I found that the the v3 art tube mic preamp with a teyun a4 mixer got me to the point i felt confident enough to beat box which is saying something - perfect the only problem is that the v3 runs off 12 volts and is not portable it needs 9volt ac power - i am looking for something that is 9volt dc power thanks - I looked at all the reviews of the mic mechanic 2 and they didn’t jump out at me, I looked at three, you say it is a preamp but it seemed to miss the gain feature though that could have been part of the tone feature - still now I have experienced the v3 I am considering taking it back or just always having ac power on hand one for the amp and the second for the v3 thanks