VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

jrkaiser · Guest

Trying out an MPA Gold Preamp from ART. Before and after replacing the stock Chinese tubes with a Mullard and Tung-Sol, removing the ground pin on the power cable, trying balanced and un-balanced cables, I still have a hum... any ideas? I'm told this can be a killer pre with decent tubes but I just can't seem to get a clean signal out of it.

Justin

Frank F · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 8:52 am Post subject:

Sounds like you need to check the wiring in your house. If not the wiring, you have a bad unit (bad unit, bad boy, down boy) which you may need to return.

When tube replacements have been completed correctly this unit can match or exceed the higher priced pre-amps in quality and sound as well as offer some sound shaping features not available on many more expensive units.

Toodles

F2
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jrkaiser · Guest

Frank, it's on the same dedicated circuit as everything else in the studio... That's the part that confuses me here... I'll do some more testing later today.

Frank F · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 9:12 am Post subject:

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

I had a noticeable hum in the left channel at high gain when I first got mine, so I just used the right channel for high gain. Now that I got a backup/power conditioner the left channel has no issues, but that just might be coincidence...also I flipp-flopped which tubes I had in each channel.

For under $500, this pre is the way to go. Clean (when it works) and it has so many different tones you can get out of it with the drive, sweepable Impedance and HPF. You can even go "Normal (low) Plate Voltage" for more of a character sound. Then you can also do what I do: have a punchy tube in one channel and a smooth mellow tube in the other...two preamps in one. It also "warms up" really fast and stays consistent.

As the Dos Equis guy would say "I don't always use a Tube preamp, but when I do...I use the ART MPA Gold".
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