Professional tube-based microphone/line recording channel. 3 independent world-class modules: tube mic pre, switchable optical/ variable mu compressor, and tube EQ. Warm, smooth, and silky sound quality.
31 People rated this product : 7 out of 10
7 People wrote reviews









9 out of 10
Feature:
For the price, I don't think you'll find anything close to this for features. The only thing that's missing for me would be variable impedance, and more attack/release control on the compressor. However the compressor as it is still performs exceptionally will. The option to have optical or tube compression is nice.
Quality:
I gave this a ten, simply because for the price you won't find anything better than this. This is IT. Like other reviews have said, you'd have to spend $1000 more to get anything noticeably better. For the guys who said they are getting a lot of noise... you don't know how to use it. The one thing to make sure of is that you use the Hi-Z output so you don't have to add another gain stage going into your DAW.
The only problem I've had with this unit was that for a while the compressor was taking around 5 minutes to kick in after turning it on. The problem went away on it's own, so I never ended up doing anything about it.
Value:
Like I said... for the price, this is IT.
Desirability:
It's no Avalon, as far as sex appeal goes, but it does come across as a serious piece of gear to people in the studio.
Sound:
Very clean sound. EQ works just like it should. The compressor is quite transparent - much better than most bundled software plug-ins. The tube preamp is very clean, only colors sound when it is nearing overdrive but even then still produces a pleasing sound.
Ease of Use:
Read the manual. If you already know how to run a channel strip, this will be no problem.
Support:
Haven't needed it yet.
Overall:
The price has dropped since I got mine around 2 years ago. I'll probably buy another one soon.
Submitted: 7/9/2008
Style of Music: Rock, Pop, Electronic









5 out of 10
Feature:
A great combination of features.
Quality:
Ok...here's my story. I ordered one of the these in the US but I live in Canada...no problem really. I got the unit and started using it but it sounded brighter than other preamps I tried. After using it just a few times my mic sound started giving me intermittent problem - no sound alternating with screaming loud sound and noise. Ok... here's where living in Canada is a problem in situations like this. I should have sent the unit back for repairs (I think their support is probably good). However, I did not want to ship it across the border and wait for it's return from across the border... so I took it apart to see if it was a simple problem (I have a reasonable amount of knowledge in this although I'm not a repair person). There is a circuit board inside that contains all the potentiometers (all the control knobs for the front). I quickly found that if I pressed this board the sound would cut in and out. This board has a 40 pin connector so I took the board out of the unit. This board has virtually no electronics parts (just the potentiometers) so I suspected that the board had some poor solder joints or perhaps a crack in one or more of the traces. I redid all the soldering and was testing resistance values when I noticed that I was getting infinite resistance on a number of the potentiometers (there are 11 pots). I squeezed (physically) the pots while checking their resistance values and the resistance across the pots would jump to the correct values. Eventually I pulled 9 of the 11 pots (2 of them are sort of unique and appear to be quite different). I replaced the pots with ones I purchased locally (about $1.50 each) and the unit works perfectly now. I'm shocked to think that ART would put so much effort into designing and building a unit that has good quality parts except for the controls! So...if you have one of these units, check the potentiometers - they are garbage. If you have questions, email me at martin.mcgeough@gmail.com
Value:
Great value if you can get beyond the problems I mention above. I can't say what it's truly worth...if people have problems is ART willing to fix all these?
Desirability:
I like how the product functions now...it took me a lot of time to get to this point with the unit however.
Sound:
When I finally got this unit working properly it sounds quite good and has a lot of flexibility of use. PLEASE READ BELOW!
Ease of Use:
Pretty easy - if you're using this you probably have an idea of most of the features are used.
Support:
After 2 emails they simply sent me the schematics I asked for.
Overall:
If I knew the build quality was so poor I would have looked for something else - if you can get through these problems quickly, it represents good value.
Submitted: 4/6/2008
Style of Music: rock, etc.
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