Electro Harmonix 12AY7 vs. ART MPA GOLD

[jrasia]

Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the Electro Harmonix 12AY7 vs. the ART MPA GOLD(non digital)?
I'm trying to decide between the two and I'm having a tough time at it. I've been hearing nothing but rave reviews about the EH 12AY7, but would the MPA Gold be just as good or better if it were given a tube upgrade?
I like the features of the MPA because its 2 channels, rackable, and has adjustable impedance settings for my ribbon mics. I'm a bit warry of ART products in general, and I'm most likely to go for the EH if
the sonic quality is drastically better.

Any input would be appreciated.

Jay

[projuice]

Originally Posted by jrasia

Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the Electro Harmonix 12AY7 vs. the ART MPA GOLD(non digital)?
I'm trying to decide between the two and I'm having a tough time at it. I've been hearing nothing but rave reviews about the EH 12AY7, but would the MPA Gold be just as good or better if it were given a tube upgrade?
I like the features of the MPA because its 2 channels, rackable, and has adjustable impedance settings for my ribbon mics. I'm a bit warry of ART products in general, and I'm most likely to go for the EH if
the sonic quality is drastically better.

Any input would be appreciated.

Jay

I've only read some about the elctro harmonics never heard it so can't say anything about that. I do know the mpa and for the money it does a damn good job put some nice quality tubes in there and you're set to go!

I was also smashed away by this thread hearing the art next to the pacifica : Small voice shootout: Pacifica vs Art Mpa Gold vs Mackie 328 + I5 vs 57 vs MXL 2K1

[Recycled_Brains]

i own and love the 12AY7. don't let the price fool you. it's no slouch. it's a true tube pre-amp, not a marketing thing at all. it has a very thick, but clean sound with lots of head-room. you can get it to clip out a bit with REALLY loud sources, or if you pad the output, but it's a nice clipping on the right material. i find that it works really well with thinner, or more sibilant sounding vocalists and steel string acoustics. it does a nice job of taking the edge off the high frequencies, and adds some meat to the low-mids and the lows. also, tube swapping is a piece of cake, and either jack will take any 12a*7 variety.

the only cons are that it takes a wall-wart and it's not rack-mountable, but the sound quality far out weighs those issues. hop over to the tapeop forums and do a search, you'll find all the info. you'll need there.

as far as the MPA's, i've never engineered with any, but i have mixed a project where 8 channels of them were used for the recording. i thought the tracks sound decent when i got them, but when it came to instruments like bass, kick and piano, i found the low end to be a bit murky, and the high-end to be less defined than i would've aimed for. but take that with a grain of salt, because i wasn't there to track, and don't know much about the mic placement or pre settings that were used.

-ryan

[Matt Hepworth]

Yes, the 12AY7 is a good sounding little box. Pretty clean. No DI, though.

[chribble]

Plugged my re-20 into the 12ay7 and could only only get it to hit -25 DB max with both knobs rolled all the way up.

Is this normal? Also adding a little bit of hiss to the signal at full gain.

Its not very hot? Normally have no issues overloading my pres.

I have tried different tubes also.

[retractablezing]

Originally Posted by chribble

Plugged my re-20 into the 12ay7 and could only only get it to hit -25 DB max with both knobs rolled all the way up.

Is this normal? Also adding a little bit of hiss to the signal at full gain.

Its not very hot? Normally have no issues overloading my pres.

I have tried different tubes also.

no it's not very hot, but you only have 1 knob, the other one is for the 1/4" output which you shouldn't use.

trying different tubes will only help slightly and if it's the right kind of tube (read: more gain, like 12ax7).

it's a great pre. no one should be fooled by the housing.

also, i'm selling one..sorry about the shameless plug.

[chribble]

cool.

for some reason mine came with 12au7s in both slots. swapped them for old stock 12au7s which didnt help.

Dropped some a NOS 12at7 into slot 1 and brought the gain up a bit.

sounds more than good on condensers. as for 57/re-20 work for vocals theres a noise floor for sure. Cool character to it though. I was using balanced 1/4 before but now i'm using xlr. no real diff.

Originally Posted by retractablezing

no it's not very hot, but you only have 1 knob, the other one is for the 1/4" output which you shouldn't use.

trying different tubes will only help slightly and if it's the right kind of tube (read: more gain, like 12ax7).

it's a great pre. no one should be fooled by the housing.

also, i'm selling one..sorry about the shameless plug.

[retractablezing]

the 1/4" output jack is only supposed to be used for monitoring, it's actually the only part of the pre that's not completely discreet.

the xlr one should be used at all times.

mine had a 12ay7 and a 12at7 i think, can't recall since i've put different NOS stuff in there afterwards.

but the gain difference will be slight at best...tube rolling will affect tone immensely though, and that's one of the things that make this pre so cool, imo.

the housing makes it real easy to switch valves.

[TurboJets]

I love my EH 12ay7 pre. The sound is fantastic for acoustic instruments and it's extremely flattering on voice. Amazing on drums. Can't live without it.

Having said that, here are the drawbacks to having it for your only pre's:

- No features
- Absolutely MUST be connected to a truly balanced input
- No DI (that's a big one)
- Low output with dynamic mics

If you have confidence in your skills as an engineer the MPA is a great choice. It has tons of useable features and sounds good (provided you roll in some nice tubes). It's drawback is it doesn't sound near as sweet as the EH.

Get the MPA and start saving up for an EH or two would be my recommendation.

[pichu]

Hi there, the vocalist of my band has one of these and I find it really noisy to say the least, not that it has a bad tone, but the noise is too loud to be really usable.

Maybe it's my unit? any advice on changing tubes/power supply would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note: I have a bunch of new 12ax7 that were going to go in a Mesa Boogie studio pre I have, is it any problem putting them in the EH12ay7?? what gain/noise changes will I have? Will I just fry my EH?

Thanks guys
Daniel