Thoughts on the Art Tubefire 8?

liftyrfists · Post by **liftyrfists** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 2:40 pm

Hi there,
So, as usual, I've been referred to several pieces of equipment, and one seems particularly conducive to my situation currently.

I've been looking a lot at the Art Tubefire 8, but have never really used a piece of rack hard-ware before (the only thing I used on my first album was a Lexicon Omega and pair of Oktava mc-012's). Anyway, keeping the oktava's (which are awesome, by the way) I've now got some 57's, 58's, and a 52, and cubase 4 on my macbook pro. To me, it sounds like the Tubefire would provide a good number of inputs (which I could multitrack up to, if I really wanted to, 8 tracks simultaneously on cubase, right?) and also have firewire connectivity, which would be nice...well, necessary with more than two tracks going in really!

So does this sound like a adequate set up or is there something huge I'm missing here (I know that's all *very* subjective, but if I'm only using what I *need* I suppose (which, of course, is also subjective, I know I know!))? I read Joel Hamilton's review of the Tubefire and it sounded pretty nice, though, like I said, I just don't have much experience at all...

cheers,
jon

firesine · Post by **firesine** » Tue Nov 04, 2008 9:00 pm

Looks like a cool interface. Direct to Daw sounds like you should be able to get all 8 tracks into Cubase. I have no idea how it sounds.

premiumdan · Post by **premiumdan** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 9:32 am

I've had good experience with A.R.T.'s tube mic-pre's...

As long as the reviews don't mention jitter or excessive-noise or
hardware/software communication issues, you'll probably be fine.
Too bad this piece of equipment wasn't available until AFTER I
bought my M-Audio 1010LT and 8 TubeMP's and 8ch-snake and
audio-adapters and ...

Cheers!

-Dan

dgrieser · Post by **dgrieser** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:08 am

The TapeOp review of it only mentioned using the pres and their direct outs into an HD24 if I remember right. They liked the pres. There was nothing about the AD/DA, how the interface worked with a computer, what the control software is like, interface stability/usability/latency etc.

premiumdan · Post by **premiumdan** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:45 am

One other thing -- the table-top A.R.T. TubeMP's get warm to the touch
after they've been used for a few hours. If you decide to get the Tubefire,
make sure you have some airflow around it, because I'm not sure how much
heat can be generated by eight tubes in one piece of rack-gear, especially
if it's cooped up in a cabinet or wherever.
(assuming there are eight tubes in there...)

-Dan

firesine · Post by **firesine** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 12:33 pm

Nope, only 4 tubes. So thats 2 channels per 12AX7. This might be worthy of some new tubes if the interface and other features are decent.

premiumdan · Post by **premiumdan** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 12:59 pm

I do not claim to be an expert or play one on T.V.,
but wouldn't sending multiple signals to a tube
cause SOME issues? Unless these are legit "stereo"/
"dual-mono" tubes, can you drive two signals at
different gain-settings through the same tube?

Curious...

I suppose this thing works fine, but I would've thought
there'd have been 8 tubes in there.

-Dan

firesine · Post by **firesine** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 1:09 pm

12AX7's are dual triode tubes so they can handle 2 signals, though I would imagine this would not be the best use for them and would starve the plates.

premiumdan · Post by **premiumdan** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:32 am

Seems that the price is a lot less now.
$200 drop, maybe?
Wonder if they made a ton of dough on it?
Wonder if they're making a "mkII" already?

-Dan

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:17 pm

liftyrfists wrote:Hi there,
So, as usual, I've been referred to several pieces of equipment, and one seems particularly conducive to my situation currently.

I've been looking a lot at the Art Tubefire 8, but have never really used a piece of rack hard-ware before (the only thing I used on my first album was a Lexicon Omega and pair of Oktava mc-012's). Anyway, keeping the oktava's (which are awesome, by the way) I've now got some 57's, 58's, and a 52, and cubase 4 on my macbook pro. To me, it sounds like the Tubefire would provide a good number of inputs (which I could multitrack up to, if I really wanted to, 8 tracks simultaneously on cubase, right?) and also have firewire connectivity, which would be nice...well, necessary with more than two tracks going in really!

So does this sound like a adequate set up or is there something huge I'm missing here (I know that's all *very* subjective, but if I'm only using what I *need* I suppose (which, of course, is also subjective, I know I know!))? I read Joel Hamilton's review of the Tubefire and it sounded pretty nice, though, like I said, I just don't have much experience at all...

cheers,
jon

I never did a review of the ART tubefire.
I dont even really know what it is.

vorian · Post by **vorian** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:31 pm

firesine wrote:12AX7's are dual triode tubes so they can handle 2 signals, though I would imagine this would not be the best use for them and would starve the plates.

"Starved plate" refers to running a tube with a much lower plate voltage than that which allows it to operate in the linear range it was intended to run in. For a 12ax7, anywhere from 150 to 300 is pretty normal. Starved plates for a 12ax7 would be something like a "tube overdrive pedal" with 18v on the plates. Running the two triodes in a 12ax7 in series or in completely separate audio paths has nothing to do with starving or not starving the plates. For example, a tweed bassman's (5F6-A) normal and bright channel each use half of the same tube for their respective first gain stages. This tube does not run with starved plates.

The only potential hangup I can see with 4 tubes for 8 channels is crosstalk between channels. I don't actually know if this would be a problem or not, just seems like if anything were to go wrong that would be it.

That, and if one tube dies, two channels die, but with a good quality preamp tube, failures will be few and far between.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:33 pm

joel hamilton wrote: I never did a review of the ART tubefire.
I dont even really know what it is.

Who was that then. Larry Crane maybe.

wren · Post by **wren** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:52 pm

ysyrtypy wrote:
joel hamilton wrote: I never did a review of the ART tubefire.
I dont even really know what it is.
Who was that then. Larry Crane maybe.

Joel Patterson?

So may Joels around it can be easy to get confused I guess...

joederschlagzeuger · Post by **joederschlagzeuger** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:11 pm

I have been doing an album project with one of these. I have recorded drums bass and guitars plus DI synth. The Tubefire sounds great for the money.

It has a very basic driver which seems stable. Functionality is great and I haven't experienced any problems with it.

I am tracking on to a not too flashy windows laptop and using Reaper.

I would recommend it (FWIW).

kuene · Post by **kuene** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:59 am

this may be a stupid question, it's in regards to the tubefire's monitoring capabilities, and lack of master analogue outs. if i understand this correctly, if i want to record using all 8 pres (and only monitor via headphone) - and then use two of the trs outputs for playback from the daw (not monitoring) - i'm able to do this without having to re-patch anything, right?

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