Behringer MIC200 Tube Ultragain

Very easy to use. Input for jack or XLR, output for jack and/or XLR, gain knobs for input/output. You just dial in a preset and your on your way. NB! The gain /peak leds work on the OUTPUT, not the input as I expected. There are also diverse features - dB cut, bass cut (ignore both), phantom power (handy) and phase reverse (not for a simple mind like mine).

I've tried this box in 3 different settings.
1) Between a harmonica mic (Green Bullet) and a PA mixer. Preset=warm/valve. I've previously spent a fortune on mic's, amps etc. trying to get this sound, when all I needed was this little tin can from Germany!
2) Between a condensor mic and a hard disc recorder. Preset warm/limiter/vocal.
Thickened my voice satisfactorily as long as I kept to the lower registers - still sound like a rabbit in a trap when I go up an octave.
3)Acoustic bass guitar into a small tranny amp (Cube), then line out to the MIC 200 and on to the hard disc recorder. Preset warm/limiter/bass.
Removed that "stringy" twang from the bass, making it sound like a solid bass "down in the bottom" - sounded a bit like a tuba, actually.

No idea, though they say that Behringer is not very good quality. I've had a V-amp for a good while without problems. On the other hand a musician colleague bought a MIC 100 and it died on him after a very short time. It might just have been a dud and when he gets a new one from the shop it might be fine. Then again, only time will show.

See my comments on reliability.

I use the MIC 200 when we play rootsy, skiffle sort of stuff - old-time blues, country, ragtime etc. I'm the vocalist and also play harmonica (both blues and country styles). I usually play through a Green Bullet/Fender Blues Junior or directly through the vocal mic into the PA. Sometimes I use a V-Amp in front of the Fender, or maybe an echo box. However, after buying the MIC 200 I think the other stuff will be relegated to the back of the cupboard. This little box does the job both for harp and vocals, and I suspect it will be great on acoustic guitar as well. That will be the next test.
Would I buy a new one if it was stolen or lost? Well, I'm already planning on buying number 2, so that I'll have one for harp and one for vocals.
Problems? I'm not very hi-tec and I don't understand why the gain leds work on the output instead of the input, but that probably says more about me than it does about the Behringer. And for the same reason I avoid the little buttons I mentioned earlier.
I must admit I haven't tried any other comparable units but I really couldn't be bothered. The price was right, the unit is intuitive and the store had it in stock.

Very easy to use. Couple knobs - basic

My setup:

Ibanez S-470 -> Behringer MIC200 -> Boss GT-6 -> Peavey Studio Pro


First of all, I used to own this preamp until it got stolen from my house along with my beloved Boss GT-3 (RIP). Now I have a Boss GT-6 and I use the Tube preamp before the GT-6. What a difference! It makes the guitar sound warmer, fatter and improves the distortion of the GT-6. I'm no Tube expert but I know when something is pleasing to the ear. The GT-6 by itself and the guitar and distortions sound a little digital, misses the body, bottom end and that yummy sound (Can't explain but guitarist would know what I'm talking about). The MIC200 really improves the sound. I suggest for any guitarists using DSP guitar processors to try and use this MIC200 before it. Set the Preamp voice to "Valve", play with the tube levels and outputs and man you get a great sound.

This replacement I have has a slight scratch sound when flicking from a few preamp voice settings but what I do is reduce the output, change then bring the output back up. Honestly; this setting will never be changed, once it's set, it's set for life (I love the Valve setting). I could return it but I found my original MIC200 was a little noisy, this one isn't - care factor! Maybe the quality control isn't that great at Behringer but for the price and for the surprising performance of it, I can't complain one little bit.

