ART Tube Pac Mic Preamp User Reviews at zZounds

ART Tube Pac Mic Preamp Customer Review submitted April 3, 2007

Overall

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Musician and producer

Music Style: Rock

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SPOTLIGHT REVIEW

Sound: Sounds great and is totally SILENT when not passing signals along. Therefore it works perfectly for getting those "clean but rough around the edges" guitar tones that can be so frustratingly hard to get. Think Link Wray's "Rumble" and you are in the ballpark. And it's also the sound that gives developers of virtual amp software fits trying to emulate. My other planned use for it is as a mic preamp, but I have not used it as one yet. From what I tell with the guitar I think that it will be very nice. I also plan on a couple of less common uses, such as putting it between my synth and an amp. Feature: It would be nice if there was more choice of compression ratio (the only choice is between compressor and limiter). But for just about all purposes this is all you need, and when you factor in what you DO get for just over a hundred dollars, this should not even be a concern. Ease of Use: It's pretty much self explanatory. But you will need to hit the manual to find out about the two step ratio deal for the compressor/limiter. Quality: How can I judge this fairly? Because, like others here, my unit did not work when I got it. I had virtually no ourput at all. Maybe a loose tube or something, but it seems to happen to a lot of people. But Zzounds was extremely helpful with the RMA and I had a new one in a couple of days, which they shipped up front before I sent my defective unit back. Which I thought was very very cool! As for the unit that I have now, it is very solid and feels satisfyingly hefty for a small box. But I had to deduct some points here because of that first one. When I called ART to ask about the lack of signal coming from it, they were very helpful and got right to the heart of the matter. They seem to be a great company, I would only add that since I saw a few people here saying that the first unit was defective that ART steps up the quality control a little bit. It probably was just a loose tube, and the others here may have had the same problem, but if the tubes are coming loose during transit then they might want to look at some sort of a brace over the tubes to keep them securely in place. Value: This category should go to eleven! Manufacturer Support: What can I say? They answered the phone right away, they actually listened to me, and they got to the heart of the matter quickly. The whole call, from dialing to getting my answer and hanging up was under two minutes. The Wow Factor: The fact that for just over one hundred dollars I can get a very sweet sounding tube preamp/compressor with hand matched tubes that could fool people into beleieving that it costs ten times more than what it does makes the Tube PAC very sexy to me! Overall: I ilke everything about it so far!

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ART Tube Pac Mic Preamp Customer Review submitted March 24, 2007

By a customer from yahoo.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Musical Background: musician, engineer, producer

Music Style: original rock (as a musician), acoustic folk and rock (as a producer/engineer)

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SPOTLIGHT REVIEW

VERIFIED BUYER

zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.

Sound: This sounds pretty nice. Warmer and fatter than my DMP3 or Mackie pre's. I mainly got it as a bass DI for recording, then found it sounds nice with an AT2020 mic for vocals, and nice as an acoustic guitar pre for live use. Feature: Would have liked more flexibility in the compressor section, but it does alright with the "pre-sets"... Ease of Use: Super easy...plug it in and go. Again, it would have been better if the comp had more adjustability, but the settings it has make it kind of a no-brainer! Quality: I don't know here. The first one I got worked 5 minutes, then crapped out. I got a replacement, and in the meantime fiddled with the first one. Took it apart, pulled out the tubes, put them back, and now it works fine. I guess maybe the tubes weren't seated well in their sockets? We'll never know, but it works fine now. Value: Seems like a nice sounding unit for the price, especially noting the various uses I've found for these. Manufacturer Support: Don't know, never tried them! The Wow Factor: Its just something I needed, gets the job done, nothing more! Overall: For the money, nice. I've got the two now, and don't plan on getting rid of them anytime soon. They work, they sound good, and until I can kick $2000 for something REALLY Nice, I'll keep working with these.

