Triton Audio FetHead in-Line Microphone Preamp

Design & Build Quality 🧰 The FetHead is a compact and beautifully machined inline preamp that looks and feels like proper stage hardware, not a gimmick add-on. The steel body is solid and well-finished, with precisely fitted XLR connectors that click in snugly. The labeling is minimal and professional — this feels like a tool made for daily use, not a studio toy. The internal shielding is clearly doing its job, as there’s no detectable hum or interference even when plugged directly into a noisy interface chain. Ease of Use ⚙️ Using the FetHead is as straightforward as it gets — just insert it between the mic and the preamp, and you’re done. There are no switches, no power supply, and no fuss. It runs on phantom power from the interface or mixer, yet doesn’t pass it to the mic, so it’s fully safe for dynamic and ribbon microphones. The small size makes it easy to leave it permanently attached without straining connectors or interfering with stands. Performance in Real Life 🎙️ Noise performance is astonishing. With the preamp gain maxed out but no mic connected, the FetHead remains completely silent — no hiss, no hum, no trace of circuit noise. In a real setup with an AKG D5 dynamic mic, the self-noise floor sits below –80 dB, which is far beyond what most interfaces can measure accurately. The gain boost is clean and transparent, adding presence and clarity without changing tone or adding harshness. On stage, it behaves predictably and never overloads the input; in the studio, it makes low-output dynamics sound like they’ve come alive. Notable Issues ⚠️ None in practice. The only “limitation,” if one has to find it, is that the FetHead is a fixed-gain device — you don’t control the amount of amplification — but that’s part of its simplicity and reliability. Final Verdict 🔑 The Triton Audio FetHead is one of those rare tools that just disappear into the signal chain because they do their job flawlessly. It’s quiet, strong, compact, and built like it belongs on a professional stage or broadcast desk. For dynamic and ribbon microphones, it’s a true plug-and-forget solution that delivers a clean, silent signal boost every time. Absolutely recommended for anyone who values precision and silence over marketing fluff.

If you have a mic with a high noise floor (sounds like hiss when the gain is turned up), this is your solution. I've had a Rode NTG-2 which is a notoriously weak condenser mic that I've never been happy with. I bought a Tascam DR-60D MkII which still resulted in an unacceptably high noise floor. However, the FetHead completely solved this issue both with the Tascam and recording directly into a C100 Mk2. The NTG-2 now sounds GREAT and this purchase has breathed new life into it. This FetHead requires phantom power but does NOT forward the phantom power, so condenser mics either need to use the phantom version of the FetHead or a battery, if supported. Triton Audio recommends this version with a battery for the NTG-2. The FetHead itself is small and plugs inline with the XLR cable. I really like this form factor as it's very easy to use and doesn't require an additional XLR cable. The quality of the FetHead was bad enough I'm not sure mine is genuine - the logo is off center and the FetHead itself isn't completely straight. It seems to work just fine though. All in all, considering the price and form factor this is a must buy if you need some additional clean gain. If you have hiss, buy this before trying anything else and avoid my mistake of buying increasingly expensive interfaces!

As a professional voice over actor, the quality of my work depends heavily on the efficiency and sonic cleanliness of my studio equipment. My microphone of choice is the celebrated Shure SM7B. While it's a great sounding dynamic mic for vocal work, it has one big drawback. Its output is low when compared with condenser microphones, or even some other dynamics. Cranking up a standard preamp to the -60 dB of gain required by the SM7B can introduce unwanted noise -- especially noticeable on voice over tracks. The TRITON AUDIO FetHead in-Line Microphone Preamp resolves the problem. Installed in-line between mic and preamp, this nifty and very affordable device provides enough extra quiet gain to allow the preamp to silently "loaf" at a much reduced setting while cranking out a strong, clean signal. NOTE: the TRITON preamp does require 48 volts of phantom power, but isolates it from the mic, so no damage is done, even to fragile ribbon microphones. For a few dollars more TRITON even offers an identical looking in-line preamp model with a high pass filter that tames the sometimes bothersome proximity effect of some mics. As you might guess, I'm a big fan of TRITON AUDIO!

