OK...I'll admit it. I've got a couple BlueTubes. I find that they acutally make a pretty decent DI for Bass and sometimes keyboard outputs with some nice results. Playing with the tube drive renders an interesting distortion/coloring effect. If you go into it realizing that the tube and drive is an "effect" and that the unit is not a true tube mic pre then they can be fun to experiment with. Some here will tell you that they're a bit noisy but IMHO it's going to depend on your chain and the room you're working in. If you've got quiet gear and a silent room, this won't be the way to go with acoustic instruments or vocals. There are better choices in that price range for mic pres .