Description

The Tube MP/C pairs two independent circuits in a single compact chassis: a hybrid tube preamplifier and an optical compressor with no VCA in the signal path. Rather than bouncing between separate boxes, you get gain staging and dynamics control in one desktop unit that sits comfortably in a home or project studio.

On the preamp side, an active balanced solid-state input keeps noise low and rejects common-mode interference, while the 1/4″ high-impedance input avoids loading down whatever you plug in — handy for using this as a DI box for instruments as well as a mic/line preamp. A hand-selected 12AX7a tube sits in the second gain stage, running on regulated DC power and adding up to 20dB more gain on top of the solid-state front end, for a total of up to 80dB.

The compressor stage skips VCA circuitry entirely in favor of optical gain reduction (Vactrol-based), routed through its own 12AX7a tube stage for smoother, more musical clamping than typical solid-state compressors.

Tube mic/line preamp, up to 80dB gain
Hand-selected 12AX7a tube
VCA-less optical compression circuit
XLR balanced I/O plus 1/4″ unbalanced I/O
Transformer-isolated XLR output
Switchable Line/Instrument output range
LED metering for tube warmth, gain reduction, and output
+48V phantom power and phase reversal switch
Selectable release time settings
Greater than 90dB dynamic range
Extruded aluminum chassis with rubber sides

With a frequency response reaching 60kHz and equivalent input noise around -128dBu, it’s built to be a clean, flexible front end for tracking vocals, instruments, or line sources — with compression already dialed in.