Cheap and cheerful preamp solution

Michael - N5TGL

I've always had a bit of trouble being able to get close to 0 when setting mic gain.  Even with the +20dB and gain set at 100, I still was hovering around -10.  I've been looking for a preamp, went so far as to find one to build, but found a simple, inexpensive one on eBay.  Enter the Art MicroMix.  Very simple, will do balanced/unbalanced and has phantom power.  Runs on 12vdc.  Front panel controls consist of a gain knob and a switch for phantom power.

Sounds just fine, had to do a bit of choking to remove RF feedback, which was kind of surprising considering it's an all metal case and I'm using balanced mic cables.  Paid $40 used for it, and it does the trick.  Something to look into if you're in the market for a preamp.  They are out of production, but there seems to be quite a few of them online.



Yeah, I've got a bit of ferrite on there.  Such is life with a longwire and QRO.