ART MPA Gold or FMR RNP????

[stvintage]

I'm looking into getting a decent 2 channel preamp for around $700. I've come across the ART MPA Gold, MPA Gold Digital, DAV BG1, and the FMR RNP so far. Any opinions on these would be greatly apprecitaed. Also, is there any distributors of the DAV BG1 here in the US?

[NesNeedsGear]

I have a FMR RNP and it does a great job on clean, transparent gain. I've been using it on vocal mics from SM7's, MXL V69, and even an AT 4060. Not one complaint yet. I compress lightly going into Nuendo using the ART pro VLA, or the FMR RNC. Both are a bit picky as to how much gain reduction/release to dial in, but boy it sounds amazing once you get the Mojo going.
The warmth from the AT4060 and extra meat from the ART VLA is definitely comparable to much higher-end setups.

Haven't tried the ART amp, so no advice there.

a Couple of guys will rave to you about the DAV BG1 (for only $100 more shipped to the states). That'll be my next purchase, so I can't help you til then.

good luck.

[dkelley]

rnp is a good preamp, however at current prices (the only thing by that company that hasn't had a major price drop over the past few months) it seems a little overpriced to me (around $570 canadian at my local store). The art mpa gold, which I own, bought for $399 canadian, is excellent, similar sounding to the rnp but maybe with a spec more warmth for whatever reason. Honestly, it's probably the BB opamps that provide the warmth considering the cheapo tubes that come with it, but if you swap out the tubes for just about anything else (russian, american, eurpean, just not chinese) you'll get different tone, generally warmer and sometimes cleaner or dirtier depending on the tube. I like clean, but I don't remember what I put in it to get that result, might be NOS ge tubes?

Neat thing about the art mpa gold, run it on high plate voltage (the way it was MEANT to be used), swap out different tubes and you can get lots of different sounds from it, all great, all useful. Can't do that with an RNP. and the art is cheaper.

The art is very clean and has a ton of gain, great for ribbon mics also. I own a few pres and really like the mpa gold for plenty of things, for example lead vocals, bass guitar di, drum overheads.

Oh yea, and not that this is super important, but the mpa gold has variable input impedence for mics. unusual at any price, unheard of at this price.

also, a little known spec (but published in the manual briefly) is that at high plate voltage it gets up higher than 100khz. This has been confirmed somewhere on this board or on another board, don't recall which.

pro specs, pro sound. great units both, art is cheaper, art looks cooler, art has very useful metering, art allows you to swap tubes for different tones, up to you though. Nothing wrong with an RNP, great pre, just for the money, I like more features everythign else being equal. To me, everything else is pretty much equal... soooooooo.....

:-)

Cheers,
Don

[lerone]

Originally Posted by dkelley

rnp is a good preamp, however at current prices (the only thing by that company that hasn't had a major price drop over the past few months) it seems a little overpriced to me (around $570 canadian at my local store). The art mpa gold, which I own, bought for $399 canadian, is excellent, similar sounding to the rnp but maybe with a spec more warmth for whatever reason. Honestly, it's probably the BB opamps that provide the warmth considering the cheapo tubes that come with it, but if you swap out the tubes for just about anything else (russian, american, eurpean, just not chinese) you'll get different tone, generally warmer and sometimes cleaner or dirtier depending on the tube. I like clean, but I don't remember what I put in it to get that result, might be NOS ge tubes?

Neat thing about the art mpa gold, run it on high plate voltage (the way it was MEANT to be used), swap out different tubes and you can get lots of different sounds from it, all great, all useful. Can't do that with an RNP. and the art is cheaper.

The art is very clean and has a ton of gain, great for ribbon mics also. I own a few pres and really like the mpa gold for plenty of things, for example lead vocals, bass guitar di, drum overheads.

Oh yea, and not that this is super important, but the mpa gold has variable input impedence for mics. unusual at any price, unheard of at this price.

also, a little known spec (but published in the manual briefly) is that at high plate voltage it gets up higher than 100khz. This has been confirmed somewhere on this board or on another board, don't recall which.

pro specs, pro sound. great units both, art is cheaper, art looks cooler, art has very useful metering, art allows you to swap tubes for different tones, up to you though. Nothing wrong with an RNP, great pre, just for the money, I like more features everythign else being equal. To me, everything else is pretty much equal... soooooooo.....

:-)

Cheers,
Don

Yep the art does rule. get 2 channels of GAP PRE 73 and a bg1 and your laughing! And yeah, get some nos valves in there!

[RTR]

Love my mpa gold..I did a couple quick test's with mine when I first got it..right here
ART MPA GOLD - Excessive Hum from output gain

[Weasel9992]

I have them both, and I really couldn't tell you which one I like more. If I had to pick one of them as the better value it would definitely be the MPA Gold. You just get more preamp dollar for dollar. The RNP is a fantastic sounding little pre though...it's kinda noisy at high gain levels, but so is the MPA. Hmmm...choices, choices.

