ART TPS II Tube Preamplifier System

I became interested in tube preamps after reading an interview with one of my favorite guitarists, Greg Sage. He built his own that can be heard on all the Wipers records. I loved that sound, especially on the vocals and guitar. I first did cursory research into tube preamps, I found they can be cost prohibitive, especially if you want a 2 channel model as I did. I’ve used my akai interface’s preamps for several years and then done the rest in the box with plugins. Because I’m a hobbyist, this didn’t matter to me at first, but as I dived deeper into home recording, I wanted to improve the quality of my signal in order to make better mixes. There’s nothing worse than spending hours during mixing trying to “polish a turd”, so to speak. We’ve all been there and dealt with that frustration. A preamp can make improvements from the beginning to your unmixed signal, which makes for an overall better recording experience. At the same time, I didn’t want to pay $500 plus for something that I had no experience with. As others have said this, this is a entry level preamp, but the one I received has made a noticeable improvement to my mixes right away. And it is an affordable two channel model. I suggest taking the time to test each setting on the TPS with the mic you’re using to ensure it will suit your needs. I’ve used it with an MXL 770 on vocals and it sounds great with a little eq and compression afterward. I’ve also used both channels when tracking guitar using an sm57 and a beta 57. The most noticeable thing I’ve noticed is that the preamp adds pleasant clarity to these things, making it far more enjoyable to listen to. I’ve also noticed my tracks take reverbs and other timed effects much better than previously. I’m interested to how it will sound on drum overheads and will experiment with this later. To close, this is a great entry level product. I suggest it to hobbyists like myself who have never “bitten the bullet” with outboard gear and are looking to expand their audio engineering knowledge. At a later time, I’ll purchase a more professional preamp, but for now I’m very pleased with this. Thank you!

Sounds is good

don't know how anyone could be disliking this. For any reason. These have been sold for years in the same format. Unfortunately the price continues to constantly inflate. Just glad they keep it in production. I'm using it as a tube preamp for everything. Especially extended/standard range guitars. Ain't no pedal or guitar gear comparable or equal. TPS-2 monster gain structure will boost the cheapest pickups or long pedal / FX chains. The great feature about it is you can go HI-Z LO-Z in and come out HI-Z OR LO-Z out! And both at once! Try that with cheesy, inflated guitar pedals! Just that feature alone makes this a "must have" guitar unit. It's still available as a single mono channel stand alone unit, however the rack unit stores easily and you will find an additional use for the second channel in the path. Using TPS-2 as a preamp into a power amplifier for stereo guitar is not only, the best way, it's probably the ONLY WAY. (Does anyone make stereo guitar preamps anymore??) There Ain't nothing like the sound or flexibility of dual pedal chains in stereo! Stereo outs using pedals are not as accurate nor as clear of a stereo format. Pedal chains performance are increased weather they are fed from the input or the output. High gain signal structure that is controllable and directable. Please don't stop production of this benchmark unit.

I hadn't payed too much attention to ART for a good 5 years, when they suddenly started selling Tube Studio MP preamps for 30 bucks and I realized that they were a must have for my Korg Monotron/tribes. The TPS II appears to be 2 Studio MP V3s in a 1U package, best of all, a single power cord instead of 2 wall warts! The board inside is made up of high quality components, although with the stock 12ax7B China tube, there will be some noise at extreme levels. I do not personally find the V3 settings to be too useful, although the electric keyboard setting I find nice for electronic music. Otherwise I keep it at flat. The stock tube is alright, with that expected high gain and overly bright midrange. I replaced it after a few hours of use with a new stock, tung-sol gold $20 tube with well balanced triods. This allowed me to overdrive the BEEP out of my preamp signal, without getting background noise or distortion from the TPS II. With the adjustable output signal, at the same time it doesn't overload the next gear in the chain (unlike the Studio MP or V3 which output very loud signals if you run the tube hard). The overall light levels generated by the TPS II, are pleasant without being as harshly bright like many devices with VU meters. The 1/4" insert channels on the front are missing from many rack mount tube pre-amps and I have found much more useful than I thought they would be. The knobs feel smooth and solid. Oh and it has an off/on switch! None of that "standby, power wasting BS" present in nearly every electronic device today. Sure there are better hybrid pre-amps out there for twice as much, in 2U cases. But for the price and size, I'd call it a bargain.

Es lo que buscábamos y tal cual en las especificaciones.

Prodotto spettacolare Suono eccezionale Consigliatissimo

Compact, gr eat signal path. Definitely an important addition to my home studio. I don’t have to watch the volume meters on my computer half as much. I love its self levelling OPL VU Protectioni. Takes the worry out of peaking into the Red on the inputs path. Great piece of kit by A R T. AS ALWAYS.

Excelente el preamp no hay duda, inclusive voy a compro otro igual, muy buena calidad… El envío fue muy rápido antes d la fecha acordada…