I was browsing the studiospares catalogue and I notice there are quite a few valve mic pre-amps on the market. I'd be interested in a two channel for recording Acoustic Guitar/Vox. Single channels seem to be well under £100.

I was looking at getting a valve mic, something like the Rode K2 but I was wondering if anyone had any experience of the 'cheap' valve mic pres? I don't have any valve gear so I'm keen to dip my toe in.

I dipped my toes in a similar way with the ART tube pre v3 - the little blue desktop one with a wiggle-ometer, a few presets for bass, voice, clean etc., and a few other features you might not expect for the price - it sounded OK for the money I thought, noisier on some settings than others, and I found some settings pretty useable. The presets seemed to combine various amounts of tube drive with some kind of EQ. It was adequately constructed for home use, but the external power supply was clumsy.

Then I bought a UA 710. Several times the price of the ART, and a good few times better too. For one, the tube runs at full voltage, and is neither noisy nor cheap-sounding. There's plenty of gain, it's solid, and the DI is very nice with my passive jazz bass. Pushing the tube side a little gives that soft edge grit that the cheaper unit only part-fudged.

If you only want to spend a few quid, maybe try the ART. Don't expect it to sound like an expensive unit, but it's not useless if you want to play with some colour for cheap. I'm sure others would disagree!

I suspect the ART is fairly typical of its price bracket, and "you get what you pay for" applies.

I don't have a valve pre-amp, but I have the old ART dual compressor. I wouldn't say it does much to "warm" the signal and as pointed out above, save your pennies and buy a Universal Audio or similar price bracket pre-amp and experience a much better product.

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I've tried the Studio Projects VTB1 and ART MPA Gold with upgraded NOS Telefunken tubes. I found these to be passable but preferred solid state pres within that price bracket. I even preferred the pres in my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24DSP interface.
At the price £200 price bracket I wouldn't bother with tube pres. The pres built into the Focusrite Saffire interfaces are actually very good. For something nicer you would need to be looking at something like the Audient Mico or Focusrite ISA One which would set you back around £400 and are solid state pres. As for valve pres I have a UA Solo610 which is great. I haven't tried the 710 but from my understanding it doesn't quite have the same vintage vibe that the Solo610 offers?

Interestingly there appears to be a re-badged UA710 going by the name of the Alctron MP100. Apparently this is made in the same factory as the 710 by the same people and is exactly the same inside? If this is the case you would essentially be buying a 710 for £250??
Personally I have not had any experience with either the 710 or MP100 so don't know if this is true?

http://www.lifelongmusic.co.uk/webshop/index.php?page=details&prod=139 &cat=28&group=9

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Edited by dickiefunk (31/12/11 01:10 AM)

Alctron make all kinds of products that look like other things. Sometimes they're too alike to be legally sold over here so they're only available in China.

Personally I wouldn't bother with a budget valve preamp - a good solid state preamp will be more versatile and you can always run it through some valve modelling software later.

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net

Don't bother. There's a difference between a proper tube amplifier and a solid state amplifier with a valve bolted on somewhere for 'distortion'. There's a reason the great valve pres that are available, Thermionic, UA, Fearn etc cost a lot of money.

J

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www.jackruston.com

Quote Jack Ruston:

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Don't bother. There's a difference between a proper tube amplifier and a solid state amplifier with a valve bolted on somewhere for 'distortion'. There's a reason the great valve pres that are available, Thermionic, UA, Fearn etc cost a lot of money.

J

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+1- you want a valve pre-amp why? Because some marketing guy says you need a warm sound? Just buy a decent preamp and if you need distortion add it with a plug in.

Quote nathanscribe:

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I dipped my toes in a similar way with the ART tube pre v3 - the little blue desktop one with a wiggle-ometer, a few presets for bass, voice, clean etc., and a few other features you might not expect for the price - it sounded OK for the money I thought, noisier on some settings than others, and I found some settings pretty useable. The presets seemed to combine various amounts of tube drive with some kind of EQ. It was adequately constructed for home use, but the external power supply was clumsy.

Then I bought a UA 710. Several times the price of the ART, and a good few times better too. For one, the tube runs at full voltage, and is neither noisy nor cheap-sounding. There's plenty of gain, it's solid, and the DI is very nice with my passive jazz bass. Pushing the tube side a little gives that soft edge grit that the cheaper unit only part-fudged.

If you only want to spend a few quid, maybe try the ART. Don't expect it to sound like an expensive unit, but it's not useless if you want to play with some colour for cheap. I'm sure others would disagree!

I suspect the ART is fairly typical of its price bracket, and "you get what you pay for" applies.

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+1 for the UA710 - I've got one that I picked up with a free UAD2 solo, bargain at £400, I've got cheaper pre's and i've got pre's that cost ££££'s and I find you really get what you pay for and ebay or the good old sos reader ad's are a good starting point. hope this helps.

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www.thedenstudios.com

I have wondered a little about this. I had an ART wall wart "valve" preamp in my early days and it went to ebay very quickly. But valve circuitry is not really expensive (see many mid-range guitar amps) and there is no magic going on, it has been well understood for donkeys years. The main thing seems to be the mode/voltage it runs at. Proper audio valve circuitry usually has serious step-up transformers to run the things at the correct voltage. Which is why my Marshall 6100 head is virtually unliftable.

So, this is more interesting, looks like it has an appropriately heavy transformer, and the el cheapo Chinese valves could be changed possibly.

Have you considered a DIY kit? If you're handy with a soldering iron you can get loads of bang for the buck.

Quote _ Six _:

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Have you considered a DIY kit? If you're handy with a soldering iron you can get loads of bang for the buck.

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Yes, and similar amounts of bang can be had if you're not so handy, too... I'd not steer anybody who wants to dabble away from DIY, but it might be worth adding that a high-voltage circuit would not necessarily be the best choice for a beginner.

agree with what other ppl stated here,
200UK - you can get beri or art or maybe fatman1 or2 (can't remember which one has pre)
the truth is, proper valves cost a lot of money,
I spent over 250Uk for valves only in my power tube amp,
so buying pre for that price - you need to understand you simply get what you pay for,
stick to solid state, I personally prefer good solid state over the tube (I own Culture Vulture Limited and it's great tube box) but I rather add color in later processing (mixing/mastering) then catch it with cheapo tube saturation in first place;
I also agree that 'tube warmth' is a marketing snake oil recently,
you can get creamy warmth out off neve 1073 solid state when you pushed them:)

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