If you're only going to get one I'd probably go with the MPA Gold and a tube swap (PM Bowie for that here on GS).

Frank

[dkelley]

funny how this thread came back to life magically today after 3 years LoL.

Still, the products haven't changed (although RNP is STILL overpriced and MPA PRO II is coming out now with some supposed UI and noise-level improvements over the mpa gold).

Basically I still stand by what I said, although I actually would put the mpa as more colored now than I used to think it was, all in a good way though. colored in this case meaning a little mid-forward with a pleasant but probably not 100% accurate sheen to the top end, especially with nos tubes (the stock tubes, while I do really like their tone overall, do NOT overdrive pleasantly at all and any sheen turns to harshness at high levels, so you have to be careful).

still love the mpa gold though. sold mine, then bought 2 of them used later on when I realized what I was missing. This from me, a guy who owns 2 ssl preamps (meh, uber-clean and nice but very grace-like overall, great if you want perfection rather than magic), a vintage MAP pre (LOVE THAT THING, 100% transformer plus a custom MAP discrete op-amp chip that looks like it was made out of lego, very cool sound), vintage tesla (former U.S.S.R.) preamp, some nice yamaha pres and ward beck pres to list my current setup. I'm not including the preamps on my Alto submixer ;-)

the mpa gold is at the top of my food chain. It's simple tube gain stage works wonders along with it's overall very thoughtfully laid out setup and feature set, it allows great creativity, fantastic tone but isn't exactly pristine. It's a musical tool, not a scientifically perfect tool, and I'm really happy that I own them.

Cheers,
Don

[dakine]

I have an RNP and an Art Pro Channel (similar to the MPA Gold).

I much prefer the RNP for clear, accurate sounds.

However, the Art is good for lo-fi rock and roll, and for guitar DI.

[Chris Lago]

Originally Posted by dakine

I have an RNP and an Art Pro Channel (similar to the MPA Gold).

I much prefer the RNP for clear, accurate sounds.

However, the Art is good for lo-fi rock and roll, and for guitar DI.

Actually, the Art pro channel is different. not similar to the MPA Gold at all.

I have tried a RNP when I was looking for a preamp and liked the colour and smoothness of the Art MPA over the RNP.

[dkelley]

RNP is very good, but imho quite boring. I get the same sound from the mic pres in my (quite good) Yamaha board. Very neutral and accurate.

It's good to have pres like that certainly. But the Art MPA series give you something extra, a little mid push, configurability (through the extensive controls and swappable tubes), very high gain (70db in the older models, maybe more apparently in the newest model), continuously variable mic input impedance (useful for tonal changes with ribbon mics and dynamic mics if you like to experiment), phase reverse, continuously variable hpf (again, VERY nice), and great metering, oh yes and two channels both with excellent DI inputs as well.

Truly an excellent product, far exceeds what gear in it's price range ought to be able to do. It's not quite as linear and super accurate as the RNP (which to me resembles the grace 101 a bit in it's sound, although there's a subtle difference there as well).

Cheers

[apadua]

Happy RNP owner here...

That little things holds it own against my Great River... Great Pre!!!.. I use it pretty much for OH and acoustic guitars.. It does a little bit of color... but in a good way ...

Have not heard the MPA but I do have the PRO VLA (original).. Now that thing is great value....I like it on Bass mainly...

[RTR]

Originally Posted by dkelley

funny how this thread came back to life magically today after 3 years LoL.

Still, the products haven't changed (although RNP is STILL overpriced and MPA PRO II is coming out now with some supposed UI and noise-level improvements over the mpa gold).

Basically I still stand by what I said, although I actually would put the mpa as more colored now than I used to think it was, all in a good way though. colored in this case meaning a little mid-forward with a pleasant but probably not 100% accurate sheen to the top end, especially with nos tubes (the stock tubes, while I do really like their tone overall, do NOT overdrive pleasantly at all and any sheen turns to harshness at high levels, so you have to be careful).

still love the mpa gold though. sold mine, then bought 2 of them used later on when I realized what I was missing. This from me, a guy who owns 2 ssl preamps (meh, uber-clean and nice but very grace-like overall, great if you want perfection rather than magic), a vintage MAP pre (LOVE THAT THING, 100% transformer plus a custom MAP discrete op-amp chip that looks like it was made out of lego, very cool sound), vintage tesla (former U.S.S.R.) preamp, some nice yamaha pres and ward beck pres to list my current setup. I'm not including the preamps on my Alto submixer ;-)

the mpa gold is at the top of my food chain. It's simple tube gain stage works wonders along with it's overall very thoughtfully laid out setup and feature set, it allows great creativity, fantastic tone but isn't exactly pristine. It's a musical tool, not a scientifically perfect tool, and I'm really happy that I own them.

Cheers,
Don

funny how this thread came back to life magically today after 3 years LoL.

There was nothing MAGICAL about it..someone typed and posted a response!11 oh ya..lol