ART Pro MPA II 5-stars Reviews

Very good stuff for voices and guitars. The perfect preamp for a home studio.

Good preamp

I bought this to use it on overheads on drums , It sounds very nice .

I was supriced when i plugged a bass directly in the front jack , it also souds amazing !

Very much pre for the money !!!

Loving this pre

Using this preamp for Juno/Moog synth & acoustic piano recording.

This is my first outboard preamp (i.e not audio interface) - and I can't believe I didn't invest sooner.

Knowing that I wanted to record stereo piano, synths and dual mono synths, this ART PRO preamp provided the perfect flexibility.

I am a little intrigued by the quality of the tubes however, as I seem to infrequently get a small buzzing in the right channel when using the microphones on my piano; but a little change in gain/output balancing fixes it.

I've read plenty about switching the tubes on Gearspace, where there seems to be mixed reviews about the success rate; but for now, the preamp is doing exactly what I want.

Just give it a little time to heat up and happy recording :-)

Great value for the money

This preamp will make big difference to your recording if you are using interface preamp at the moment!

The best investment when it comes to vocal recording

I have been recording for a while now but was looking to improve my vocal recording and this did it for me.

I was blown away with the the quality and versatility of this product.The best preamp I have tested or seen under £400. You will not regret it.

Very good value for the money

This mic pre sounds more expensive than it is, and has great DI.

lovely warm tone

the pre amp gives a lovely warm crisp tone for vocals which makes it easier to mix them as they sit better in the mix in my opinion. Also good for bass, would reccomend

I've coupled this unit with an ART Pro VLA into an Apogee Ensemble into Logic X and it is really proven to be such a versatile Mic Pre . I am using SE , Shure and AKG microphones and in every instance I can hear the improvement in audio capture . Wonderfull in a word .

For me it is gold

For this moment i own just 1 Art Pro MPAII but i am sure buying another one in like a month because:

I did not know my overheads needed this but my drumkit is so much more alive now. Clearer details. I really don't need a new snaredrum:)

I miked my kit with 19 microphones on a Soundcraft Signature 22mtk. The only way of doing thid is to use the stereo inputs and stero signals are overheads and roommics. These mics need 48V so i went first for some Behringer Ultragains.That worked well at a certain level. I decided to lift my game to the next level and boy, i did.

So, the first device is now in dual mono mode. It's kinda hard to hear on headphones while drumming but next moth i am switching to stereo mode. Overheads are X/Y above my snare.

I find the highpass not that usefull in direct monitoring so i leave it unused. I tend to keep the spectrum intact.

I think i can hear that the low voltage setting is more pleasing for me.

And then there is the impedance control. Maximum detail and highend at the highest corrresponding impedance (better use condenser or ribbonmics).

The next ART PRO VLAII is for the roommics and they are set M/S. I really look forward to that!

This really bang for the buck, or you want to spend double or more!

Great piece of kit

Very warm sound, even with the stock valves, great build quality.

I've been using this unit for almost 2 years and I'm 100% satisfied.

The sound will change a bit if you install better tubes but sounds great even with the Ruby tubes it comes with.

The controls allow for a lot of different sonic possibilities and you can overdrive the gain stage a lot to produce very beautiful distortion.

This is not a "starved plate" design, It works with 150v on high voltage mode and 45v on normal mode.

I use it a lot on vocals and snare drums when I want a dirtier/saturated sound, It does wonders on snares!

The build quality is not the best but is very good for this price, I don't know of any other tube preamp in the same price range that can compete with this.

Amazing preamp for the price

I recently decided it was time to upgrade from the built in preamps in my Focusrite Sapphire to a 'real' external preamp. My budget was about 600 EUR. Afer a LOT of online research, I narrowed my options down to 6 preamps, in roughly the same price range. The preamps were:

ART Pro MPA II

Warm Audio TB12 Tone Beast

Black Lion Audio B173 Preamp

FMR Audio RNP 8380

Warm Audio WA73

Focusrite ISA One Analog

As I will be using the preamp mostly for vocals and bass, I tested both those signals.

