Clean signal boost???

[father of fires]

MXR Micro Amp. Super flat clean boost. I use it and a Tube MP to bump my pedals up enough to drive power amps.

The Art tube MP is sweeter sounding but noisy.

[Arjank]

Originally Posted by father of fires

The Art tube MP is sweeter sounding but noisy.

Can't comment on "sweeter sounding" but noisy it is
Lots of "hushhhhh" on that unit.

[Matthijs]

I mainly use the art unit as a mic pre (to amplify my tuba over my amp) and for the mic it is pretty clear, transparent and noise free. I frequently use the unit and absolutely love it, especially for the money. On that basis I always thought the tube was just for mood lighting and exchanging it for another tube would be a waste of money.

I have recently tried it with a bass (active and passive) and with the bass it did sound a bit weird. Tubey, but not nescessarilly in a good way. Not a eq thing, it might warm the sound up a bit, but not much, not like a fishman platinum pro. It is hard to describe, more like a timing effect or a rubbery feel. I assumed it had something to do with the interaction with the tube pre in my eden amp. In my case the noise levels were way below noticeable at live volume though. Maybe the noise problem is a quality control thing and differs from unit to unit.

[father of fires]

Originally Posted by Matthijs

I mainly use the art unit as a mic pre (to amplify my tuba over my amp) and for the mic it is pretty clear, transparent and noise free. I frequently use the unit and absolutely love it, especially for the money. On that basis I always thought the tube was just for mood lighting and exchanging it for another tube would be a waste of money.

I have recently tried it with a bass (active and passive) and with the bass it did sound a bit weird. Tubey, but not nescessarilly in a good way. Not a eq thing, it might warm the sound up a bit, but not much, not like a fishman platinum pro. It is hard to describe, more like a timing effect or a rubbery feel. I assumed it had something to do with the interaction with the tube pre in my eden amp. In my case the noise levels were way below noticeable at live volume though. Maybe the noise problem is a quality control thing and differs from unit to unit.

I noticed a strange smoothness that may be attributed to the tube but there is a ton of electronics in that little box so something IS changing the tone slightly.

I use it mostly to gain match my basses because the Micro Amp can't go below unity but the noise when playing with a dirt box is annoying as hell. But I'll live with it for $30.

[ThisBass]

Originally Posted by two fingers

I didn't know the values but changing the resistor on the bass was my first thought as well. It's your bass only more.

Sometimes it is possible to swap the output stage resister.
A common value for onboard eq's and/or active pups like emg it is 10k.

But most of inputs (power amps) are 10k as well and thus a loss of -6dB.

If it is possible to exchange the resistor of your instrument output stage to 1k then the loss of level is nearly 0dB.

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by Matthijs

I always thought the tube was just for mood lighting and exchanging it for another tube would be a waste of money.
.

These units operate the tube in "starved plate" mode. The plate voltage is 48V. Some tubes will run happily at that low voltage and some won't operate at all well. It's a case of try it and see.