From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Sun Jun 30 19:28:17 2002
Subject:Re: Tube Preamps

Hi Bill,

>Does anyone out there in clonewheel-land have any experiences with the
>ART Tube MP preamp.

I use the ART Dual MP, which is the Tube MP's big brother, and others on the list have used the Tube MP. While the Tube MP is certainly not in the same league as say, the Speakeasy products, it is certainly better than no tubes at all. In the clone world, if you are looking for a moderate overdrive --

Tube MP = 75% of the way there
Blue Tube = 80-85%
Dual MP = 90%
Speakeasy (alone) = 95%
Speakeasy + real tube Leslie = 98-99%
B-3 + tube Leslie = 100%

These are just one man's opinion, and certainly YMMV; the ranking will change a bit if we are talking Jon Lord's sound vs. Chester Thompson's, etc. Still, I think you'll get the idea; everything is subject to "diminishing returns" for the amount of money spent to get the illusive sound. Almost any clone will benefit from a bit of real tube overdrive.

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions™ http://consult.ashbysolutions.com
CloneWheel Support Group and HiNote moderator
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com