Hello all, I'm interested in buying a mic preamp and don't have a large budget (unfortunately) but I've come across the PreSonus Blue Tube DP mic preamp. The online reviews seem to be mostly positive. However I was wondering if anyone here has any expirence with it or other PreSonus mic preamp's. I'll be running it into my Digi 002. Thank you!
Comments
PreSonus USED to make a decent product. But the Blue Tube (or Di
PreSonus USED to make a decent product. But the Blue Tube (or DigiTube) are not cut from the same cloth. You might look a little bit deeper into those at Harmony Central and some other sites. People bitch about the noise, the "dirty" distortion artifacts, and the cheesey build quality. A well-designed tube pre does NOT generate fuzztone-like distortion harmonics like those units do. I presently own, or have owned, several pieces of PreSonus gear. They are no longer making a very quality product, just cheap. If you want a "cheap" tube pre, look at the Studio Projects TBA-1 ( I think that's the model). Harvey Gerst @ Mojo Pie has reviewed it (maybe at this website,too).Less than $200 and it will give you a decent pre with variable tube saturation that doesn't sound like crap. BTW, PreSonus is getting a bad reputation for lousy tech support,too.
P.S.:I didn't mean to include the Eureka in my slam. Haven't used it, can't say. But I have been actively recording live music in/out of studios for over 30(@$@#$@!) years. I know what sounds good and what doesn't.
And the little boxes that PreSonus makes these days don't cut it.PEACE...
Wow thanks for the great responses! I've narrowed it down to th
Wow thanks for the great responses! I've narrowed it down to the M-Audio dmp3 and the Studio Projects VBT1. The only reason I'm leaning towards the M-Audio is because of the stereo feature and it has VU's, which I'm fond of. However my only concern about that preamp is there's no tube control. Has anyone found this to be an issue on tobe preamps?
rc86mike wrote: Wow thanks for the great responses! I've narrow
rc86mike wrote: Wow thanks for the great responses! I've narrowed it down to the M-Audio dmp3 and the Studio Projects VBT1. The only reason I'm leaning towards the M-Audio is because of the stereo feature and it has VU's, which I'm fond of. However my only concern about that preamp is there's no tube control. Has anyone found this to be an issue on tobe preamps?
Well, the VU's are fairly useless as far as I can tell. They dance a bit, but you really have to watch the meters on your 002 to know whether you are clipping there. Don't worry one bit about having a t00b control. The DMP3 isn't t0Ob and doesn't need to be. The control is kind of a gimmicky thing anyway. A real "tube" preamp doesn't have a blend control; the pre is either on or off (that Summit may be an exception?). I can't remember which of these two pres I would prefer--I have both sitting around somewhere--but I believe they sound more similar than different. Go with the DMP3 if you can use stereo. 8-)
moonbaby wrote "I know what sounds good and what doesn't. And t
moonbaby wrote
"I know what sounds good and what doesn't.
And the little boxes that PreSonus makes these days don't cut it.PEACE..."
I wish I had read this before I bought my firebox. It has got so many great reviews in all the mags and not once did they mention it's a little noisy. I have the main outs connected to my mackie 16 channel board and there is a very audible humming noise. If this humming makes it to tape/disk (actually disk nowadays) it will be unacceptable. I have just started to use this new set up so I will know shortly.
I won't even get into the compatability problems I encountered.
I've delt a bit with presonus, actually owned the dp and current
I've delt a bit with presonus, actually owned the dp and currently have the Eureka. Presonus makes some good stuff however IMO the Blue Tube DP isn't as nice as m-audio's dmp3 and the dmp3 is close to 50 bucks cheaper. I actually went to buy the dmp3 one day and when I got there they told me it was special order and that the DP was just as good. A few weeks later I ended up with both and honestly the dmp3 was much sweeter sounding. The DP sounded a bit more brittle and with the tube saturation on it just seems to get more noisey than anything while the dmp3 is clean and crisp sounding. Take a serious look at the dmp3.