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Looper's Delight
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I like the ART tube MP Studio. I use it with my guitar in front of a M-Audio revolution 5.1 PCI soundcard. I like a very high gain, distorted guitar sound, and the ART let's me add some grit and gain at the beginning of the signal chain. So my observations may not apply to different, cleaner instrument applications. At one point I had an M-Audio audio buddy, Art Tube MP studio, Studio Projects VTB-1 and Behringer ultragain preamp all in the same room. To my ear the VTB-1 sounded best, but the ART was very, very close and a lot cheaper. The Behringer had an abrupt decay at the tail end of soft notes that was _very_ noticeable with high gain guitar. The audio buddy didn't have adjustments for both input and output levels, so it wasn't as useful for my application. I returned the others and kept the Tube MP. I also tried a Rolls preamp that mounts in a 3.5" computer drive bay. It's a cool idea, but the Rolls picked up noise from the computer and was unusable. The Studio Projects VTB-1 is only around $100 and is worth a listen: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Studio-Projects-VTB1-Tube-Blend-Mic-Preamp?sku=180360 These are all starved plate (not "true tube") designs, but they sound good to my ear. I gather preamps are like speakers and can be a matter of individual taste. -- Art Simon simart@null.net http://art.simon.tripod.com http://www.myspace.com/artsimon