Never dealt with em

I play metal usually and hard rock and this preamp does wonders to my setup. I cannot play guitar without this thing warming up my sound - well done to companies who make tube preamps at an killer price!

very simple mostly presets and to gain control knobs

well Im an ex-audio engineer now just working mainly as a musician..Ive dealt with lots of pre-amps from neve -to focusrite ok having said that many of the behringer products are "good consumer products..good middle ground..I spend hours upon hours doing a/b tests Im a bit obsessive in that dept and along the way I discovered this little gem...ok so no its not an avalon preamp..or other elite style preamps..it is a very unique little thing ...aside from being a preamp with some useful presets it has a built in limiter which is just great! very transparent...if your an acoustic guitarist and you you tend to strum a bit hard ..bringing out that piezo ultra crisp sometimes ear fatiging sound..this is the item for you...it warms up the top end with its limiter just perfectly and you can hear the tube sound..which isnt always common in the lower priced tube pre's now not all the setting are good..multi-limit-valve-neutral are great for acoustic guitar sounds..if behring were smart they would redesign it take out most of the presets expect for the ones I mentioned and sell it just as an acoustic guitar tube pre-amp ..on vox I like my dbx 386 tube pre better but the mic-200 is nice as well..diamond in the rough worth every penny ..only 59.00 bucks I bought two!

very solidly built

never had to use..but I dont hear good things

best deal in the business buy two and have a very flexiable tube sounding preamp for 120 bucks..behringer got lucky on this one :)

Follow-up: I bought a second one for stereo applications, and while the first unit I got is noise-free the second one is very noisy.
The tube, you guessed it. I went to hell trying to find a good one , I tried not less than 24! tubes(jj,sovtek,philips,electro-harmonix, groove tubes, no-name chinese), and not one is quite as good as the behringer original I have in the other unit.
Since the aforementioned tubes are sold in the guitar amp department I start to think that they are not for this kind of electronic design.
Next step: try some high end hifi tubes...
WARNING: CHECK VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE USE, NO NOISE SHOULD BE PRESENT. IF THERE IS, CHANGE YOUR PREAMP FOR ANOTHER ONE. QUALITY CONTROL OBVIOUSLY LACKS. THEY SAY "HAND-SELECTED TUBES", I GUESS MONKEYS ALSO HAVE HANDS OR???

Simple to setup and play..too easy

I am very impresed with the sound of this unit.I use it with an tap tuned acoustic arch top and the sound is very transparent.I like the tone shaping that can be achieved with the modelling circuitry.

It's a very simple unit and I don't envisage too many problems with it's reliability.It seems to do it's job just fine.

Don't know about support.I hear different stories..But if something was to go wrong,I'm sure that I could find the ring bells to ring to make sure that the problems were fixed.

I love this preamp.I feed it into a Yamaha Magic Stomp and that splits the signal into a stereo feed..Big sound.I also use it in the studio to feed the computer and use the software modelling devices and FX to shape the sound for the tracks.I do think that a little bit of thermonic "heat" at the start of the recording process makes a world of difference to the tone that "goes to tape."

Very easy to use. Just spend few minutes on manual.

Mic200 has the best sound quality in this price range.
Don't "low cut" while recording vocal. Or it will unbalance the sound especially when you turning Gain to 30 or 40db.

Everything made in China. It looks okay. No problem so far. +48 Phantom Power works very well.

Never deal with them.

I like it overall. Cheap and easy to use. Its noise ratio is even lower than Presonus Tube Pre and Art Tube MP.

60 bucks, go for Beringer Mic200.
130 bucks, go for Studio Projects VTB-1.
More than 300 bucks, you better go for Grace preamp.

Very easy, just read what is written on the unit, I can't see something easier and I play heavy 7strings guitar...
I am not so okay with the gain settings since the vu-meter depends on the output level too which I find annoying, regarding the limiter option.

First, so far I only use this box between my multiFX board and the power amp. Or in the serial loop of my combo. I will do a follow-up when I'll use mics.
This box is absolutely wonderful! It helps a lot to make your sound warmer and more dfinite at the same time, and you can have very effective eq settings only by turning the knob.
With the acoustic guitar (piezo) you'll find something far better than you would have thought in the first place, with a bass it's the same(with more adequate options), I then use the box as a preamp, before anything.
It won't do miracles, though, if your amp has too harsh drive tones they will still be too harsh after the box.
No noise, but that's to be half expected with line levels.