Bought this for my SM7B and it works great. Basically plug and play for more gain!

first of all, any trouble i had with this preamp were my fault for not doing more research beforehand. that said, i feel like i should warn anyone who is in the same spot as me that this product will not work with a condenser microphone unless you buy a secondary phantom power source. the initial reason i bought this was because i had bought an at2020 condenser mic that i had hooked up to a cheap mixer. this was working fine (the mixer had 48v phantom power), but it was extremely quiet. if i cranked the mixer volume and gain all the way up, it would be at a barely reasonable volume, but with a lot of noise coming from the mixer. to solve this i figured i would amplify the microphone before it got to the mixer, and an inline preamp like this seemed like the best choice. it turns out i didn't read the fine print, and when i plugged in the preamp i got no sound whatsoever. it turns out that the preamp steals all of the phantom power from the mixer and leaves the condenser mic powerless. this isn't a problem for other types of microphones, but i didn't realize the difference at the time. the solution was to buy a seperate power source for the mic and let the preamp be powered by the mixer. it's a somewhat convoluted setup, but after figuring it all out, it totally works. i'm sure there are more elegant solutions (and maybe i could avoid the original problem altogether) but i'm happy with my hacked together solution. as for the product itself, i like that the form factor is small, the build quality is solid, and there is no extra noise added to the signal. it's dead simple to use, and it does what it advertises. i still wish the fact that it doesn't work with condenser mics was more prominent. maybe it's considered to be common knowlege, but it helps amateurs like me if you list potential problems like that on the store page.

This past year, I've struggled with my microphone's gain since I'm practically yelling at the top of my lungs with my Shure SM57. I couldn't seem to get my voice loud enough, even with system wide post processing and my gain set to max on my audio interface. My hope was to use this mic for chat, some streaming, and music production. Thinking back now, I should've conducted more research with my gear and how low of a sensitivity the SM57 was. At the time, I was still a bit new to microphones, and what setup would pair well with each other. At the start of 2020, I had started off with a Shure SM57 & a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 1, and boy did I learn the hard way about how much power was needed to push that mic to the point where people can actually hear me without the mic sitting inside my mouth essentially. Over time I've learned to cope with this handicap. That is until recently, where I started to do more research into my predicament and what possible ways I can go about to remedy this situation. I stumbled upon two choices, the Cloudlifter, and Fethead. Since i'm in a spot where space is limited on my work area, I resorted to the Fethead (I also liked the look of it as well). And man, let me tell you the relief that I had when I first attached it onto my mic. My voice still sounded clear, with just a small amount of hiss, but that is almost inaudible. The Fethead seamlessly attaches to the mic via Female XLR on one side to Male XLR on the other, meaning I wouldn't have to deal with having to use another XLR cable if I had gone with the Cloudlifter. I can honestly say that this was such a massive improvement, without having to buy a whole new setup. I recently switched over to the Motu M2, so I only did some tests between the M2 and the Komplete Audio. I found the M2 to work very well paired with the Fethead, and does sound just as clear without the Fethead (Though you'll still get some humming at higher gains). The Komplete Audio also sounded great, but definitely needed more gain compared. Overall, the Fethead is an amazing purchase if you need the extra boost in gains without sacrificing too much in terms of audio quality.

The Triton Fethead is amazing and really does exactly what it claims to do, which is to add an extra 25 decibels of gain to a microphone for louder recording volume. Why is this important you might ask? Because some microphones such as the legendary Shure SM7B are notoriously quiet and gain hungry. So in order to get louder recording volume without resorting to maxing out your gain dial knob which will cause unwanted background humming/hissing noise, you can simply attach a Fethead to the rear of the microphone, then the XLR cable behind it...then BAMMM! You instantly get more decibel gain for recording while being able to reduce the gain dial setting a few notches lower to avoid that unwanted background electronic noise that happens when you max out your gain dial setting. I don't have the Shure SM7B mic, instead I'm using the very popular Rode PodMic which is usually sold out and back ordered everywhere. I find the PodMic to be a little bit on the quiet side for my taste...not terribly quiet, but could certainly benefit with a boost by having a Fethead slapped onto the booty of the mic. With a Fethead attached to the PodMic, I'm able to go into the Rode Rodecaster Pro audio level setting to reduce the level lower. This in turn improves the overall sound quality while having higher decibels for my voice recording from the PodMic to the Rodecaster. When I first got the Fethead, I was a little skeptical, but all the many YouTube reviewers kept saying this device works wonders. Sure enough, all those glowing online reviews are correct, the Triton Fethead is positively worth the $89 price tag if you want higher recording volume from your microphone. 5 stars all around!

It worked as planned.