The Behringer TUBE ULTRAGAIN MIC200 is a versatile and budget-friendly microphone preamplifier that can bring your audio recordings to life. In this review, we’ll dive into its features, performance, and whether it’s worth your hard-earned cash.
Features (Pros):
- Tube Warmth: The MIC200 features a real 12AX7 vacuum tube that adds a warm, vintage tone to your recordings, perfect for vocals and instruments.
- Versatile: With XLR and 1/4″ inputs and outputs, it’s compatible with a wide range of microphones and instruments.
- Low Noise: The integrated ultra-low noise operational amplifier ensures clear and clean sound.
- Phantom Power: It provides +48V phantom power, making it compatible with condenser microphones.
- EQ Control: The built-in 3-band EQ lets you fine-tune your sound easily.
- LED Meter: The LED meter helps you keep an eye on your levels, preventing distortion.
- Sturdy Build: Its robust metal construction ensures durability, suitable for on-the-road use.
Performance:
The Behringer MIC200 is like a hardworking tool in a recording studio. It makes your audio sound better with a warm, tube-like quality. It doesn’t matter if you’re recording singing, guitars, or quiet sounds, this device gives your recordings a nice, full sound.
It’s also great because it doesn’t add unwanted noise to your recordings, even when it’s very quiet. You can adjust your sound just the way you want with the 3-band EQ, and the LED meter helps you avoid recording problems.
Ease of Use:
Simplicity is key with the MIC200. It’s a breeze to set up – just plug in your mic or instrument, adjust the gain, and you’re good to go. The front-panel controls are straightforward, making it suitable for beginners and pros alike.
Drawbacks (Cons):
- No Rack Ears: It’s not rack-mountable, so if you’re looking to integrate it into a larger studio setup, you’ll need an extra solution.
- Limited EQ Control: While the 3-band EQ is a welcome feature, it may not offer the depth of control that some advanced users desire.
Conclusion:
The Behringer TUBE ULTRAGAIN MIC200 is a fantastic addition to any home or project studio. It brings warmth and character to your recordings, offers essential features, and is easy on your budget. While it may lack some advanced features and rack-mounting options, it’s hard to beat the value this preamp provides. If you’re looking to elevate your audio recordings without breaking the bank, the MIC200 is an excellent choice.
Amazon Customer –
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.
DeAthWaGer –
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)!
J. R. –
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).
岸田直人 –
問題なく作用出来ました。ありがとうございます。健康になる歌お歌うことで、良かったです。
A.J. –
REALLY GOOD HIGH QUALITY PRODUCTI bought this as part of a bundled deal along with a Behringer C-1 `Microphone and an XLR Cable. The package came to just over £80 once VAT was added.I use the set-up for making spoken-word recordings – mainly video commentary.With the MIC200 I can boost the signal from the microphone to line-level for input to a MacMini – mainly to GarageBand, but also to the excellent 3rd party Screenflow program.The MIC200 is perfect for increasing the volume of a softly spoken speech commentary to a meaningful level. It does this brilliantly, with almost zero background hiss even when it’s cranked up quite high. The silence of the unit is noticeable – if you know what I mean.The unit does get fairly hot in use – probably due to the valve. At first this can be disconcerting, but you quickly get used to it – and this adds to the retro feel, along with the chunky controls. There’s a sort of “live” personality about the MIC200 that I really like. The build quality is solid.You have to give it several seconds to warm up – a sequence of lights shows this happening, then a single light stays on. After this, you press the 48 volt button to power up the microphone. The instruction manual advises you to set both the gain and the output controls to zero whenever you switch it on or off.There’s no actual on/off switch on the MIC200 – you just connect it to the mains via the rather weirdly-shaped mains converter supplied with the unit. This is 2-pin – but an old shaver adaptor worked OK, although I did have a problem keeping the mains unit in place on a vertical wall socket – and had to prop it up by placing a book underneath. When used with the shaver adaptor, it really juts out from the wall and threatens to topple out. You’re probably best using a horizontal extension socket set on the floor and plugging it in that way.Both the GAIN and the OUTPUT dials turn smoothly and are easy to use. It’s easy to see the LED indicator array and adjust accordingly.There’s several pre-sets on the 3rd rotary dial – the PRE AMP MODE. These would seem to be for use with keyboards and electric guitars and suchlike, either via the XRL or the 1/4 inch jack sockets…. although I have to say I don’t know anything about that particular aspect of the MIC200. I just use it “flat” with the microphone, although experimenting with a few settings did provide interesting results.When I used it on the Bass (guitar?) setting my voice became noticeably deeper. When set on Drums my voice became sort of clipped. Some (not all) of these settings I think were slightly “hisser’ and seem to be contoured for a higher input than my voice talking through a microphone. Some of the 3 Vocal settings I think are for loud singing voice …. although I’m still experimenting.In conclusion I think this is a seriously good product – and amazing value for the price.I’ll add a note here – if you’re going to use the above set-up in the way I’ve described, you have to get the correct connecting cable to feed the signal from the MIC200 to the stereo mini-jack input on your computer …… i.e. a Female XLR to stereo mini-jack. Apparently there’s 2 types – unbalanced and balanced. I haven’t a clue what this means. Apparently one works and the other one doesn’t work.I got a really good quality cable (from FEL Communications) here ………http://www.micbooster.com/products/felleadsandadapt.htmlThis cable definitely works.Hope this helps.
