Review on ART TubeMPSTV3 Variable Valve Voicing 🎨 Tube Mic Preamp With Limiter - Enhancing SEO by Dan Kedzior

In the 1950's when tubes and transformers existed, bandwidth was limited, distortion was always present and compressors were more of an automatic gain control with a release time of 5-10 seconds. The equalizer was rudimentary and passive. This little box, believe it or not, pretty much does everything for you today. The Tab V76 (aka Abbey Road Red) tube preamp differed from this circuit by using a higher plate voltage and input and output transformers. They also cost $4,000. This circuit uses an op amp and a plate lamp with starving plates. The starved record is less linear and produces more tube distortion instead of the transformer distortion of the original. This is the warmer and fatter 2nd harmonic rather than the sharper 3rd harmonic of the transformer. It's also a lot cheaper. The "V3" button here simply toggles the V76's two EQs: an HPF 80Hz (Lo Cut) and a +3dB shelving at 3kHz. Neither, nor one, nor the other, and both are given instrument names that you can ignore and do what sounds best. There's also a "Warm" boost setting that produces more distortion, and an automatic "OPL" gain control with a useless 10-second release time, but true to the old-school optocomputers of the day 50's that people like to show off in their racks but never use. The LED will stay red for 10 seconds waiting for it to turn off. The ignorant will only yell louder into the device and wonder why the output is so low; I suggest just staying on the left half of the handle and ignoring the OPL. After all, the entire signal path constantly undergoes a 6dB/oct. Low Pass Filter (LPF). This makes it sound darker and even warmer, especially against bright Chinese condenser mics like the MXL. It also matches the sound of the original V76, which was bandlimited. Although it's not something I always have to record. However, they are cheap and have a vintage feel. People who make a living selling originals will be angry at this suggestion, calling it a 'tube' etc., but I have provided an honest and accurate account of the underlying schematic. Enjoy.