I’ve been looking for a cheap, non-starved plate mic pre and keep reading about the bellari mp105. Supposedly it has full plate voltage, but I don’t see how this is possible given that it runs off a 12V wall-wart supply. Is it just marketing hype?

According to Sound on Sound it is low voltage.

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/bellari-mp105

The manual doesn’t seem to indicate one way or another...

https://rolls.com/doc/manuals/manual_MP105.pdf

Some of the mod threads say that it is full voltage. I don’t know and don’t remember if the tube glows or not.

I have one and it can apply a bit of hair to a signal, but it also adds some noise the closer you get to gain wide open. Might be hair that you like, might not be. It’s been quite awhile since I messed with it, though.

There are mods that supposedly quiet the unit up a bit, but I haven’t messed with them.

If you are looking to go full power tube I think your probably looking for one of the Electro-Harmonix 12AY7 Mic Pre‘s. I am fairly certain they are full power and not starved plate. They are well thought of by many.

Good luck!

If you want an actual tube preamp you going to have to spend a bunch more than this.

There is no free lunch here. Actual tube preamps run at high voltages which require a more substantial power supply and transformers for the input and output signal because tubes are generally high impedance devices. These things cost money.

On the somewhat cheaper side of things there is the Universal 610 Solo or you could track down an old Groove Tubes Brick.

Other than chasing after magic in a glass bottle, if you want color you should maybe consider a good descrete transistor micpre that has transformers as it's the input transformer that loads the microphone and provides much of the "color" of a tube micpre anyway.

Hopefully you understand that none of this is some huge night and day difference from decent transformerless micpreamps. It's stuff that can matter but it's somewhat subtle.

What mic(s) are you using?

I had one. It's full voltage, so make sure it's off changing the tube. Black Lion had a nice mod for it, to clean it up.
Chris

It's still a transformerless transistor micpreamp with a tube stuck in the middle of it.

As long as one understands this and it's cheap then have at it I guess. No different than some of the ART gear that is designed like this. Depending what you are going to pay for the Bellari you might consider the ART MPAII which is a two channel preamp that has variable impedance and variable high pass as well as instrument inputs.

FWIW I still have a mint Bellari LA-120, the "Poor Man's LA2A", back in the 90's.
Guessing it might be as good as a nice Plugin version.
(not say'n it's UA level/etc.)

Rare as Hen's Teeth today....
Chris

Awesome, thanks for the replies everyone. @ JLast I've got a 57, MK319, NT1-A, and a Karma Audio Unity. Basically lowest of low end. Groove tubes brick would be awesome but I can't find them anywhere. I actually have a Teac 5 (crap, I know) desk which has discrete, transformer-based pres which distort OK. It doesn't have phantom though so it's a no-go for my condensers.

You may want to check out, the Useful Arts Hornet too.
Chris

That's made by Ben Stiller??? What the heck.

F it - if OP is interested in one and lives in the US, I’ll send him mine. Free. Send me a PM. I am packing up to move and need some karma. Sorry that this isn’t the freebie thread, but what the hey. If you get it and don’t like it, pass it on.

**UPDATE** OP has claimed the unit - hope it works out! Now I hope I can find it...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’m sure it will be fine...

The Teac Model 5 is not a Neve but cool for an old semi-pro mixer. I had a Tascam M30 many years ago which is a somewhat similar beast but a bit newer.

Rather than looking for another micpre I would suggest getting an external phantom supply (or two) to go with your Model 5. They don't cost all that much and there are used ones around too. I have a few old AKG and Neumann ones, wish I had the mics that went with them!