Jamo –
Wonderful little box…I bought one of these to reduce background hiss when recording with a dynamic microphone. Unlike a condenser mic, a dynamic doesn’t use phantom power and therefore lacks the boost that a condenser microphone provides. When using a dynamic mic in my mixer as it was, I would have to boost the gain so high that the room noise was ridiculously high. Using this pre-amp I am able to boost the volume without boosting the room noise. I now don’t need to use the gain on my mixer at all.Being able to use both dynamic and condenser mics with this (it has a built in phantom power option) means that I can connect it up and use it with various mics without constantly changing equipment. The various presets are quite handy to have, although I have to admit that I keep it set to the normal setting and use it as it is because I mainly use my microphone for basic podcasting. When I’m using a condenser mic I like to boost the volume and use the -20db button to get a better sound. I recommend people play around with it to see what suits them best. I also recommend increasing the input before increasing the output. Increasing the output will result in a higher risk of room noise.The only reason I haven’t given this product 5 stars is because it lacks a power on/off button, meaning that the only way to turn it on and off is to keep plugging it in and unplugging it. I find this very annoying, and would rather have had the option of a power button. Anyway, other than that, it’s a great product and one that I will use for many years.
borax99 –
Solid results for my community radio needs.Works well for me. I bought it as an alternative to a FETHEAD or Cloudlifter in order to add reasonably clean gain to my Shure SM7B. Mission accomplished. I use the Valve\Vocal setting and have been able to defeat what would otherwise have been a combination of an unpleasant noise floor and weak gain. I am not a musician, so cannot speak to the finer settings, but I am satisfied with this purchase. Rationale was that the SM7B mic required about 60db of gain, and the two solutions listed above provide about 20-25 db. This means I could likely produce acceptable results, but would still have to jack up the less-than-stellar amps on my entry-level audio interface – and thereby introduce additional unwanted noise. With this device in place, I never need to much higher than 6-7 on the preamp, and about a 5 on the main interface. Decent. Not magical, not super-expensive pro results, but certainly good enough for community radio work. To give you an idea, I used to “camouflage” my recording deficiencies by adding all sorts of post-processing effects to my voice. Thanks to the combination of this preamp and the Shure mic, that is no longer needed, I am going with my “natural” voice. I am taking off one star only for the very heavy, ungainly power adapter – simply because it’s a bit of a hassle to work with.
Simon P Monck-Mason –
… I’ve had this about three hours now and just love it. Back tracking nowWell I’ve had this about three hours now and just love it.Back tracking now. A year or so ago I bought a RockTile Guitar Kit. A sort of Stratocaster clone, but not quite. At first I was lost in the void of setting up, atone, tuning etc. I got there in the end after quite a long but enjoyable learning curve.I decide in the spirit of the thing to build my own amp. To cut a long story short I ended up using a Vellaman mono amp with a Guitar Warehouse speaker. Using various booster pedals as a pre-amp, I could get a clean, clear and loud sound, but with no soul. I tried various pedal boxes, upgraded the pick-ups and other parts of the guitar, but not really getting THERE.So I unpacked this MIC200 and plugged it in and, WOW. That’s what I’ve been trying to achieve. I’ve got THERE with the sound.Other users have said that the valve used in this unit is inferior. I can’t say. Perhaps I’ll try upgrading later, but for now this really hits the spot for me.To finish off, it does what it says on the tin. Go for it I say.