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"Awesome bargain!" submitted October 31, 2004

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Sound: This is the best preamp I've ever used, and it was also the cheapest! I love the compressor and limitor functions on this unit, and the sound is truly clean, natural, and sounds awesome! Why spend 10 times as much, when the differences are only noticeable with a highly trained ear. If I didn't tell an audiophile what I was using as a preamp, they would have no idea that I didn't spend $2,000 for it. It sounds that great!

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"Glad to see it's not just me." submitted September 4, 2009

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Sound: Sounds great. Feature: Very basic functions which is exactly what I wanted. Boost, compression. Ease of Use: Easy. Quality: Ok, here we go. On my third. This one is now doing the same as the others. Cutting out. No input reading and no output. How can a company have the integrity to put such a great sound together and not find a way to keep it working? Support didn't return my call. Thanks gents, you've lost yet another customer for a long time. Manufacturer Support: Support didn't return my call. Thanks gents, you've lost yet another customer for a long time.

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"Good sound, good value, good preamp." submitted November 30, 2004

By a customer from japan.com

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Sound

Features

Quality

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Hobbyist

Music Style: soft rock

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Sound: Much cleaner than I expected. Made my voice sound a bit better than I thought it would. Feature: I haven't even played around with the compressor settings yet, as much as I would like, but so far so good. Even though there's only three knobs to play with, there's plenty of variety. Quality: Feels sturdy and heavy. The knobs seem very reliable and click just right. Completely satisfied. Value: For slightly over 100 bucks, there's no reason not to get one if you are serious about getting a good, professional mic preamp. Manufacturer Support: Haven't dealt with any yet, but oh well. Overall: I like it. What can I say.

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"When $100 buys $1,000 worth of gear." submitted December 31, 2005

By a customer from netdoor.com

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: part time musician with home studio

Music Style: Rock

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Sound: Wow! For starters this thing is DEAD QUIET!! I was expecting a certain amount of hum and buzz, but nope, not a squeak. The sound of the unit itself is excellent (especially for the price!). The manual claims that the tubes are hand-sorted and I believe them: the sound is full and rich, and then nice and crunchy, if you want it. I've used it both as a preamp for micing vocals, and as a direct box going into a Roland GP100. It's so quiet I don't have any problem with noise on that last configuration. ART has hit a "homer" with this thing. Feature: The lack of features is actually a plus on this thing. It seems to me to be a "no-brainer" unit for people who don't have lots of time to fiddle with compressor and gain settings. Bascially you have one knob that controls the over-drive for the tube, another knob for the compressor threshold, and a third knob for output. With that simple a set up it's a piece of cake to get a great sound. Quality: It's built like a tank, and weighs about as much as one. Value: Bang for the buck? Actually about a 12. Come on: it's a hand-matched, dead quiet, real tube preamp/compressor. It sounds as good as $1,000 units I've heard. Manufacturer Support: I'm saying FIVE, but I have no idea, since I've never used them. This page needs an N/A category. The Wow Factor: Sex appeal? Puh-leez. This is musical equiment. Have we sunk to that? It's a non-descipt black box with some knobs, buttons, meters and white lettering. I guess if ART had made it sexy, they would have charged us another $900 for it. Overall: This thing is making me take a second look at the WHOLE ART line. If their other equiment is this good I'm up for replacing some of my old warhorses . . . . I can see keeping this a LONG time.

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"Small Bucks-Outstanding Value" submitted August 22, 2005

By a customer from localnet.com

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: hobbyist 35 years and counting

Music Style: rock

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Sound: Sound is excellent,lots of control,am using it as a direct box for a Dean acoustic bass into a Mackie mixer. Feature: Top notch components,primo tube sound.Best unit on the market Quality: Heavy duty construction. I am famailiar with the factory as it is 0 miles from me. As usual ART has come up with anothr winner. HIGHLY recommend this unit to all musicians Value: Offered at an exceptional price-worth every penny and then some Manufacturer Support: ART has a good reputation for support, although I personally have never had a problem. The Wow Factor: A must have as the best direct box made at a very reasonable price.Realy helped me get the most control over my setup Overall: Would buy again in a heartbeat-May purchase another one anyway just to have a top quality spare.

