“I felt the need to get my first tube mic & did quite a bit of on-line research to find the holy grail. It had to be critically reviewed, accepted as a great tool on all levels of the industry, be useful as an all-around excellent mic and it had to be priced reasonably. Pretty tough criteria. I also did the best I could to listen to any audio & video sources I could find. The Vanguard V13 tube mic kept topping my lists. The V13 is just an exceptional product. First of all, very, very low noise. Just excellent all-around specs. It has what I consider to give uncanny presence to any source; but it’s not because of any exaggerated frequency response errors – it really has none that I can pinpoint. It just feels accurate with an eerie focus on the source. Perhaps that is the “tubey” quality that many rave about. I’d have no reservations using this mic in any situation I can think of coming through my studio. It looks amazing and feels very solid.”