I plugged my Ibanez 600 in passive mode into my BSS DI, into the preamp. For vocals, I hooked up my SM7B straight into the preamp, into Logic X. The results:

The ART Pro MPA II is the the biggest of pre on the list (it also has dual channels). This is the preamp I ended up choosing. I didn't really expect to like it so much, because it is the cheapest on this list, but it is amazing. It's the only tube driven preamp on this list, and it sounds really good. Especially on vocals, it gives warmth that is not too smooth, with a crystal like edge on it. But also on bass, where it gives the sound that nice tubey edge.

Where the rest of the preamps sounded different from each other, but stayed very much in the same region, the ART Pro really stood out, in a positive way. The mid/side, DI and tone shape options make this on of the most versatile preamps out there. I read that the soundfloor can be lowered even further by changing out the tubes, which I'm looking into now. Definitely recommended!

Fastforward Microphone preamp and a great all rounder

I'm using the ART Pro MPA ll preamplifier in a Music Academy recording studio for vocal recordings with the large membrane condenser mics, accoustic guitars, percussions and strings recordings.

I've decided to use the ART Pro II because of it's simplicity, solid quality build and the clear honest sound. I was also looking for that honest warm sound with character.

For a vocal amp that we use five days a week and more than six hours everyday, all I can say is; it was worth the price and I recommend it to everyone, from budget to pro environments. I am not saying that it is the best preamp in compared with lots of costly high-end preamps out there but its final quality is very close to most high priced preamps.

The analogue inputs and outputs are clearly self explanotary, the retro looking knobs feel great and the VU meters are precise. Since I'm working mainly with young people in the studio, I like the idea of the +48 phantom power button switch located at the back of the preamp, meaning that nobody might or can switch it on accidentaly and demage the equipment.

Great of piece of equipment!!

Great Preamp for the money

Even before I bought the unit I knew I had to swap out the stock tubes immediately, I put JJ 12AU7 tubes for lower and smoother gain breakup. I would prefer that lower end gear came with no tubes and was a couple of euro cheaper than give rubbish tubes that have to be replaced and are useless.

The variable impedance is very usefull for microphone colour.

Also the DI input does sound great on bass and synthesizers, pushing the tubes to dirty up the sound also works great.

Best pre I have used in this price range (after tube change)

Great preamp!

I record in my home studio and I needed a preamp for mostly for vocals and instruments like bass/ guitar.

So I decided to buy the Art Pro Mpa II and I'm glad I did!

My audio interface (Steinberg UR44) has 4 Yamaha D-Pre preamps that sound really good and 2 line inputs without preamplification. I connected Art Pro on these two so I can compare and my first impression was that the sound is warmer and richer, especially if you crank the gain.

I also noticed that there is great difference on the sound with the High Plate Voltage button engaged, especially on voice recording.

This preamp has many useful features for its price range (low cut filter, impedance, VU meters, mid side matrix.

The stereo / dual switch, didn't work as expected on a stereo acoustic guitar recording I tried it to, but this is not a problem for me.

Electric bass recording is great with the Hi Z input and the sound is fantastic!

I'm thinking about replacing the tubes although the sound is very good as it is!

I definitely recommend this preamp!

Upgrade the tubes!

This is a great mic-preamp for the money, however, upgrade your tubes and it will make a huge difference. This unit comes with quite cheap unbranded Chinese tubes, I swapped them out for some Telefunken 12ax7 / Ecc83s for under 100EUR and it was well worth it. The unit itself is built well and easy to use. Low cut filter and variable impedence are nice features, my only criticism is that the VU meters are not the best looking things, but it makes no difference to the sound, they clearly show when you're recording too hot and it sounds fantastic.

Excellent

We bought this because we felt there was something a bit "missing" when recording large diaphragm through our Mackie d8b and MOTU interface into Logic..

Despite Waves plugins being fab, we weren't getting a full bodied result we were seeking.

Having one of these units has made the world of difference and the price range we could afford

Superb!

Liked it so much, I bought a second one straight away.

I can't believe how cheap this pre-amp is. Such a bargain!

From drum overheads to a bass DI to a cowbell, this colours the sound providing a desirable warm but clean sound.

The variable impedance and plate voltage features are what make these pre-amps stand out. These two features provide allot of flexibility in achieving an amazing sound.

The VU meters make the pre-amp look very professional and are also quite handy in getting suitable gain levels. The mid/side and stereo options are also another key feature I was really happy with, making the two channels work well together.

Lastly the low cut feature is really useful for recording things like OHs, providing a great drum sound straight away.

In my opinion this is the best pre-amp on the market for the price.