Behringer TUBE ULTRAGAIN MIC100 Audiophile Vacuum Tube Preamplifier with Limiter

I've seen the other reviews and I don't agree with them about the noise. When I started playing the only amps we had were tubes and THEY made noise, they all had that unmistakable "tube hum". The MIC100 does not have that type of hum. It's so slight, you almost don't notice it. But it reproduces that rich, full, warm tube sound perfectly. And it adds power to your practice amp that you will not believe. It's a very well made piece of equipment. I love the heavy metal case and the retro control knobs. The price is great for the quality you get. My only grip is the length of the cord on the AC adapter, it's too short....but then they ALL are. I'm sure you will be very happy with the MIC100. After using the MIC100, I'm thinking about getting the Behringer Veritube amp head. I gave the MIC100 all five stars.

Largely based on the reviews I read here at Amazon, I bought one of these MIC100 pre-amps to see if if would 'warm up' the sound of my hollow-body electric guitar. It does that, both on the front end (i.e., between the guitar and my amp) or the back end (between the amp's line out and a P.A.). Lately, I have been using it to warm up the sound of a low-cost mic, sometimes connected line-in to the same amp, and sometimes to a mixer or direct to a P.A.I have to say that, for me, it works great in both roles. In fact, I may purchase another MIC100, so I have one for the mic and one for the guitar.I should point out that this is for live performance. I understand that for studio work there are more expensive products that probably work better and, one assumes, have more features. For my purposes, this thing is great. I like it so much, I use it at home when I'm just playing for my own pleasure.Noise hasn't been an issue, for me. Yes, it will get a bit noisy if you max the Gain knob, but I never do that. Somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 gets me the quality of sound I want. The Volume control doesn't add any noticeable noise at any reasonable level - even at home, where there's minimal background din.On the advice of another reviewer, I ordered a replacement tube for it, but I haven't actually got around to replacing the OEM tube. If there's a dramatic change - for the better - when I finally do that, I'll send in a supplementary review. For now, I'm sufficiently pleased that I have no feeling of urgency about swapping out the tube.This is the third Behringer product I have purchased that has met or exceeded expectations. I see occasional comments, here and elsewhere, about their lack or reliability and/or quality control, and used to be a bit concerned about it. However, after a year and a half with my VT50FX amp (used pretty much every day), several months with the MIC100, and some time with a bought-used GM108 amp, I have no inhibitions about Behringer products.Any mass-market manufacturer is going to have the occasional deffective product get into a customer's hands. The real issue is will they treat you right when it happens. I have read that Behringer does, though I haven't had reason to explore this myself. So far, I am pleased and impressed with my Behringer gear...especially that VT50FX amp.[One exception is their guitar effects pedals. I've owned three of those (purchased, untested, by mail order); they all worked, but none did what I expected/hoped it would do. This may be more my fault than Behringer's, but once I got a Zoom Multi-effects unit, the pedals were relegated to the cupboard. These are definitely a try-before-you-buy item.]

I'm sharing what I learned because I really wish I had known about this before spending weeks troubleshooting:TLDR; Plug this pre-amp into a battery, UPS, or some kind of power conditioner to significantly, if not completely, reduce noise and interference. When I plug into a surge strip or wall outlet, even at low volumes, I can clearly make out electrical buzzing and my local radio stations. After plugging into the battery portion of the UPS, the noise is gone. It was that simple. I don't know how much of a difference balanced and shielded cables make, but for a condenser microphone, I'd highly recommend doing everything you can to reduce noise on the input end.************Pros:+ vacuum tube pre-amp+ 48 V phantom power+ reasonable price+ good selection of features for this price pointCons:- No power switch? Seriously?- No filtering from the power supplyThe pre-amp doesn't appear to filter the power it receives from the A/C Adapter in the slightest, and the transformer in the adapter is not able to filter out certain frequencies (like radio stations). The Pre-Amp uses that power as-is to amplify the signal (I only tested this with the 48v Phantom Power). What this means, is if the circuit you are plugging into is not a 100% clean sinewave equivalent, you WILL get noise and interference coming through your audio.I wanted to give this product 3 stars for all the frustration if caused me, but it does sound quite good after figuring out the power issue. I just wish the Amazon page clearly recommended using some kind of power conditioner. Would have saved me a lot of trouble. Oh, and ffs... put a power switch on the thing.************My set-up (for context): I purchased this unit to use with my budget home/office setup to get better sounding audio when talking to clients, streaming, and other communications across Skype, Discord, and the like on a PC. I'm using the pre-amp with an inexpensive cardioid condenser microphone without post-processing and without a separate USB DAC or other USB-style interface. I'm using relatively high-grade shielded cables (no longer than 6ft to further reduce noise) both on the input and output ends of the device. I don't believe the sound card for my computer supports balanced audio.