MF Blowing out Pro VLA - $239

[Rodgre]

I went to order one over the phone and got a really rough time because i didn't physically have my catalog in front of me. I'm not even sure where mine is, as I think there's one at the studio, though we did some cleaning recently.... maybe my cousin has a catalog....

ugh

Roger

[xonlocust]

roger, just call back again. exact same thing happened to me. the next guy was easy and nice.

[awolski]

I just scored!! They have them in stock and I got it for the catalog price, no argument. I had to specifically ask for free shipping but they gave it to me no problem. And I always play off the sucker warranty as if I will add it later ("Sounds interesting but I don't have the $ now, can I add the warranty on later?"), that usually keeps the sales people friendly.

Anybody wanna buy a (1-channel tabletop) ART Levellar? Now that I am getting the Pro VLA I want to find a new home for its little brother. PM me if interested. My Levellar was previously owned by Ampguy. Maybe he ran a guitar track through it!!!!!!!!!!

By contrast, ZZounds had Pro VLAs for $349.99. When MF was out of stock I tried to get Zzounds to match the $239.99 since they say they will match any advertised price. I emailed and said I needed to fax in the catalog because it has a lower price than the website. First they told me the price on the web was $299 and they'd do $291. But I called to explain the catalog issue again, and they gave me a fax number to send it to. After 5 attempts I called and the operator said "that's not even our fax number - here try this one". So I faxed it and never heard back. I called and asked about it several hours later and they told me "No, there's no way to speed up the process". That was a week ago and I still haven't heard anything from them. I guess they don't live by their "guarantee".

[Leopold]

I got one of these after reading the review in TapeOp, and just after reading the first 3 pages of posts I counted six people that stated they purchased the VLA and all it took was Ranches initial post to start a feeding frenzy on this thing. Seems to me that MF and ART owe TapeOp a huge thank you and some large ad space in future issues!


-L

[Milkmansound]

I never would have bought mine if it were not for tapeop... especially this forum - so ditto to that. (btw, I now cannot live without this thing - my crappy Fender bass that I got for free and needs new strings has never sounded so good!)

[Jesse Skeens]

What does this catalog look like on the cover? I have their "21st Anniversay Sale" one but I couldn't find the ART in there.

Been wanting one of these for a while.

[awolski]

It's the "Fall 2004 Buyer's Guide" copy - the ART is not with the other pres and compressors, it's near the end with the assorted sale items. It's....pg. 206 to be exact. I probably would have skipped right over it if I hadn't seen this on the TapeOp board.

Does anybody like the (also on sale) Tube Channel or Pro Channel? Or do they sound exactly like you'd expect an ART preamp to sound?

[hank hill]

Hi awolski.

I have the ART Pro Channel. It is a channel strip made up of their other "PRO" line products.

It is one channel of the ART PRO MPA preamp which is a pretty good sounding preamp. I'd say its colored (wether that is in a good or bad way is up to you). It is in a different league than the other ART stuff (it isnt starved plate). I'd say when you really crank the gain it distorts in an unpleasant way but that could be because it just has MASSIVE amounts of gain to use. Somewhere in its gain range you will probably find something workable. I would say it can be used as a character sounding preamp to compliment a FMR RNP for example. Sound quality is definitely in that range. This is actually good useable stuff. That being said .. to be totally honest I don't completely like it but I also don't like my UA M610 so maybe I'm wierd. Something in my head keeps telling me they have similar characteristics.

It also has one channel of the PRO VLA compressor. We all know how good this is. I just ordered the PRO VLA though because I wanted 2 channels of it.

The Pro Channel also has an eq in it. As far as "real" eq I'd say its horrible and I never use it for eq'ing things. It has entirely too many knobs and functions and just the slightest turn of any knob will either totally thin out the sound or make it woofy. All of these complaints, however, MAKE IT A GREAT EFFECT. I use this eq alot as an effect or to really mangle sounds. Since I'm not blown away by the pre and find the eq only useable as an effect, what I find myself doing here and there is when recording something stereo... for a weird sound... record the left into a "normal" set up and the then right into the pro channel to impart the pre's color and totally mangle the sound with the eq.

If youre not looking for something with two channels I'd say that the Pro Channel is great for that price because at $300 I'd say the compressor is easily worth 150 and the eq (as an effect) is worth 150 also. You can plug into each part separately so you can use this on 3 different sources at once (one into the pre, one into the compressor, and one into the eq)

[chris harris]

If I could just get one of the "respected" tape-oppers to endorse my band, we'd go platinum!

[Jesse Skeens]

It's the "Fall 2004 Buyer's Guide" copy - the ART is not with the other pres and compressors, it's near the end with the assorted sale items. It's....pg. 206 to be exact. I probably would have skipped right over it if I hadn't seen this on the TapeOp board.

Does anybody like the (also on sale) Tube Channel or Pro Channel? Or do they sound exactly like you'd expect an ART preamp to sound?

Thanks, would you happen to have the "code" that I have heard is asked for? OR should I just kepe calling back until they take my order?

Also anyone compared this to something like the UAD or Sonalksis compressors? I already have some great software comps, Sonalksis and Creamware. The creamware stands up to my now sold dbx 160sl blue, and the Sonalksis seemed as good or better than the UAD La2a. Just wondering if this is worth it or not. I'm mainly thinking it would be nice for the 2 buss to get a little tube action.

Jesse

[Reuben]

Something's wrong with channel one of my PRO VLA. Whether linked or not, channel one sounds odd, like lower gain than the second channel. Sometimes it does a sort of cutting in and out thing. WTF? Maybe something got banged loose in shipping...? Everything else in the chain is fine.

[inverseroom]

*sigh* I waited and waited for this post to slip away so that I wouldn't have to buy one.

Too late.

[antilog]

naughty naughty

I had the urge to grab one, but I am being good. I am going to give myself a cookie now.

[Jaws of Hell]

that cookie would be 1/239th of a Pro VLA

[antilog]

that cookie would be 1/239th of a Pro VLA

LOFL!

My mind was going the same direction....