They're illegal in Virginia. I don't think they're illegal in DC -- just useless.
Yeah, using it around a city like that, not helpful. But when you get out of the city…
Just don't try to upgrade the tube. They are designed to prevent that. At least the one I had was, notice the word 'was'. As in not functional after attempted tube upgrade.
I was friends (more like acquaintances) with someone who worked for a company producing a similar product. They would buy the lowest noise tubes the could, paying extra to have them triode matched. They also went through another level of matching by his company and only kept on average 10% of those and would sell their rejects to friends/family and then once eBay got bigger they ended up dumping them on there.That's not something I was considering. A new tube would be about 50% of what I paid for this thing anyways. I like how it sounds and it's pretty quiet. I'd read complaints about it being noisy but that doesn't seem to be the case with this one at least. I'm recording to cassette anyways, so I can't be too judgemental
20 Years ago, the tube that was in it was one of those 12ax7's that had red MADE IN CHINA written on it. It just didn't give that lush compression of a tube amp at all. I eventually decided to use one of my DIY DR504's for vocals with very good results!
Most of those ART TOOB bits (and other toob gear of that 1996-2010 era)are built to a low price point. Starved plate designs that basically use the tube as a distortion source, if that. A lot of them work with the tube removed.
I can promise you ART never did this. ARTs competition was the likes of behringer and Alesis. All made some usable gear from time to time(Alesis made some real gems)but all to low low price points.
Yea the ones I was talking about weren’t budget friendly at all. Wish I remember the name. Think they were bought by someone else, but they were definitely high end products, made in the USA.Most of those ART TOOB bits (and other toob gear of that 1996-2010 era)are built to a low price point. Starved plate designs that basically use the tube as a distortion source, if that. A lot of them work with the tube removed.
I can promise you ART never did this. ARTs competition was the likes of behringer and Alesis. All made some usable gear from time to time(Alesis made some real gems)but all to low low price points.
All that gear has its place. A functional mic pre for ~$25, not a bad deal. But put it beside something design with a level of quality in mind and you'll immediately hear a difference. Then, occasionally, there are pieces that dona phenomenal job of both price point and quality. FMR Audios products are a great example of that. The RNP and RNC have amazing function in economical packaging at a good price point.
Crap, I'm ranting...
Edit, just checked the tube mo schematic. The anode is tied to 48v. LOL
Equipment doesn’t need to be the lates and greatest or some NOS bs, to have fun and make a good recording, don’t you pay any attention to the cork sniffery… that thing will sound great for our purposes as hobbyist.
I was in no way attempting to tear anyone down and sincerely apologize if it comes across that way. It was.more a commentary on the TOOB gear of that era and thought all commentary was directed at that and not towards anyone using it. In fairness, I did state that these pieces have their place. Cheap functional portable mic pre which seems to have checked all the boxes for peccary. Plenty of great music being made on budget gear. Not burning anyone for using it. Have quite the collection of less than stellar, spec wise, gear myself. It has its place.Way to tear a guy down over his new acquisition that he's excited about
I liked the ART I had, just got ticked it imploded when I tried to change the tube. The PCB was the only support for the tube -- just barely trying to barely wiggle the tube snapped the PCB without the tube even budging. So don't try that is all I meant.