It gets warm but not hot, and I think you have got to be careful when moving the unit while warm.It's got a tube after all.
In/outs are sturdy, overall it is very well put together. I didn't open it, though.
Never had problems with studio stuff from them, but guitar products line is pure shit(except the big bass head)

BIG BIG joke

Fantastic unit! Pretty good quality, a lot of uses, well built and so cheap it shouldn't be allowed!
If I would buy another? I just did, for stereo applications (my monitors are active without ANY volume or else knobs...).
I think you can't go wrong, but remember I didn't use it with microphones so far.
I also think you shouldn't buy the mic100 instead of this.

This is an updated version of the MIC200 tube mic preamp, with something Behringer calls "modeling" - actually, just a set of preset EQ/gain staging/limiter settings selectable via a "Preamp mode" rotary switch.
Other than that, there are the usual: Gain pot, Output pot, and pushbuttons for 20 dB pad, Phantom power (48 V), Hi pass filter (Low cut) and Phase reverse. The pushbuttons have LEDs, a nice way to check their position. Other than that, there's 8 step LED ladder for signal strenght and separate power on LED.
The multilingual manual covers the basics, not much more. But if you're ever used a mic preamp before, this one should cause no trouble. The "Preamp mode" selector switch is best operated by trial and error, anyway.
There's a wall wart type AC adapter included.

The off-the-shelf sound of the unit is typical of these cheapo "Look, it has a TUBE!!!" preamps - not particularly bad, but somewhat fuzzy, indistinct and slightly distorted. For some people, that's the tube sound, and if that's what they want, that's what they get. At least, the noise level seems to be pretty low. The unit sounds pretty similar to my (original) ART Tube MP with its stock tube. Of course, no real, pricey, high end tube preamp sounds like that, except if overdriven.

Things got somewhat different when I replaced the original "hand selected", Behringer-branded ECC83/12AX7 tube with a (Siemens brand) ECC82/12AU7. The ECC82 has a smaller amplification ratio than '83, so it isn't as easily driven to distortion. This seemed to make the MIC200 much more usable mic preamp, with clearer, more balanced sound. Nothing high end, but perfectly usable in different applications. You can still overdrive the unit, but the non-disrtorted area of the gain/output settings is much wider.
Besides testing the unit with my Oktava MK-219 LD condenser mic, I used it as a bass preamp with my heavily modified Rickenbacker 4001. The findings were pretty similar to vocal use: fuzzy with the original tube, much better with the ECC82. After this little mod the MIC200 seems to be a pretty good bass recording preamp. The response seems to be pretty nice and even with the low B string, too. Probably I'll use MIC200 more as a bass preamp than with mics.

The limiter, though, doesn't seem to be of any musical use. It's preset to medium attack and wayyy slow release, so it lets the initial attack come through and then turns the output down for a long time. Reminds me of the "automatic level controls" of old, low quality cassette decks. Pity, as the presence of the limiter makes half of the "Preamp mode" settings more or less unusable. Would have given the unit better rating if the limiter was any good.

The unit seems to be pretty well constructed - much better than the original ART Tube MP. There's even an adjustable rubber clamp to keep the tube in its socket. The unit runs pretty hot, so it remains to be seen what happens to the rubber part after many long hours of use. The pots have plastic shafts and sort of cheap feel, and I'd like more defined positional feel for the "Preamp mode" switch. Other than that, no complaints. All the connectors are secured to the chassis, as they should be. There's a small strain relief plastic clamp for the AC adapter lead, but the clamp itself doesn't feel it's gonna last forever.

The American support for Behringer has a very bad reputation. Things seem to be better here in Europe. Haven't much first hand experinece, though, as I have had no problems with my Behringers. When I asked some technical details by e-mail long time ago, the response was quick and to the point.

I guess this is targeted for "My First Preamp" customers, which is a pity. If you have only one, you'd be much better off with a solid state unit than this kind of "character" thing - especially if you're trying to use it with SM58 style dynamic mics.
After changing the tube to a ECC82/12AU7, the unit sounds much better and will probably be used quite a bit along with my other preamps. Not for lead vocals and other "central" musical elements, though. More as a bass preamp, with occasional microphone duties. So, for the price, it's pretty okay (even if you count in the price of the replacement tube).