Behringer TUBE ULTRAGAIN MIC100 Preamp  

I've owned this preamp for about 10 months and I've treated it very well. A few months ago it started randomly adding static to the signal. This comes in and out and there's no way of knowing when it'll happen. When the unit isn't being noisy, it does the job well. When it is being noisy, it ruins the recording. Save up a bit and buy a nicer preamp, and you'll be much happier in the long run!

I've had this for about 10 years or so now.  I used to use it live on my vocal mic to warm the tone coming out of my Digitech Vocal 300 multi-effects box, and it worked well for that. I later discovered the built-in compression on the Voc300 was sufficient for warmth. Now I used it as preamp for my solid state crate 15 W practice amp.  Generally I use this setup for harmonica, but it also works well for guitar purposes.  The Mic100 basically makes the SS sound like a tube amp, quiet successfully. I have a number of fellow tinkerers who claim these low-end tube pre-amps don't actually use the tube, that it's just there for show.  That IS NOT THE CASE with this box.  I know because I replaced the stock 12ax7 tube with a Tung-Sol and the tone changed and the noise level dropped to nearly nothing.  If yours is noisy, try switching out the tube. The only other issue I've found is the output jack has recently loosened up a bit, or gotten corroded a bit.  I'll have to open 'er up again and repair that.  But as I said, this is a ten year old unit, so I'd expect that part to eventually get dirty or loose. In summary, if you need a tube preamp in pedal form, this is really cost effective way to get one, EVEN if you have to purchase a replacement tube. And you may not.  Mine was ten years old and I really upgraded just for the sake of experimentation. I've had good luck with nearly ALL of my Behringer products.  Only a couple lemons in 15 or more years of taking advantage of their low prices.

It certainly does a good job of amplifying your microphone going into a USB sound system that has preamps that don't amplify enough, but it's really noisy. I finally gave up and bought an EMU 0404, which has some pretty hot preamps without any help from an external preamp. Mike go through this box, noise. Mike plugged direct into 0404, no noise. Pretty clear where my noise problem came from. Use only if you're trying to get some noisy tube distortion, in other words, not for vocals mikes.

I've had my MIC100 for about 7 years and have used it about once a week if not more for those 7 seven years.  I used it for recording, I power a Retro Jr. tube MIC with nice warm balanced tone for voice or amps.  I also used it as a pre amp for my acoustic guitar.  Totally amazing warm tone and with the phase switch you get an amazing balanced tone, uncolored buy additional electronics.

I was very close to purchasing a tube amp for around $500, and have decided to use my Tube UtraGain instead. You can crank the gain and get a wicked heavy tube gain sound with it, it's awesome! It is very well constructed with a metal housing box. I have owned this product for approximately 3 years and have not had any problems with it. I highly recommend it!