TritonAudio FetHead Germanium

... you don't have a high-end preamp/audio interface.

TL;DR:
- This preamp deliver a solid 29dB gain with low noise.
- You should buy it if you have a low-end preamp/audio interface and you want to reduce the amount of noise you get in your audio signal.
- You should not buy it if you have high-end preamps, except if you want its "muffled" sound, especially good on ribbon microphones IMHO.

Let me explain how I tested it. For each microphone, I tested the two following processing chains:
- Microphone -> FetHead -> UA Apollo 8p (default preamp)
- Microphone -> UA Apollo 8p (default preamp with 29dB of additional gain relative to the gain I applied on the first processing chain)

I tested it on a dynamic microphone (SM 7 B) and a ribbon one (sE X1R). I always had a higher noise level when using the FetHead.
This is completly acceptable considering the very different nature and pricing of those 2 products, but it's something worth to know.

The FetHead (and probably the Cloudlifter too) will give you less noise if you use a low/mid-end preamp/audio interface, this is why so many people review this thing as a "magical" device to put between the 7B and your preamp. But it's not better than a high quality preamp 😉

That being said, this preamp also gives a color to your sound.
When using the FetHead you end up with a warmer and a bit "muffled" sound. The high frequencies are attenuated, and I think it's a perfect match for a ribbon microphone (very subjectively, I loved how it sounded on my sE X1R) as it's already something you expect from such a microphone.

Also, if you like to have a little "retro" analog sound, rather than "pristine crystal clear", this should help you in your journey to get that sound.

Even if I won't use it for it's "gain" purpose, this is definitely a nice tool to have. But don't listen to the YouTube reviews: it's not a magical device that makes your sound unbelievable. It's a great device, but nothing magical.

I tried this Germanium version of the fethead after owning the regular one since decades.
I was curious about the difference, and we tested both in turns on a very nice vocal mic with a female singer.

The difference is very very noticeable.
In my opinion, the original fethead is really perfect for a very true to microphone gain boost. I use it mostly for acoustic guitar micing, singing of course, and sometimes for cab micing on electric guitar, if the engineer can't seem to get enough room feel in there, as u can get further away from the speaker and still get some punch from it.

Now back to the germanium version, this one really shines for vocals in my opinion, as it colours and brightens the sound, a lot ! And that's mostly not what we're looking for for micing cabs and speakers, as it may get way too trebly.

That said, for voices, it seems to add a lot of definition to the sound and definitely a lot of treble, which could be too much for some, but you can always apply hpf to it during the mix. Which leaves you with a lot of singing dynamics, punch and better mic room control.

Both versions do exactly what they are meant for, A Supertool in my opinion !!