ART MPA GOLD

The Secret Weapon?
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_ben
Audio Head
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Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:02 am

ART MPA GOLD

Post by _ben »

I would like to know if someone has any idea about this gear and compare to bellari gear.
Is there a way to improve the quality of the art mpa pro..as some mods adviced for bellari's gears?

Ben
________
FINNISH RECIPES
Last edited by _ben on Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

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w5cul
VooDoo Audio Crew
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Location: Austin, Tx

Post by w5cul »

Hello Ben,

Welcome to the Voodoo forum. I happen to have and use an ART MPA Gold. It is a fine Mic Preamp and has served me very well. Regarding mods; since I purchased mine a couple of years back, I do not know what tubes they are shipping out with the preamp. I know mine had some cheap Chinese 12AX7 knock-offs that I replaced with some JAN 5751's, green labeled. The JAN's were a lot smoother than the originals, and well worth the effort of opening up the ART. Now the gentleman that owns this forum, the Voodoo Guru, swears by and uses RCA Commander series 5751's, and they do sound sweet. But that sweet silky smooth sound (aka the Commander series 5751's) will cost you some bucks, if you find them!! Next on the chopping block would be the cheap original BA4450 Op-Amps; get rid of those pronto!! You want to purchase some Analog Digital AD823AN's. I can not remember the number of Op-amps required, but 4 does come to mind. Just open up the ART and look for 8 pin DIP's in sockets labeled BA4450. You can pickup the AD823AN's from Digi-Key. If you do anything, change out those Op-Amps. Now the power supply seems strong enough to handle the demand, so I did not make any changes there. However, I do need to change out the signal caps with some Panasonic FC series caps. But unfortunately I have not done the research on which ones at this time. So this is something that you would be blazing a trail on.

Well, I hope this helps out. I know the mods did wonders for the signal quality of my ART MPA Gold.

73,

Mike
W5CUL

Live from the Texas Hill Country......VMSDX# 21

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Voodoo Guru
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Post by Voodoo Guru »

Welcome to the Forum Ben!!!
Great to have ya here!

Mike couldn't have answered better, well done Mike...

But.....

Don't you think you need to quit typing and get back to reviewing that rig???? :roll:

MOOHAAhaahaaahaaaaaaa!!!!! :twisted:
Voodoo Guru
From Deep in the IDD of the Sub-Harmonix Realm

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w5cul
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Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 11:07 pm
Location: Austin, Tx

Post by w5cul »

Well, your right, I should be doing that. However, I just got it back from the guys a second time around for warranty work, this Tuesday. Had a little trouble with power out and SWR. In the mean time, I have been playing around with my new AIM 4170 VNA. I have decided to make another Balun for the ole 80M loop; a new one for winter, along with the original for summer. When all the leaves finally come off the trees, the impedance of the antenna at its resonant frequency changes some 30 ohms, which is pretty significant. Not too mention it is time to replace the portion of the transmission cable that lays on the roof; it has developed some major loss. So I have been busy with that, and playing around with the new rig when ever I can keep it at the house ;) I will take it through the guantlet pretty soon.

Take care my Friend,

Mike
W5CUL

Live from the Texas Hill Country......VMSDX# 21

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w5kai
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MPA GOLD

Post by w5kai »

It feels strange to reply to a forum post that as old as some of my grandkids. But, Thanks to it being here my mpa gold sounds better today than ever. Thanks to both Mikes for your reply to this post!
My Mpa gold had burr brown 2134 opamps and I just made a change to the ad823's. Man I love what I'm hearing. I'm only at the 20 hour of the 120 hr. burnin , but it sure sounding sweet.
VMSDX # 24
Special Zombie Edition

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