Feature:
There's not much to this unit, but there's not supposed to be, and that's the beauty of it. I do have to say that the meter is practically useless when used with a guitar in small-venue, low volume applications. Even at low gain settings, the TUBEPre really packs a punch, so I don't really rely on the meter for monitoring signal levels in these situations - so I set up my sound simply by listening to get the levels on the unit and my amp dialed in. As far as other features are concerned, thank goodness for the pad and 80kHz filter! My home studio is in my garage and I've got a noisy computer, a freezer and the water heater there. The filter works very well in filtering background noise, and the pad really allows me to use my volume knobs on my guitars!

Quality:
Absolutely no problems with quality. The unit is well-made and the blue, brushed aluminum body looks really slick. Some people have mentioned getting a bad tube out of the box, but I haven't had a problem yet. I guess I'm one of the fortunate.

Value:
This is a great value. For under $100 you can't find anything better.

Desirability:
As I mentioned above, this unit looks slick. It's got sort of a retro control face, and a beautiful blue brushed aluminum body. It's also very sturdy. I'm going to buy a couple more so I can dedicate them to particular applications. I'm also going to try using different tubes than the stock ones as some have suggested to see what kinds of sounds I can produce.

Sound:
I was a little dubious about it at first, considering the price, minimal feature, and honestly bought it as a low-cost experiment to see how it would work. I can honestly say that I couldn't be happier! As a pre-amp for a dynamic mic, this little unit works amazingly well. Vocals sound warm and natural and you get that "right in front of you" punch that brings vocals to the front of a mix. As a guitar pre-amp, I love it! It really warms up and richens the sound of my Strat (I have vintage Tex-Mex pickups which can get a bit twangy at times), and with my ES-335, it helps balance out the sound without removing the low-end crunch that I like. In either case, turning up the drive produces a very nice, smooth distortion that doesn't turn into a wash if doing quick chord changes.

Ease of Use:
Four buttons, two knobs... How much easier can it get? I'm amazed that some people have had problems with noise. I must be lucky, but it's possible that they've set up their levels weird. Going on a recommendation that I read, set up your Gain first with tube drive dialed all the way down. Then introduce more voltage to the tube to achieve whatever warmness (or drive/overdrive) you want. Especially if you're going into an amp, there's a balance you have to achieve between the pre and the amp. It's not something you're going to solve right away. You have to a do a bit of tweaking, no matter what product you get.

Support:
Haven't had to use them yet...

Overall:
Overall, for what it does, I'm completely satisfied. Personally, I don't want a lot of gizmos in a unit like this. That just adds more complexity, and as far my experience with music equipment is concerned, complexity oftentimes translates to quality problems. This unit does one thing: It boosts and warms up your input signal, and it does this job incredibly well for low priced as it is.

Quality:
Made strong, this is a metal casing, I assume it's aluminium. It looks great!

Value:
It costs more than a straight forward phantom power unit, but this is pro-gear like stuff for under the pro-gear price!

Desirability:
It looks like it was made in 1979. It is old retro looking, but I like the analog arm meter on it! I still prefer these kinds of meters.

Sound:
I am using a Rode NT1000 condensor microphone with popper stopper, and putting this setup through it's paces in an a Cubase driven recording studio in a computer system. That classic horrible digital tin like sound could be heard even on high quality settings with my old microphone and no pre-amp. Even at over 48KHz, it was still a problem. My old EV microphone "straight in" through a Quadraverb was too "digital" sounding if you know what I mean. This unit warmed it up, and allowed me to boost the gain. The highs in this system are sweet, and pure, and the high quality microphone combined with this tubed pre-amp unit make it a one two punch combo. It functions as the phantom power as well...did I mention that? Take the jump up from just a phantom power to a warm simple to use tube pre-amp! I use it for flute and vocals, and it is AWESOME!!!

Ease of Use:
It's dummy proof too! Anyone can run this thing!

Overall:
Many years to come I am sure!

Feature:
It has drive, gain, phase, pad, phantom, XLR I/O, 1/4" TS I/O. The 80hz cut and VU meter are useful features. What else does a single channel preamp need?

Quality:
I only used this item once for a pro session, and plan to use it for every session. Thus far, I cannot report on longevity, but reliability seems to be intact. Unfortunately, upon arrival there was a loose part inside the unit itself. I opened it and found a small piece of plain circuit board material. It looks as if it was an extranneous part that inspection didn't catch. No damage that I can see, and the unit works perfectly.

Value:
I think it's the most "pro" unit of its type in the price range.

Desirability:
It looks great! Nice blue front finish, and eye-catching VU meter. My only two trite gripes are that I wish the sides were flat and the knobs shorter for easier packing. After all, this unit is designed for transport.

Sound:
Warm, clear sound using AT3060 tube mic for recording vocals. Works great with the Mbox's line-in, and adds warmth that the Mbox Focusrite preamps lack. Very close warmth and clarity to that of the dbx 386, which I own.

Overall:
I considered Behringer, ART, and dbx with similar products, all in the same or lower price range. I needed something "pro," so it came down to dbx or Presonus. The Presonus is the only one that is stackable, and I did not have any Presonus products, so I wanted to try it out. I would have liked to see solid comparisons among all four similar units, as I do not know if the TubePre is warmer/clearer than the others. So far, it seems like a wise choice.

