Pro VLA pro's and con's

[toque-eh!]

what are some best uses for the Pro VLA...

how about things it doesn't do so well, or sources it's not a good choice for..

more specific the better!

thanks for your input.

[scotty-o]

Well, most Art gear is crap but the VLA is a real sleeper, IMO. Especially for the price.
It rocks on drum sub-groups during mix and I use occasionally while tracking bass if I run out of Distressors and 1176.
Be careful of driving it to hard 'cause it distorts real ugly.

FWIW

-Scotty

[toque-eh!]

so don't hit the input too hard? does the distortion sound any better with a better (NOS) 12ax7 or...

[exit2studios]

bumpsky

[exit2studios]

I find that the VLA pro is pretty rockin especially for the price. It adds +4db even at 0 gain, but I find that while I might not love soloed tracks through it, I do notice that everything I run through it seems to sit in the mix much better. Quite a steal for a little over $200 new. A nice change of flava for the RNC crowd.

[toque-eh!]

well, i'm gonna try one out on some sessions and do some experimenting on the side, so i'll be able to formulate my own opinions, but i'm quite interested to know what people like/dislike about it so i can try some things to see if i have the same thoughts...

i've used lots of high end gear in studios, but don't have the budget to buy it for myself. if it's too limited in use or effect-y rather than a workhorse type of piece i'll probably just do without it.

does it do something that can't be created ITB?

the specs say +21dBU output with 5% THD! at what point is the THD at a more reasonable level? +12?, +18? 5% looks like a lot of distortion to me.

thanks for the replies, keep 'em coming.

[Luke V]

I mostly use it on drum subs for mixdown and on bass during tracking. I have use it on vox, it's pretty smooth.

[Kubilay]

I have used it on perc subs and drums, bass, and various keys. Also guitars that i wanted to be neither super-transparent nor super-hard and slammin'.

But the biggest eye-opener was when I replaced the tubes on a whim with some nice NOS. Holy crap. Better highs and lows, not exactly a subtle improvement. Highly recommended.

The fact that they go for $229 new, and then you can get two nice tubes for another $80-100, makes the ProVLA one of the best deals in audio IMO.

[toque-eh!]

Originally Posted by Kubilay

But the biggest eye-opener was when I replaced the tubes on a whim with some nice NOS. Holy crap. Better highs and lows, not exactly a subtle improvement. Highly recommended.

thanks, i happen to have a couple telefunken 12ax7's lying around.. i'll try it with the stock ones, then swap 'em out with the ones i have.

[Drumsound]

I've been really digging the VLA on guitar sub parallel when mixing. It can do some cool things to snare drums and bass drums. Bass guitar and vocals can work too. I got mine when they were first out. My old boss paid around $550 I think. I still use it a lot.

[Albert]

Originally Posted by Kubilay

I have used it on perc subs and drums, bass, and various keys. Also guitars that i wanted to be neither super-transparent nor super-hard and slammin'.

But the biggest eye-opener was when I replaced the tubes on a whim with some nice NOS. Holy crap. Better highs and lows, not exactly a subtle improvement. Highly recommended.

The fact that they go for $229 new, and then you can get two nice tubes for another $80-100, makes the ProVLA one of the best deals in audio IMO.

What replacement tubes did you use?

[cgarges]

These things are so killing. I've been using them since they first came out. I generally can't stand most ART stuff, but I think they really hit a home run with this piece. I frequently use it right alongside Manleys and Drawmer 1960s and Neves and Ureis and all the other usual suspects and rate it as an equally useful piece of gear.

Scotty-o was right on about how quickly it can get mushy-sounding and distort. Setting the threshold and how much signal you send into the unit are two totally different things. I prefer it at more subtle settings and I really like the character it imparts for certain things. I almost never set the ratio above 4:1 and I usually go for maybe 4dB of reduction on peaks, depending on the program material.

I really enjoy it on kick drums pretty frequently and on subgroups as well, either in series or parallel. I've even used it across a mix buss on occasion. It has also seen use at times on bass guitar (non-slapped), acoustic guitar, electric guitar, snare drum, organ, and vocals. I've not had much luck with it on piano, horns, cymbals, or drum ambience.

If I were to gripe, I'd want a detector high-pass filter option (as it can pump and breath fairly easily with LF content) and a slower release time option. I'd also probably prefer the meters reversed, with GR on the VU and I/O level on the LEDs. It's also worthy to note that when the unit is not bypassed, there is a 4dB increase in gain on the output. Something of which to be aware.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Synth80s]

Originally Posted by Kubilay

I have used it on perc subs and drums, bass, and various keys. Also guitars that i wanted to be neither super-transparent nor super-hard and slammin'.

This is a good description of what the Pro VLA does to guitars. I like to say that you can get the "Coldplay electric guitar chord sound" out of that box pretty easily. Mellow and fairly full sounding. Acoustic guitar works well, too, when you want to smooth out strummed passages. I also like using it on keyboard tracks that can be "spiky" and unpredictable (like a Wurly or CP-70). It acts as a nice sounding smoother, better on dense sounds (chords, submixes, etc.) than individual sounds as it can be a little sloppy compared to something like a DBX compressor. I also use it for drums and vocals.

The Pro VLA can compress up to 8-10dB and still sound good. The compression is clearly audible with that much peak reduction, but it sounds fairly natural and not "hard" or squared off like a regular VCA. I find that everything I run through the Pro VLA becomes a little (not a lot) dull and loses a little (not a lot, dammit) of its definition. For me, it's just part of the sound.

I think the Pro VLA does one sound well: mellow, full and smooth with a hint of darkness. Like any gear, it's not right for everything, but when it works, it really works.

-Synth80s