Anyone out there ever used one of these for a Stick?

http://www.artproaudio.com/products.asp?type=79&cat=1&id=99

I'm considering getting one for my nascent Stick rig. The instrument inputs are ">1 M Ohm" so it seems like it would be a good fit with the PASV4. Online reviews say some really good things about swapping out the stock tube with one of higher quality. I'm a complete newbie to the tube scene, but I must say it's got me intrigued!

--Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I used to play through the original TPS unit. I loved the sounds I got out of it. It was great for giving a variety of tube and solid-state tones, almost like having a PASV pickup on my old rosewood/Stickup Grand. The impedance was not adjustable on the original unit, but it is on the TPS II.

My only problem with my particular unit was bad grounding on the Channel 1 tube socket. I took it back to ART (they were an hour from where I used to live in NY) and had one of their engineers fix it. They mailed it back to me a couple of days later, free of charge (that socket did go bad again, but the issue is only apparent when plugging in a 1/4 inch TS cable, not with an XLR cable). They emailed me the schematics on the unit, should I decide to have it serviced again, as they consider the original version to be "vintage," they do not service them anymore at ART.

All in all, for the price (I paid $175US new), it's a great preamp unit.


Take care,

Paul

I just read the manual for the TPS II. It indicates the variable input impedance only works for the Mic/Line inputs (rear of unit), NOT for the instrument inputs on the front panel. The instrument input is fixed at 1MOhm of impedance.


Paul