Mic Pre with Firewire The ART TubeFire8T delivers the best of all worlds in one tube driven digital audio interface package. Ideal for any recording application, the TubeFire8T packs eight incredibly warm second-generation discrete Class-A vacuum tube microphone preamps into a single rack space audio interface with balanced I/O, headphone monitoring and FireWire connectivity. Every input channel offers both XLR input and 1/4-inch TRS balanced input with 70dB of gain. All inputs have independent -10dB Pad, High Pass filter, Phase Invert, clip indicators and a wide range LED meter to monitor the preamp levels. Phantom power is available on all XLR inputs making it ideal for complex multi-track recording with high quality condenser microphone sources. Well used in home studio Cosmetic scuffs and scratches (see photos) The bad news. Needs a service. Cursory testing via headphones suggests these minor issues some well-directed WD-40 on buttons and pots or new valves? Monitor section Crackle on output source select Chan 1-2, 3-4 Clean once in use. Mono: all channels audible on headphone out Stereo: no ch2, 4, 6, 8: suggests some issue with even number internal routing bus? Crackle issues on: most of these just occur when pressing buttons and moving pots. Once value dialed in, most of these work fine. Some of the pads introduce crackle into the signal- as indicated below. Please ask if you have any more detailed questions. Ch1 Pad, hi pass filter, phase and output pot Ch2 Pad, hi pass filter, phase Ch3, Gain slightly unresponsive, kicks in around 9 o’clock, crackle on output pot Ch4, pad press and output pot Ch5, crackle when pad active Ch6 crackle while pad active Ch7 crackle on pad press Ch8 crackle while pad active The good news. Firewire audio interface. Analogue inputs: eight, on combi jack/XLRs; Two front mounted 1/4-inch instrument level inputs (Channels 1 & 2) allow quick direct connection of any keyboard, acoustic guitar or bass without re-patching the rear panel or reaching for an additional direct box Mic Preamps: up to 70dB gain in conjunction with Output level control; phantom power switchable in banks of four channels; switches for 80Hz, 6dB/octave high-pass filter, 20dB pad, and polarity inversion. Analogue outputs: eight, balanced, on TRS jacks with global +4dBu/-10dBV switching; headphone output with analogue true zero-latency cue mixer. Other connections: BNC sockets for Word Clock I/O; dual Firewire sockets for daisy-chaining up to four Tubefire 8 units. A-D Converter: 24-bit resolution at 44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96kHz sample rates. True zero-latency analogue headphone monitoring on board. Cons Although the preamps are clean and quiet, they’re not the most tonally neutral. Headphone output under-powered, which compromises the usability of the built-in zero-latency monitoring. No digital I/O or MIDI connectivity. Surprisingly big and heavy! ART’s microphone preamps provide clean quiet gain while maintaining incredible transparency through the input stage. The eight balanced outputs of the TubeFire8T can be driven from either the analog microphone preamp inputs making the TubeFire8T an in-line eight channel tube preamp, or from the internal high quality D/A converters making it a high quality multi-channel audio output for your PC.