Tube Compressor? CHEAP?

[imdrecordings]

I'm thinking about picking one of these things up. It sounds pretty good for the money.
ART PRO VLA 2-Channel Tube Compressor

Anyone spend any time with it....
Does anyone know if it's an actual \"Tube Compressor\"? Or is it doing the old \"ART\" starved plate thing and tube does nothing but GLOW????
Let me know..


THANX

-S-


Looking into the Toft stuff as well, but it's never in stock! :evil:

 

[BTLG]

Damn man, I wish I'd have known you guys right after the merger, we sold a TON of outboard gear!

 

[imdrecordings]

Damn man, I wish I'd have known you guys right after the merger, we sold a TON of outboard gear!

From the sound of the article, you guys sold it to pay the bills...
What kind of stuff did you junk?

I was pretty surprised by this compressor...
What will probably end up happening is I'll get it in my space and not like it...
I get it at cost so I won't really be losing too much money.
I also have a bunch of NOS Telefunken, RCA and BugleBoy tubes...
So I'll just swap those out.. maybe throw in some new ICs...
who knows? Maybe I'll leave it the fk alone...

 

[brian]

Never used that compressor but heard that it is a good value and has decent potential for mods. My guess is that there is not much voltage hitting those valves. If by \"tube compressor\" you mean a vari-mu style design I'm not sure either way.

 

[saemskin]

Rule of thumb....

It's cheap for a reason.
How many tube compressors do you know of, that you KNOW are good units that are less than 1k per channel?
If you do buy it, have it shipped to Black Lion Audio.

 

[imdrecordings]

Rule of thumb....

It's cheap for a reason.
How many tube compressors do you know of, that you KNOW are good units that are less than 1k per channel?
If you do buy it, have it shipped to Black Lion Audio.

True True...
But for the price I get it at, it's got to be better than a Guitar Pedal.
I think it would work great for stereo/live recording, before going into the PC.
Maybe put a stereo mix through it, to give it a trashy sound...
Cheap gear can be fun. I have a Vari Mu.. I know what that does.. I f'n starved for a month after buying it... It still hurts.. AH!
Screw Black Lion... they are over priced, for what they do.
DIY! :wink:
Besides, it says "Professional" on it.

 

[lance]

I have one, got it as a gift. Ijust use it to touch my acoustic on the way in, which I know you hate, and it does a decent job. On the other hand I don't have anything \"great\" to compare it to. But I would say it's probably better than a guitar pedal. - Lance

 

[imdrecordings]

I have one, got it as a gift. Ijust use it to touch my acoustic on the way in, which I know you hate, and it does a decent job. On the other hand I don't have anything "great" to compare it to. But I would say it's probably better than a guitar pedal. - Lance

Sweet lance..!
Anything you don't like about it?
When passing a signal through it, with no compression or limiting, do you notice any difference in sound?
thanks

 

[lance]

Like i said I just use it slightly and it seems pretty smooth. As far as color goes, Unfortunately I can't really tell you as I haven't really tried. but next time Iget a chance I'll checkit out-maybe tonight.

 

[lance]

Hey, I checked it out on my acoustic direct. Without any compression it seemed a little thicker (I mean a LITTLE) and maybe a touch darker. But that's to my ears and they aren't great. I say, if you're getting at cost and want to modify it, go for it. Just maybe slide the how and what you do my way so I might be able to try. - Lance

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

The Keeley Compressor pedal is sweet. I'd use it over the ART, depending on the purpose. Keeley has even been working on a rack-mount version of it after many requests.

 

[imdrecordings]

The Keeley Compressor pedal is sweet. I'd use it over the ART, depending on the purpose. Keeley has even been working on a rack-mount version of it after many requests.

Don't plan on using it for guitar... Lance does and likes it..
I was just comparring it to buying a guitar pedal, after brian brought up Manley VariMu..

Keely?
Never heard of it.
hmmm

 

[brian]

I was just comparring it to buying a guitar pedal, after brian brought up Manley VariMu..

Keely?
Never heard of it.
hmmm

Just to clarify, I wasn't specifically referring to the Manley, just the style of compression (using a tube for gain reduction).

Keeley makes a nice pedal, jammed on one for a while in a guitar shop. Might be fun to use it in a mixing situation too, but I guess that's not the type of effect you are after. Have you decided on purchasing the ART?

 

[MASSIVE Mastering]

I still have my VLA - Whenever I need a linked set of LA2A's and don't have one handy, the VLA comes to the rescue. A bit thick, smooth, nice color for a lot of things, easily overdone. I still tap it for parallel work sometimes...

 

[BTLG]

i've got to one up scott's new avatar.

Scott -

we got rid of a few pultecs, some neves (some 1084's, some 2254's), some focusrite stuff, a couple of EMT251's.

Lot's of cool stuff.

Yeah, there was definitely some bill paying going on. Had to pay for those renovations some how....

 

[imdrecordings]

i've got to one up scott's new avatar.

Scott -

we got rid of a few pultecs, some neves (some 1084's, some 2254's), some focusrite stuff, a couple of EMT251's.

Lot's of cool stuff.

Yeah, there was definitely some bill paying going on. Had to pay for those renovations some how....

Very Nice...

Lets try and keep this PG13

You've scared me back into my hole.

 

[imdrecordings]

I still have my VLA - Whenever I need a linked set of LA2A's and don't have one handy, the VLA comes to the rescue. A bit thick, smooth, nice color for a lot of things, easily overdone. I still tap it for parallel work sometimes...

That's what I thought about using it for. I was going to try and come back out of the FF800. Using Total-mix to come out and into the VLA and then back to the PC... amongst other things, but that's just an idea I had.

It might also be cool to "GEL" a headphone mix together... just an idea.

I play in a Motown/Punk/rock band and I thought the trashy/cheapness of the VLA might work for it. We are in the process of making a new album. I'm trying not to use plugs on this project and get the sounds I want to Disc.. The MAIN guy in the band like to take the tracks, after I've spent a bunch of sweat and tears recording and ruin them with his mixes.... not really So this time.. I'm in control and I'm going to give the people what they want! not really He trusts me now... for some reason.not really

 

[BTLG]

i was looking at ART stuff for a while when I was looking for outboard pre's/compressors to use at home. They seem to have a good rep though.
I opted out of it and went with a GR pre because I wanted something that would 'retain value' down the line.

Scott - I've got a project right now with the same thing, you spent plenty of time recording it, the artist roughs it at home and head scratching ensues.

 

[lance]

What's with the scary menacing pics. I'm shaking and must run away.

 

[BTLG]

Lance -

how does the ART stand up aginst the UA plug compressors?

That's kind of my bench mark - in order to justify going out of the box into a hardware compressor, it's really got to do something to the sound that I really like. otherwise I feel like it won't do anything my UA stuff won't do.

matt