Pretty good

This unit is great, I mostly use it along with my Rode Nt1-A condenser mics. I have recorded guitar, overheads, and vocals along with some direct in bass on this and all of it has sounded great. The sound is pretty clean too. The digital out is a big plus but the only con is it can't sync to anything over 48Khz with adat so I can't use a 96Khz sample rate with my recordings. Other than that I love this unit and I'm sure it will serve me well for years to come.

superb tube pramp w/ digital out

I got this along with ART mpl stereo compressor for recording stereo instrruments, ect, but I end up using this setup more than expected. Plenty of variables on this unit such as high/low tube voltage selection, variable impedence on mic inputs and best of all realy great sound, not transparent, but great sound including supringly excellent A to D conversion.
Bass guitar plugged direct in and then into the MPL compressor works fantastic. I also run almost all my electric guitar tracks through this either direct or miced. I have other choices but this MPA works so well. Clean vocals need a good solid-state pre, but for warmth and great sound this is my go to. I also run my stero drum overhead mics through this first to tame the shrill of the cymbals.

Unit looks classy and high end, build quality is surprisingly sturdy and secure. I've moved mine several times, and it gets rolled around my studio in my rack several times a week with no issues yet.
Changing the stock tubes isn't nesseary but don't be afraid to experiment with other matched pairs.

The end results from my low $ studio, with good ears and engineering, actualy sound better, BETTER than the for-hire studio my career musician friend records at. I sold a top grade, single channel preamp to get this MPA and the MPL with $ left over and absoltutely no regrets. Incredibly versitile and quality stereo preamp for a rediculously low cost.

For the $, this unit CAN'T be beat!

Was going to give it a 5 rating, but it's not fair to the $2000 pre's, so I ONLY gave it a 4.5...

It's TOTALLY AWESOME to have added 2 more channels of Pre's, without burning any of my pre's on my interface.. This was actually the main reason I bought this, but this this is SO MUCH MORE!

The warmth is AWESOME! For digital, it sounds very analog-ish...

There are SO MANY reasons to add this pre to your setup, no matter how highend of gear you have!

I wouldn't be changing any tubes until AFTER you play with the unit. I almost ordered tubes as I ordered the pre, but after trying it from the factory, I'm not changing anything until I need to...

I'm running mine from the Spdif Outs only, but DID run tests comparing the digital to Analog outs. The converters in this unit seem AWESOME! But I'm still using 24bit, 44,100 rate, so maybe my stuff is dated!lol... I guess I'm "old school"!lmao.

Best of luck! And trust me, you will LOVE this unit! Just buy it and thank me later!lol.

Mike

Solid unit, don't overlook!

I bought this unit (and the ART Pro-VLA II compressor with it) and I was very pleased as soon as I integrated it into my setup. A client of mine came in the day I got it and said "Hey, why do these vocal takes sound so much better today?" I pointed to this unit on my rack! It has nice tone, easy controls, plenty of lights and meters to make people say "Now what does THAT do?" For the price, it can't be beat.

Very Pleased.

I would have given a five star review to this product but I didn't because of the stock tubes that come with it. After reading reviews from other ART product owners I decided to replace the original tubes with an EX Yugoslavian copy of a Telefunfunken design. The difference is noticeable. The upper mids sound less "cloudy" and now there is no unwanted distortion.
In a review from 2004, S.O.S. gave a very praising review of the MPA I. Digital resolution on the MPA II is better at nearly half the cost of the original!
Reviews like these are always subjective but I'm certain this product would fare very competitively in a blindfold test.

Still going strong

I would have thought it would have been almost worthless for the price. Have had this preamp for 5 years, bounced it around to practices and it keeps going and going. Sounds good with large condenser mic's or warming up some digital signals.