MK1 Microphone Preamp +35DB Active in Line Compact Dynamic Microphone Booster with Preamp for Dynamic and Ribbon Mics

I have a few cheaper dynamic mics that I use for when I play out. One of them has a pretty good sound but it is very quiet and can lose a little bit of the low end. This preamp has been a great help in getting more out of my equipment. The signal it produces is clear and noiseless, but it also creates a fuller sound. The best part, to me, is that it gives me a more head room on the volume for that mic depending on where I am playing. It also helps me get out of buying a bunch of nicer gear.Anyway, I have been super happy with this preamp.

To start with, this inline preamp definately boost your signal. However, it will cause a fairly big increase in the proximity effect of your microphone so you have to careful with your gain as you'll start picking up a lot of unwanted noise.It also had what seemed like a stronger boost in the upper midrange frequencies. Almost a metallic or tinny sound started coming out. It's definately not something I'm used to from an SM58. I also tried it on a Beta 58 and that was a total no go for me. The upper mid boost just didn't sound good with the Beta 58.The other thing I noticed is it created quite a bit of hissing noise in the line. I tried using a noise gate on it but when I go the mic set where I wanted it the hissing was just more than I wanted. It was particularly problematic in the monitors.All in all it does do what it says, boost the signal. It's not very transparent with regards to tone though. There may be some uses for it but I don't think I'll be using it in my PA or when I'm recording. Just to much noise for me.I gave it two stars because it does boost the signal.

***UPDATE*** It is not often that I have to go back and revise a review, but here I am... As I was testing another Dynamic mic this week, I was in need of a second preamp, so I dug this out of the drawer again and hooked it up to give it a try, and this thing actually sounded very very good... Which was very perplexing to me because as my original review shows, I was not very impressed with this one at all. I chalked it up to likely being an issue where my daily driver dynamic mic just didn't like it. Or maybe the cable I was using when I initially tested it... but then I swapped this one over onto the same mic and cable I used before, and lo and behold it sounds GREAT. I have no idea what was going on when I first tried this, but I felt compelled to revise this review based on my new findings. I have actually swapped this in permanently in my daily setup as this one is actually sounding even better than the one I have been using forever...For the sake of being thorough, I am leaving my original review below, but this thing really does sound very very good, so my only conclusion is that in my initial testing, something must have been off with the rest of my equipment. Based on this, I actually would definitely recommend this to anyone.***ORIGINAL REVIEW***I was pretty excited to try this as it is a bit smaller than my current preamp. It requires you to have phantom power so make sure you have that before you order. This does do what it is supposed to do: it definitely boosts the signal which is awesome. Sadly, in my case, it introduced a lot of noise. I can roll the dial back on my interface to counter this, but then my levels are about as low as they are without a preamp at all, which kind of defeats the purpose of this altogether.It does seem to be well made and it looks good... my unit may just be defective, so if you get one that doesn't have a lot of noise this might be great for the price, but as it stands, based on the one I have, this is a hard pass for me.

Let's start with the major drawbacks...- The preamp CANNOT plug directly into an audio interface as shown in the pics. The build is wat too thick, and MUST be plugged into an XLR cable.- The detent/lock on the female XLR side does NOT work with many of my XLR cables, keeping the cables from having a secure connection. I'm not sure if the opening is in the wrong spot, or if the opening does not go deep enough.On the positive side, this works fair for the price. It's "relatively" clean. I'd like it do be cleaner, but I wouldn't hesitate to use this for live events where you are connecting a mic to some PA speakers and need a little extra juice. If you are using this to record to a PC or through a mixer or for livestreaming, you might want to look at a different option. I get some unexpected shapes on the recordings in audacity.

The only reason this doesn't get a 1-star review is because in comparison to micfuns' previous model of preamp, this one is a noticeable improvement in terms of noise floor. It's still not great, mind you, but it's way better than their other offerings.I can't recommend it in good faith, however, because I was picking up transmissions from one of the local FM radio stations in my area—it was somehow coming through my microphone thereby ruining all my vocal takes. This could be caused by something else in my setup, however I only began to experience this problem after plugging the micfuns booster in, so that leads me to believe there's some cheap circuitry or faulty shielding inside that's causing it.So...still totally unusable, just like their previous model, but they get a bonus star for marginally improving.

If you use dynamic microphones…this is for you. Sounds great…built sturdy, great value.

I am using the 35db booter in line to a very power-hungry microphone. The MK1 has been able to bring up my signal so I can bring down the pre-amps to get a cleaner signal.This is a nice addition to anyone who needs to bring down their pre-amps. The MK1 will get you a cleaner signal.

Mine seems to works well. I was told the microphone didn't sound noisy when I plugged this in and used it. However the problem is that the "female" end of this doesn't click in correctly with cables. (I tried a few cables and all had the same problem) Which means the cable could just pop back out at anytime which is pretty unnacceptable if it can't even plug in correctly.