The Surprising Sound of My Abandoned ART Tube Pac Preamp - The Microphone Playboy

Wow. Listen to the OPA Alice Serena mic through this thing. Originally bought this cheap, old ART Tube Pac preamp about 20 years ago and probably haven't even plugged it in for at least 15 years, but I found it in my garage and thought I'd fire it up and...uh, wow.
Let me know what you think. Your opinion matters.
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[@soundofthegardenwatc]

Art Studio V3 is great. I switched tube and i think it sounds amazing

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

That seems to be the consensus. Swap out the tube for something good and it's a whole new level.

[@TheRecordist]

Wow! That's not bad! Man, ART makes some bangers. Not all of it is good, but some of their products are absolutely fantastic. I have a few ART racks. An XLR patch bay, a TRS patch bay, and the PRO VLA II dual channel optical compressor. I swapped the tubes on the VLA and it's phenomenal. It has no right to be that good. That TUBE PAC sounds good. I love rediscovering gems!

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

I’m now debating how far down the ART rabbit hole I should venture. I’ve seen other people post similar experiences with rolling some nice tubes in their ART gear and it taking it to a whole new level.

[@TheRecordist]

@@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff Oh yes. It's a cheap rabbit hole.

[@davidgbeneke1]

The ART Voice Channel modded, with a Mullard tube sounds amazing! Very versatile with all sorts of goodies including a normal and high voltage mode, normal mode a warm sound, high voltage smooth and glassy. My go to tube pre...

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Now I’m intrigued. I put an old black plate RCA 12az7 in it and I was really surprised how great it sounded. I’ll have that on The Microphone Playboy next week but I am definitely not sleeping on ART gear any longer.

[@pangyre]

ART was way ahead of its time. I have guitar racks from the 90s that weren’t beaten in the market for almost 20 more years.

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

They really were ahead of their time. And never really quite get the respect they deserve.

[@garyembar4774]

If this is what SERENA delivers with a garage-stashed-15 year old-ART pre…..one could imagine how surreally elegant Serena would do with Avalon/Neve/API..!!!! There’s nothing like a blank canvas when you want to paint! Happy coloring Mark…

[@MarkYoshimotoNemcoff]

Gary, you know what? I think you're right. The Serena may actually be the more essential takeaway here than the ART. The OPA Alice Serena is the magic bullet here.