Behringer TUBE ULTRAGAIN MIC200 Audiophile Vacuum Tube Preamplifier with Preamp Modeling Technology

This is an EXCELLENT way to get into the very exciting world of tubes.Your best bet? Toss the garbage Chinese tube included. It's absolutely terrible.Buy a decent tube, or a few, and see what you like. This unit is relatively simple to take apart and change it out, just keep track of the screws, bolts, and metal post supports.Don't want to take the whole thing apart over and over?For the price, you can afford to buy a few.Once you try a few tubes, you'll want to have one of these for each in your collection.I currently have two of these, one with an Electro Harmonix and one with a Tung Sol. I am writing this because I am buying a third to house my Ruby.I have been using this with my guitars, basses, my MicroKorg, several cheap MXL condenser mics, and much, much more.You absolutely cannot go wrong with this tube preamp. It just works, simple as that.The modeling and limiter knob is very versatile for a huge range of applications. I use it live and it makes my Marshall half stack sound like it actually has a tube head (it doesn't, it's a solid state)! My blues drive has more creaminess and with my overdrive distortion it has more bite.The limiter sounds nice and punchy on my 5 string Ibanez bass, my harmonica more punch, vocals stand in the front of the mix easier, percussion sounds fuller... I could go on all day.I record in a 96k studio and have very little trouble with noise from this preamp. Run the AC adaptor on a separate circuit (NOT the one your amp is plugged in) or a power conditioner, use a Noise Gate, or use the noise removing plugin on your favorite program if you're recording.Learning and exploring the world of tubes doesn't have to be expensive! Just get it (just buy a new tube)!

I run a small project/production sound studio and this item has really, really helped me out. I didn't think I would love it as much as I do. I have a high-quality interface and very sensitive mics, but, I get a really digital sound out of it. It's just honest to the point of being harsh. This is great for some things (recording horns, sound effects, etc.) but not for others (voices, guitars, etc.). So, I got this to try to warm everything up.I switched the tube out. The box was tough to get into! I swear they made the screws out of sandstone; I stripped 'em even being gentle. It was tough getting in, but once I did, I swapped out the stock tube with a vintage low-noise high-quality tube (not letting that secret out). That greatly enhanced the sound and cut down on the noise. The additional cost of the tube is a significant consideration at this price-point (the tube was as much as the pre-amp), but if this is one of your options, I would recommend a swap-out to anyone.The EQ settings are nice. Play with them and you'll be pleasantly surprised. The limiter is useless. It takes it a second to set a level, so the waveform ends up with a huge peak on the front of it.I played around with the unit, and even stock, it sounds pretty good. If you need some warmth, phantom power, whatever it is, this really isn't a bad solution. I could see how users would find it too noisy, but, with my high-quality mics and high-quality interface, I can work around it (keeping the gain down on the MIC200).

I bought this to use as a mic preamp for recording music on my Zoom h4n, which is a great recorder but has noisy internal preamps. This unit is much quieter than my recorders preamps and a good deal warmer. I found it very useful being able to adjust the gain going into my recorder using a real knob instead of relying on my recorders buttons. The unit is sturdy and of good quality, I like the chicken head knobs, they have a good feel and can be adjusted finely.The EQ settings on this the ultragain are somewhat of a disappointment only in the sense that they sound very similar to one another. I prefer the valve setting for almost everything, it seem slightly warmer than the rest. I have not found a use of the limiter settings I like, but only some settings have it engaged.I have ran several dynamic mics through a PA with this and they sounded great. since it has a 1/4 instrument output, I tried plugging this into my Peavey bandit guitar amp and seeing what vocals would sound like. It sounded very clear and was actually hard to get it to feedback, which is usually a problem running vocals through a guitar amp.I also have tried running my guitars through this and I really like the tube compression I can get. It says specifically in the instructions not to use the XLR input and instrument input at the same time, but I did for several hours straight, running my guitar and vocals through it. sounded fine, although it mixes the two signals so they both come out both outputs. Perhaps doing this is bad for the tube, or could overload something eventually, I'm no expert, but the booklet says don't do it!Many users have said this unit is noisy or that it hisses at higher volume levels. I have found that turning the gain up higher (but less than 95% up) and keeping the output knob lower gets me a lower noise floor than the opposite, and i think most people would assume you would want gain low and output high to achieve a low noise floor.I was worried about reviews that said this unit is no good without upgrading the tube, but now I'm happy because its good enough for me as is, but holds the promise of being improved in the future.

I have tried different tubes, the stock one, tung-sol 12AX7 and groove tubes 12AY7 which is supposed to much more quiet. Yet the hum still persist, even after completely removing the tube it was still there. This makes this essentially worthless for vocals, and no it's not my cables or microphone, because my cables and mic don't make any noise with my other equipment. Sounds bad as at DI for electric guitar, sounds okay for bass though. The best use for this has been as a preamp to my Blues Junior, gives me a few more options with tone and overdrive, but this is not supposed to be a stomp box.