Art Tube MP Budget Preamp Review / Test

Is a budget tube preamp any good? In today's video I test, demo, and review the Art Tube MP. This preamp has a +60dB gain preamp with a quoted EIN of -129dBu, and +10dB boost on the output stage. The only other feature it offers is the ability to invert your phase.

Buy the Art Tube MP (Affiliate Links)

Buy the Focusrite 2i2 (3rd Gen)- Same Performance as 18i20 (Affiliate Link)

00:00 - Intro / Pricing
00:26 - What’s in the Box
00:39 - Build Quality
01:06 - Walkthrough
02:02 - Specifications
02:42 - Shure SM7b Mic Test (No Cloudlifter or Fethead)
04:21 - Preamp vs. Interface Preamp
05:26 - Drive / Distortion Demo
06:27 - Music Test
08:43 - Pros & Cons
09:31 - What Does it Offer?
10:05 - Recommendation
11:29 - Outro

#Budget #PreampReview #AnalogGear


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[herz]

Oh the Tube MP, the unsung hero of the studios, the true little work horse that could, little swiss knife gadget that came to the rescue to make that odd connection you're making possible. Hats off to this little fella.

[hydroponicgard]

You're at it again with gloriously well made music for just a small test... My hats off to you, this is beautiful...

[irajamestech]

i still have the art tube preamp i've purchased back in 2008-2009 and it's still very solid. still using it in all of my home recording shenanigans

[TSGEnt]

I've got 4 of these for my studio. Love 'em. I've had them since 1999. I used to have the Art ProMPA (the dual channel rack) I sold it a few ears back because, well, I'm stupid.
I love your music demos. I'm glad you love them. Keep doing it!

[DapperDanLovesYou]

Always a lovely day when Podcastage drops a gear review :D

[jeremyg]

Music test was really dope on this, great review as always!

[legacyShredder]

I did a test last year with 16 of these on a drum kit. It was kind of hilarious. We compared it to my racks of Neve preamps. Realistically the result wasn't terrible.

[goldfishfishgold]

Now THiS is how you review and demo a pre-AMP! I've had my TUBE MP for 20+ years and it still holds up against higher end pres. I even prefer it in some cases still. AND is still the original tube. fwiw, the power jack on mine is snug. So maybe a change in build quality now. Thank you for posting this. You've taught me a few things along the way too, including how to properly discard the empty box! ;)

[OogieWa]

I've had one for years, the older version with the meter. Fifty bucks back then. For electrical noise, a ferrite bead on the power supply line helped A LOT. It's had various uses over the last six or seven years; right now we're feeding three powered monitors from our mixer's single output. The impedance of three loads was too much (yeah, OK, too little, you know what I mean) for the mixer, so I grabbed this out of the closet. It's just fine with a 1/4" line to one monitor, and the other two are daisy-chained from the XLR output. It handles everything, no problem; fire and forget. No noticeable noise or distortion added on stage, but we're not really pushing the tube very much, it's more of an impedance-matcher than anything else, which is exactly what we needed.

Oh, and in a pinch, it got whipped out to act as a DI for a keyboard when a buddy sat in with us. It was distorting a little, his signal was kinda hot, but he liked it, so . . . Handy.

[joelpoitras]

I got the very similar ART MP/C compressor/limiter with a 12ax7. I used it in many applications. I have a passion for tone exploration and hacks...The most unexpected impressive thing is plugging an electric guitar in the input of this ART and the output directly into the "power amp in" of my early 90s Fender solid state amp, which means it's plugged right to the power amp section bypassing my amps' preamp section.
Increasing the gain on the ART clips into a wonderful soft warm overdrive and gives me the best tone ever. No other preamp, no treble or any other tone control besides my electric guitars' volume and tone controls. The responsive character and dynamics of the ART with my stratocaster's volume and tone control is huge. And this is actually my main guitar rig rightnow and i do own 2 regular tube amps, 2 modelers. But my solidstate old Fender amp with this ART plugged straight in the power amp section is the best most touch responsive dynamic thing. No clue why it's never mentioned in forums and Youtube, because it kicks serious ass with electric guitars also, not just mics.

[mebig]

That was an extremely professional and nice-sounding "music test"! Thanks for the hard work!

[ryan_]

A fair and balanced review as always. Appreciate the work you do for this channel.

[skortzial]

I'm glad you're enjoying your music tests, I've been enjoying the stuff you've been writing and recording for them. If your extremely limited calendar allows it, I'd love to see them fleshed out into full songs

[artysanmobile]

There you go with awesome musical ideas again. By the time I’ve listened to your music, everything sounds fantastic. No fair!

[hohloyumor]

I owned it in 2010-2011 and loved it! Brings many memories.

[RenegadestickyXXL]

do more of these. heck i'd like to see more preamps and toneshaping/color adding device reviews. I'd also like to hear you having more fun, it's exciting! You always add such quality to the atmosphere.

[raphabmroque]

Not only the music was amazing, but the depth the ART Tube gave to the sound was astonishing (or it was just a difference on the volume of the instruments, besides the drums lol), even though the voice comparison against the 2i2 preamp wasn't changing too much at first "sight". Awesome tests, thanks

[robi]

That demo with the cranked gain (especially on the drum machine) sounded dope.

[qar]

I was arguing with my friend that do I need a preamp he said yes ( I’ve got 4i4 3rd gen) So I came to this video. Thank you very much for detailed info. So I go to him with your video link to prove that I don’t need a this.

[MustafaShaheen]

Just wanted to say that was some really lovely guitar playing/composing!