bellari mp-110 any good?

[ubertar]

I have the chance to get one for $50. Is it worth it?

[ubertar]

Anybody used one? Do you like it?

[Cellotron]

I have one that I got years ago for $150. I very rarely use it. "Muted" & "grainy" and "I guess it's ok for the cash" are the adjectives I'd use for it's sound. Having said that - I do think it's a heckuva lot better than other similarly priced "toob" pre's out there such as the Presonus Blue Tube.

I did swap out the cheap Chinese 12AX7 it came with for an NOS 12AU7 Amperex and while it didn't really change the sound much it definitely made it a lot quieter.

$50 ain't a bad deal for it though.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Cellotron]

I have one that I got years ago for $150. I very rarely use it. "Muted" & "grainy" and "I guess it's ok for the cash" are the adjectives I'd use for it's sound. Having said that - I do think it's a heckuva lot better than other similarly priced "toob" pre's out there such as the Presonus Blue Tube.

I did swap out the cheap Chinese 12AX7 it came with for an NOS 12AU7 Amperex and while it didn't really change the sound much it definitely made it a lot quieter.

$50 ain't a bad deal for it though.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[eeldip]

i bet its worth it for $50. heck, i'll take it if you dont.

just swap out the tube and the opamps and you are in business.

[theistheman]

I have one. It doesn't color the sound as much as say, one of those art or presonus cheapy tube pres. It's definitely worth 50 bucks.

However, if you want to get those nice overdriven vocal tones, this is NOT the pre to get. When you turn the gain knob and get to about 3 o'clock, it goes into all-out fuzz mode. It's a dramatic change, like at 2:45, it's just a slightly overdriven tube sound, and then at 3, it's super clipped-out distortion.

I like it for room mics. If I could find another one for 50 bucks, I'd definitely buy it.

[ubertar]

I have one. It doesn't color the sound as much as say, one of those art or presonus cheapy tube pres. It's definitely worth 50 bucks.

However, if you want to get those nice overdriven vocal tones, this is NOT the pre to get. When you turn the gain knob and get to about 3 o'clock, it goes into all-out fuzz mode. It's a dramatic change, like at 2:45, it's just a slightly overdriven tube sound, and then at 3, it's super clipped-out distortion.

I like it for room mics. If I could find another one for 50 bucks, I'd definitely buy it.

Is yours modded?
I decided to get it. It was an ebay thing. No one bid on it at $65, so I offered him $40. He said $50 includes shipping, I said OK. Anyone know offhand what the opamp replacement is?

[nacho459]

I borrowed one from my friend about 5 years ago. I use it to do distorted vocals and snare, that's it. I love the way it distorts, it sounds great with just a 58. The extra gain and compression brought out the top end.

My friend wanted it back, and I'm looking for a new one. It's one of those tools I use every once in a while, but always did exactily what I wanted.

Let me buy it...

[@?,*???&?]

Yes. Get it. I go around and around with mine. Got it years ago when I was still doing pre-production for projects on a cassette 4-track.

One of the best album bass sounds I've gotten came with using it as a DI and then running the line out into an Ampeg B15 flip top. Tracks "Stranger than Dreams", "Do with me what you will" and "Long Way" on Lowen & Navarro's "Scratch at the door" feature that on bass. Pres were API312 into dbx160 compressors to tape.

I still run things out of Pro Tools into it upon occasion. 0-1 on the Gain knob seems to thicken things up well. It is a bit noisy however. I did the opamp mod and it didn't do much to open it up, but an electro harmonix 12AX7 would be a good choice as would a Telefunken tube.

fyi

[ubertar]

I got it. I'm going to try it out today.

I just opened it up to take a look, and the tube isn't what the manual says. According to the manual I found online, it has a "premium" 7025 (it doesn't say who made it). The tube inside is a Philips JAN 12AX7WA, which, from poking around the internet, looks like it should be a decent tube. Is this what came stock with yours? Maybe they changed over time what they were using.

[nacho459]

a 7025 and 12ax7 are the same thing. some people will argue that they are different though. In the old Fenders they use 7025 instead of 12ax7 in the preamp I think it's just an older name for them.

[ubertar]

Yeah, I've read it's a lower noise version of the 12ax7, with lower gain. I'm just curious if the Philips was stock or if there was a 7025 in there before, and if so, who made it?

I've been using it today on a bass part (well, alumitar bass part). I'm going direct through it to one track and also out of it to a bass amp to ev 664 to ATI m-1000 on another track. (both into Samplitude). The amped track sounds better, but the direct has a little more high end. I've got the gain on 1. Turning up the gain starts to pick up some radio (faint, but still annoying).

[Don Shumai]

I have one of these and it also has a Philips tube in it. I figured the person that sold it to me off ebay had put that in there, but now I wonder.

[nacho459]

My buddy bought one straight from GC several years ago and it just had a Sovtec cheapo 12ax7.

[theistheman]

yeah, mine came with a cheapy sovtek.

Mine doesn't pick up radio though. It's always annoying when that happens when I'm recording, but it's also funny as hell for some reason.