| MIX VERDICT: ANALOGUE TUBE AT-3 MIC PREAMP |
| THE TAKEAWAY: “A great choice for an all tube-based, clean and clear sound that only gets more colorful when driven hard.” |
| COMPANY: Analogue Tube • www.analoguetube.com PRICE: $1,999 PROS: • Rich character, but easily colorful when pushed. CONS: • Pricey for a single-channel unit. |
New York, NY (November 11, 2025)—The Analogue Tube AT-3 is an all-tube mic preamp and a worthy companion to the company’s AT-101 Stereo Limiter, a rendition of the classic Fairchild 670 Limiter. The AT-3 furthers the company’s philosophy of a no-expense-spared design and build. It’s a desktop unit in a powder-coated steel cabinet measuring 3.5 H x 8.5 W x 11.8-inch D and weighing a substantial 11 pounds.
The AT-3 uses a simple two-stage amplifier design with a 12AX7/7025 dual-triode tube for the all-important input stage. Its two triode halves are wired in cascade with the mic gain control inserted between the first and second triodes. The output stage uses a 12BH7/6414 feeding a Lundahl LL1940 output transformer. This simple design’s roots go back many years to the golden age of audio design for both studio electronics and guitar amps.
The AT-3’s rear panel has both mic and line XLR inputs, to go with a single output XLR. The front panel has a DI jack input and a large mic gain control knob, along with seven stainless-steel pushbuttons, each with illuminated rings easy to spot in the dim light of a control room. The pushbuttons remotely switch all functions using miniature, sealed relays located adjacent to circuits where switching is required. This design feature enables a cleaner signal path by preventing external electrical noise/hum from coupling into the audio lines going to the controls and jacks.
A Lundahl LL1935 transformer is used for the Line input and is calibrated with a +4 dB Line input signal to produce a +8 dBu output when the Gain control is set to 8. I confirmed this with both a +4 dBu 1 kHz test tone and a recorded bass guitar track, but when feeding a hot line-level signal, you’ll get a pleasant overdriven, saturated sound from this otherwise very clean mic preamp. This worked well in a Pro Tools mix for roughing up perfectly well-recorded and pristine direct guitar and bass tracks—loved it!
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Mic gain is specified at 50 dB, with a choice between 600-ohm or 150- ohm mic input impedances. This is possible by switching between two sets of taps on a custom-wound 1445f Sowter transformer using the Low-Z button. Changing mic input impedance is noticeable on dynamic and ribbon mics (not condensers), but it depends on the specific mic. You have a choice here.
My Shure SM7B on the Low Z (150-ohms) position was louder with more low-frequency girth. The Hi-Z (600-ohms) was, by comparison, thinner and quieter. Also relay-switched are: a -3 dB down 75 Hz high-pass filter, a -15 dB pad, polarity/phase reverse and +48-volt phantom power on/off.
48-volt phantom power slowly ramps up and down. I made use of this feature as an effect by switching off phantom power while recording! Doing this makes no noise. I obtained about a 10-second fade-out ramping down the output level of an Austrian Audio OC707 vocal mic when recording sustaining guitar power chords. I’m not sure that any condenser mic will work here, but accidentally switching phantom power on a “hot” mic does not produce a violent pop.
A pushbutton changes over to the front-panel DI input with a 1-megohm impedance that doesn’t load down -20 dBu direct instruments. Another feature made possible by relays is when changing to DI, both the mic and line inputs are automatically muted without noise.
I was a little concerned that the AT-3, with only 50 dB of mic gain, would not be enough for recording acoustic guitars and other quiet instruments. A good test was recording a 1973 Epiphone FT-570 maple jumbo acoustic guitar with a Soyuz 011 small-diaphragm condenser about 10 inches away from where the neck meets the body. I built a mic splitter box with a Jensen JT-MB-E transformer inside so I could feed two mic preamps at the same time—it has 2.2 dB of insertion loss.
The AT-3 had gain to spare. When comparing it with my everyday, go-to tube mic preamp, the differences were subtle, but the AT-3 produced a rich, luxurious and textured sound with a more open quality than my go-to. I used the 75 Hz HPF on both preamps without adding EQ or compression.
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Lead vocals went well using my Soundelux Bock U195 cardioid-only condenser. This mic has a huge transformer inside, along with a FET head amp. In the past, I found this mic to require a little more console mic gain typically than, say, a Neumann U87. The U195 and AT-3 combo were good for both male and female vocals. It had a warm sound with clarity and a pleasing coloration during louder moments. For light compression, I followed the AT-3 with a Retro Instruments 176 tube limiting amplifier.
The Analogue Tube AT-3 single-channel mic preamp is a great choice for an all tube-based, clean and clear sound that only gets more colorful when driven hard on any of its three inputs. For stereo, an available racking kit will accommodate two side-by-side units in two spaces of a 19-inch rack.
