mic sound better, you know, try and error stuff, but in the end I think is really good.

Fabricio C Macedo - Pilate's Dream (O Sonho de Pilatos) by Kazamarella Studio on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

[skinslapper]

Originally Posted by mattjew24

First Tool isn't metal. They even hate the term.

Secondly, old Tool or new Tool? You can definitely achieve an Undertow quality but not 10,000 days.

Thirdly I love my MPA Gold. Definitely swap the tubes though

Come on dude, I know what TOOL is, you know what TOOL is, I'm trying to give a quick reference point for everyone else. And hell, if I can make stuff that sounds as good as undertow, I'll be a happy boy.

Thanks so much to everyone for their feedback. I'm buying one right now.

[Fab Macedo]

Under U$ 1000 you can also put in the list Grace Design M101.

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by Fab Macedo

Under U$ 1000 you can also put in the list Grace Design M101.

Well he said 2 channel.

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by Fab Macedo

Under U$ 1000 you can also put in the list Grace Design M101.

At one channel there are more!

[skinslapper]

Oh yeah, next up, tube selection.

So, as per my initial statement, I'm interested in sourcing some bright sounding tubes for high gain applications and some ultra round, muddy sounding ones to mess with. Any further suggestions?

[NothingTheory]

Originally Posted by skinslapper

Oh yeah, next up, tube selection.

So, as per my initial statement, I'm interested in sourcing some bright sounding tubes for high gain applications and some ultra round, muddy sounding ones to mess with. Any further suggestions?

New Stock tubes

Bright - ruby

muddy- jj or sovtek. the cheap $9 guitar amp tubes.

NOS

pretty much anything NOS will sound better than new stock. Sound varies greatly. A good place to read up on sonic differences to minutia is on Brent Jesse's site. ( audiotubes.com) I told him I wanted all that info in a book with pictures, but im not sure he realized I was serious.

[zzzxtreme]

No, u should buy a roland mmp 2 for $150

[bandso]

I've recorded in some higher end studios in the past and I was looking for that larger than life, all encompasing vocal sound that they can give while tracking. I tried different preamps and microphones, but something was lacking from the experience I remembered. Then I thankfully picked up a new ART Pro Channel II and bang there it was, even with a cheap MXL microphone. I think having the compressor built in to the unit was what finally brought back that high end(ish) studio sound that I was trying to recreate. I had bought an ART MPA-II before as well, and I do really like the sound of it, but it just didn't give me the warm fuzzies and hugeness like I was expecting (as-is). I'd take a hard look at the pro channel if you are looking for a great sounding single channel unit with a little more bang for the buck.

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by bandso

I've recorded in some higher end studios in the past and I was looking for that larger than life, all encompasing vocal sound that they can give while tracking. I tried different preamps and microphones, but something was lacking from the experience I remembered. Then I thankfully picked up a new ART Pro Channel II and bang there it was, even with a cheap MXL microphone. I think having the compressor built in to the unit was what finally brought back that high end(ish) studio sound that I was trying to recreate. I had bought an ART MPA-II before as well, and I do really like the sound of it, but it just didn't give me the warm fuzzies and hugeness like I was expecting (as-is). I'd take a hard look at the pro channel if you are looking for a great sounding single channel unit with a little more bang for the buck.

Wow. A Pro Channel.

[zzzxtreme]

roland mmp2 has great high end VS preamps , many times better than a $300 art preamp
built in compressor, EQ, preamp simulations, etc.. etc... it was sold as an add-on card for their digital recorders. what's not sold, they packaged it as a dedicated hardware, a damn fine one. was almost $1K, then dropped to $500. now used on ebay and other sites for $150. I have one , does a fantastic job

[skinslapper]

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
Hehe. I just found the promo vid for the mmp2. Its pretty funny. Shame I didn't find one of these before I bought the mpa, but I'm sure I'll be happy with it. Plus I've already got tonnes of plugins for modelling and I prefer to keep my programming on the pc and just dial in my hardware.

Thanks again for all your input. I found a site called voodoo guitars that pre burn in tubes that could be handy for future purchases, but I'll certainly give the stock ones a good run first if I need to use them.