[Scott Dorsey]

wrote:

All true(except the starved plate bit)but I don't care. I use my ears. I do=
n't give a rat's arse if it is a "true" tube pre or the tubes are a distort=
ion stage etc etc. I use my ears.

This is fine, but don't call it a tube preamp.

All I can say is it sounds better (more 3=
D, better bass, high end clarity, more pleasing harmonics, plus ability to =
mess with input impedance etc.) to my ears than preamps like the UA 610, Bl=
ack Box Analog Designs, The Brick, Summit Audio 2BA, Daking, or any of the =
Warm Audio pres, all of which I A/Bd the ART against.

Okay, so you like the particular coloration of the tube distortion stage
more than you like the coloration of standard tube preamps. That's fine.
I can certainly see that for some things (like electric bass) even if I
totally disagree for other things (like vocals).

But if you call it a "tube preamp" and it doesn't sound anything like a
tube preamp, you're going to mislead people who want a tube preamp.
The first time I tried one of the fake tube devices I thought it was
broken because I was expecting it to sound like a normal tube preamp and
it in fact sounded like a preamp with a badly misbiased tube.

Check out the Gearslu=
tz thread where in a blind test the ART was chosen more often than a number=
of high end pres.

Again, I am happy for the people who chose them that they won't have to
spend the money on a Millennia.

In addition, you may have noticed that the current audio=
market is flooded with devices designed to add distortion. I'm well aware =
of hysteresis type distortion Vs distortion from valves. Transformers are i=
n my experience more variable in the type or degree of distortion (hysteres=
is) they are capable of producing Vs valves which seem to be more predictab=
le as far as how they sound when pushed.

This is a tremendous oversimplification, but until the datasheets for these
devices gives you spectra for tones and intermod, all you can do is say "it
sounds like a pentode preamp with a lossy input transformer" or "it sounds
like a triode preamp with a Jensen JE-115" and otherwise make somewhat vague
descriptions of the sonic effect.

This is why I get so upset when people lump everything into one "q00l tube
mike pre" category.

If I want transformer saturation, =
I follow the ART with a couple of stand alone huge vintage 600:600 Stancor =
transformers.

If you're looking for that bass compression effect that you get from
overloading transformers, you might want to consider something smaller.
The reason why the Triad LS-50 and all those other giant isolation
transformers were so popular in studios was that they were nearly impossible
to overload. The coloration on them is pretty constant with level, unlike
easily-saturated devices.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."