Feature:
Its nice and simple as I would want. You are likely purchasing this for a quality improvement. Not for bells and whistles so thats where the company put the cost in my opinion.

Quality:
Far above average in this price range. Metal knobs are a surprise in this category. My only beef is a lack of insulation on the wire from the power supply. Keep that away from audio cables.

Value:
Absolutely no question about as good as a pre you can get for the money. Period.

Desirability:
It looks cool as anything I've owned. The meter isn't very useable but it looks cool. You don't really need it technically speaking. It does let you know its getting input I suppose.

Sound:
I purchased this hoping for an improvement in quality over the onboard pre's in my firebox and I was not disappointed at all. I compared it with a vocal track I recorded with the later and was instantly gratified with a more up front bigger sound than the onboard pre's in the firebox..... and that was with the drive knob off. It provided a noticeable improvement in gain and headroom as well. Once you dial in the drive knob to 9 or 10 oclock the sound just blooms and thickens even more. I only gave it a 9 because lets be fair.... This is a 100 dollar unit with a wall wart power supply. The noise floor did come up a bit when you added in some drive knob but so long as you don't go past 9 or 10 its not a problem. Its not going to compare to an Avalon or Red preamp but the improvement you get over a stock sound card is indeed notable.

Ease of Use:
Point and shoot. Just add the drive knob to taste and you've got usable sounds every time.

Support:
Not used but Presonus treated me well when my MP20 went down and they dealt with me directly. The replacement they sent was fine.

Overall:
I might never get rid of this like say maybe you would a korean strat. It'll be useable so long as that tube is firing. I would highly recommend this as maybe the best thing you could add to a recording or even live sound front end for a project studio for vocals.

Feature:
Simple and to the point a gain and a drive knob ! The fact that it has an oldskool analogue vu meter just rocks !!!

Quality:
Looks solid ! and delivers what its made for

Value:
Yes Yes Yes worth every penny

Desirability:
meshes old skool with new slick style

Sound:
Let me say that this product is worth every penny and more, it really gives a warmth and a 'high end' feel to our vocals that we recorded , it was nothing like before. If your serious about recording at home but you're on a budget, its the best thing you can buy for your condenser mic, it;ll make your mic sound like its more expensive than it is !!!

Ease of Use:
if you're recording in less than optimum conditions you can just hit the 80hz button to filter out ambience noise *which you can do it from the mic also, other than that you have a drive knob a gain knob and thats it really ..so simple !

Support:
havent needed any yet ...

Overall:
i would much rather invest in a better microphone than change this :)

Feature:
This is not a feature-rch device, nor is it supposed to be. 2 pushbuttons are mislabeled! There is no mute button (tried 2 separate units, they were the same).

Quality:
Sturdy case. Knobs stick out a bit, but feel smooth, mostly. Drive knob scratches at 9:00 o'clock. A touch of hiss if you've yanked both gain + drive, but if used right it's not an issue. It is not truly a 1/3 rack unit, but just a touch wider. you can't rack 3 together on a tray. :-(

Value:
To warm up my instrument mic, this device is outstanding.

Sound:
Definently warmth from the tube, and useable overdrive. absolutely beautiful sound.

Ease of Use:
plug and go.

Overall:
I'm hooked.

Feature:
Has everything you really need in a pre amp of this level. With the manual you can improve you sound doing some playing with the settings.

Quality:
Plays like it is suppose to for the price. I have not had any reduction in quality over time.

Value:
I got this for $150 and it came with a Marshall MXL 2001 condenser mic.

Desirability:
I think it looks nice but I could do with out the red led that lights up the tube. I like the look of a warm tube.

Sound:
The sound is ok. It has hiss when using a condenser mic at the proper range. It does sound better when it has time to warm up. It is excelent for guitar though. I still use it for vocals and still get a great sound but when I get a new pre amp I expect a nice increase in quality. I would still recommend this over the equal priced preamps.

Feature:
No Balanced outs, run short cable to board or sound card no longer than 20 feet or less.

Quality:
Great quality... nice brushed aluminum.

Value:
For $100, cant be beat.

Desirability:
makes your sound warm and 3D....not the transistor flat sound with lack of Tube Harmonics.

Sound:
For the price it's the best....if you do use it, the Condensor mics will be the best...Great warm sound!

Support:
N/A as we all know, the cheaper the equiptment the less the Customer Support.

Overall:
No Hiss.... great for condensor mics or Dynamics

Quality:
Very Good Quality for the bucks.

Value:
Great Quality fot the price...can't go wrong.

Desirability:
Nice color and look.

Sound:
Adds a Nice warm Sound to your Track.

Support:
Haven't used CS Yet

Overall:
Won't be changing out unless it breaks down.

Feature:
It's a preamp, what do you expect?

Quality:
Quality seems pretty good, and it seems like it would hold up well.

Desirability:
I wanted it but now I don't.

Sound:
The sound was very very muddy and distorted. I had the gain not even at the nine o'clock placement and was still redlining when I rapped into my microphone. This will NOT improve your sound over the M-Audio Fast Track Pro. It may have just been my unit but this experience has made me hate presonus.

Ease of Use:
Very easy to use, I just kept getting a redlining signal.

Overall:
This was a horrible product in my opinion.