Art DST4

Rare pre-amp for years 90 to transistors (wrongly listed in the category 'tube preamp' because of a 12AX7 has a decent clean channel) 1U rack. Various effects (delay, reverb ...). Noon. The rack version of the ART Xtreme pedal.

UTILIZATION

Simple. Controls: GAIN, LOW, MID, MID FREQ, HIGH and BLEND. 2 digit display. The mid sweep offers enormous potential (boost or cut midrange).

SOUND QUALITY

The sound is pretty clear. Usable for its Pink Floyd or the Jazz. The Far saturated sound (Xtrem), that is the forte of the craft. The best sound Brutal Death Metal: A slap to the classic Ampeg VH / Crate GX130c used by Cannibal Corpse (including the time 'The Bleeding' / 'Vile'). Grained, medium-rich, very accurate. When one plays Brutal Death to Suffocation, the dynamics of the lamps is useless and if they add beautiful harmonic textures (eg, ENGL Savage 120), they are very close on ART DST-4.

OVERALL OPINION

2 years. One occasion. It is made only for the nag, but does it well. Little known because of lack of advertising is preferred by ART at the time, sell the DST-80/80 (same as preamp, 2U rack, included a power amp quality. I prefer to play with an old VHT 2150 or Fryette / VHT 2:90:2) or offer the combo (not found in Europe) DST-825.A whole era when manufacturers pushed the technical and sound far enough (at the risk of bankruptcy sometimes). As Peavey Rock Master (4 tubes, sounds better than the XXX in my opinion) ENGL e520 (4 tubes, Marshall sound, tight grain, easy to 'modder', build quality superior to current models) or the ADA MP1 (and the many 'hacks'), ART DST-4 is like a black hole in space studio soon forgotten but the food all! A quirk in the cosmic world where only the preamps and AxeFX ENGL e570 seem to stand out.I still buy many. (An example of use in a small group of American Death Metal: http://www.myspace.com/putrescinemedm)