customer reviews
29 People rated this product :
7 out of 10
7 People wrote reviews
10 out of 10
"This product proves itself every time I use it."
Quality:
Made strong, this is a metal casing, I assume it's aluminium. It looks great!
Value:
It costs more than a straight forward phantom power unit, but this is pro-gear like stuff for under the pro-gear price!
Desirability:
It looks like it was made in 1979. It is old retro looking, but I like the analog arm meter on it! I still prefer these kinds of meters.
Sound:
I am using a Rode NT1000 condensor microphone with popper stopper, and putting this setup through it's paces in an a Cubase driven recording studio in a computer system. That classic horrible digital tin like sound could be heard even on high quality settings with my old microphone and no pre-amp. Even at over 48KHz, it was still a problem. My old EV microphone "straight in" through a Quadraverb was too "digital" sounding if you know what I mean. This unit warmed it up, and allowed me to boost the gain. The highs in this system are sweet, and pure, and the high quality microphone combined with this tubed pre-amp unit make it a one two punch combo. It functions as the phantom power as well...did I mention that? Take the jump up from just a phantom power to a warm simple to use tube pre-amp! I use it for flute and vocals, and it is AWESOME!!!
Ease of Use:
It's dummy proof too! Anyone can run this thing!
Overall:
Many years to come I am sure!
Submitted: 3/17/2008
10 out of 10
"The TUBEPre proves the KISS theory: Simpler is definitely better."
Feature:
There's not much to this unit, but there's not supposed to be, and that's the beauty of it. I do have to say that the meter is practically useless when used with a guitar in small-venue, low volume applications. Even at low gain settings, the TUBEPre really packs a punch, so I don't really rely on the meter for monitoring signal levels in these situations - so I set up my sound simply by listening to get the levels on the unit and my amp dialed in.
As far as other features are concerned, thank goodness for the pad and 80kHz filter! My home studio is in my garage and I've got a noisy computer, a freezer and the water heater there. The filter works very well in filtering background noise, and the pad really allows me to use my volume knobs on my guitars!
Quality:
Absolutely no problems with quality. The unit is well-made and the blue, brushed aluminum body looks really slick. Some people have mentioned getting a bad tube out of the box, but I haven't had a problem yet. I guess I'm one of the fortunate.
Value:
This is a great value. For under $100 you can't find anything better.
Desirability:
As I mentioned above, this unit looks slick. It's got sort of a retro control face, and a beautiful blue brushed aluminum body. It's also very sturdy. I'm going to buy a couple more so I can dedicate them to particular applications. I'm also going to try using different tubes than the stock ones as some have suggested to see what kinds of sounds I can produce.
Sound:
I was a little dubious about it at first, considering the price, minimal feature, and honestly bought it as a low-cost experiment to see how it would work. I can honestly say that I couldn't be happier! As a pre-amp for a dynamic mic, this little unit works amazingly well. Vocals sound warm and natural and you get that "right in front of you" punch that brings vocals to the front of a mix.
As a guitar pre-amp, I love it! It really warms up and richens the sound of my Strat (I have vintage Tex-Mex pickups which can get a bit twangy at times), and with my ES-335, it helps balance out the sound without removing the low-end crunch that I like. In either case, turning up the drive produces a very nice, smooth distortion that doesn't turn into a wash if doing quick chord changes.
Ease of Use:
Four buttons, two knobs... How much easier can it get? I'm amazed that some people have had problems with noise. I must be lucky, but it's possible that they've set up their levels weird. Going on a recommendation that I read, set up your Gain first with tube drive dialed all the way down. Then introduce more voltage to the tube to achieve whatever warmness (or drive/overdrive) you want. Especially if you're going into an amp, there's a balance you have to achieve between the pre and the amp. It's not something you're going to solve right away. You have to a do a bit of tweaking, no matter what product you get.
Support:
Haven't had to use them yet...
Overall:
Overall, for what it does, I'm completely satisfied. Personally, I don't want a lot of gizmos in a unit like this. That just adds more complexity, and as far my experience with music equipment is concerned, complexity oftentimes translates to quality problems. This unit does one thing: It boosts and warms up your input signal, and it does this job incredibly well for low priced as it is.
Submitted: 1/8/2007
Style of Music: All sorts from Classical to Rock
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