ART Pro Channel Preamp Tube replacements

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 6:17 pm

I have had this Art Pro Channel in my studio for years now and I would like to breath some new life into it. I ordered and installed Ei 12AX7 Elites and TungSol 12AX7 [ NEW PRODUCTION] tubes only to find that both had issues. The Ei's had +17 dB noisefloor over baseline factory tube. The TungSol tube has a bad harmonic distortion at about 300hz. I like the sound of the Ei (noted as Telefunken like) but needless to say without the unwanted side effects. Does anyone here have any knowledge of tubes and this gear that could help. I am new to tube personalities and need to know info. Any and all help would be appreciated. NOTE: I understand this is not the PRE of choice but I have need and soon.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:28 am

Go visit www.vacuumtubes.com and ferret around his 12AX7 family page, there are many variations on the theme. I have 3 Pro MPA's that I retubed with NOS stuff from there. If you can find any, Westinghouse 12DF7's are amazing. Very warm & silky, low gain/low noise, great for vocals and almost impossible to clip. Raytheon 12AX7's are nice, much smoother top end and more air than the stock tubes. I have Mullard 12AT7's in the 3rd unit, they hype the mids and are good for piano, bg vox, sometimes acoustic guitar. Another supplier I've used is BNB Tubes, they have an ebay store. Happy hunting.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:48 am

Thanks for the help Jon. Did you oop for any tests on your tubes before purchasing? (low noise, balance, etc) I don't mind investing but my first two purchases were real strike outs.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:01 pm

Try
http://www.thetubestore.com/12ax7review.html

Its tube wonderland. Wink

Oh once you know what you want,

http://www.glasstoneamps.com/index.php?page=productlist&cPath=30

can get em for you cheap.

Happy hunting!

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:58 am

No testing, I took a chance and had good results. vacuumtubes.com does test any used tubes they sell and they have a 5 or 7 day return policy on all sales, so I stuffed them as soon as they arrived and made sure things were good.

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:49 pm

Thanks all for your replies. I have tubes on the way......

Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:49 pm

I just got two Pro Channels myself. Based upon online reviews I'm replacing all the tubes with JJ 12AT7s which are on their way. I previously had a Pro VLA compresosr and was always happy with it's performance in mixes.

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