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"quite happy." submitted January 23, 2007

By a customer from knology.net

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Quality

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Manufacturer Support

Musical Background: active musician

Music Style: rock, dance, ccm

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Sound: Very clean if you want clean. Very warm if you want warm. Silent, not noisy at all. Feature: has what it needs to do its job, mostly, but I'm knocking it for lack of comp ratio flexibility. Also knocking it for lacking any way to solidly rack it. tech support told me to use tape. come on, now. who uses tape to mount gigging equipment??? Ease of Use: Well written manual, basic but extremely useful indicators. they did an outstanding job. Quality: Outstanding build quality. solid construction. knobs are tight and smooth. Value: alone in its category. Manufacturer Support: responded quickly. The Wow Factor: i dislike this field Overall: I'll use this as long as it lasts I think. For live use I trust it more than the presonus tubepre/comp16 gear i was using. as a comparo the presonus gear was a touch noisier; was smoother in the mids (art seems smoother in the highs); while prettier the metering wasn't as useful; presonus has a threaded rack-mount hole; started acting up with hum problems after a loud night atop the bass stack.

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"If you want garbage, you can get it for free on trash night." submitted July 7, 2007

By a customer from hotmail.com

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Features

Ease of Use

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: 27 years

Music Style: Rock, new wave, psychedelic, electronic

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Quality: The first one was DOA. The second one worked for ten minutes. I give up on the Tube PAC. Value: Even if they gave it to us for free, if it does not worj then it has no value. Manufacturer Support: These people are jerks. I did not realize that the replacement for my first DOA units would not work more than ten minutes before the 30 days was up. I started to deal with ART "support." Instead of helping me, they tried to blame everything else but their product and had a condescending attitude. When I told them that I was not the only person who had more than one of these fail in a row, and that there were reviews on Harmony Central where people had three in a row or worse, they told me that those people had an "axe to grind." Of course they had an axe to grind, and so do I! It's because the product did not work, and ART expected me to ship it back AT MY EXPENSE while they "tested" it and repaired it and sent it back. Let's see - I paid for a brand new product. I get one that does not work at all, and one that failed after ten minutes of use. I have to pay to ship it back while they test it and repair it and send it back, so in essence I end up paying to ship back a unit which has already caused me days of down time and wait while they do whatever they do to it and ten send it back and I end up with what is essentially a refurbished product that I had to pay EXTRA (shipping back) for the privilege of? I don't think so. And even if I was stupid enough to put up with all of that nonsense, I could never trust the Tube PAC again and gear that cannot be trusted is useless. Something was worked out with the good people of Zzounds and thanks to them I am no longer the owner of an ART product and never will be again. The Wow Factor: This category could be called "I Don't Want It" Overall: In case you don't want to take my word for it, here is a direct quote from an e-mail from Thom at ART - "I would not use harmony central as a guide to the models reliability. and you will notice that most people posting have an axe to grind." I don't know about you, but that is insulting to me. Harmony Central is a well respected site and is a trustworthy guide to the merits of many products. People are not going to post there to say that a unit keeps on breaking if it doesn't. As far as "most people posting have an axe to grind" - well that is about the stupidest thing that I have ever heard.

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ART Tube Pac Microphone Preamp and Compressor (Model 131)

User Ratings

ART Tube Pac Mic Preamp Customer Review submitted April 3, 2007

ART Tube Pac Mic Preamp Customer Review submitted March 24, 2007

"Awesome bargain!" submitted October 31, 2004

"Glad to see it's not just me." submitted September 4, 2009

"Good sound, good value, good preamp." submitted November 30, 2004

"When $100 buys $1,000 worth of gear." submitted December 31, 2005

"Small Bucks-Outstanding Value" submitted August 22, 2005

"quite happy." submitted January 23, 2007

"If you want garbage, you can get it for free on trash night." submitted July 7, 2007