Vanguard Audio Labs V13 Gen2

The V13 Gen2 balances vintage warmth with modern clarity by using cryogenically treated components and a hand-selected European vacuum tube. This combination provides the rich character expected of tube mics while maintaining an exceptionally low noise floor that is often absent in older designs.

Absolutely. With nine selectable polar patterns and a high 134 dB max SPL, these microphones are versatile enough for acoustic guitars, drum overheads, piano, and orchestral instruments. The multi-pattern design allows you to adjust the pickup area to suit the specific acoustics of your room or instrument.

While these microphones will work with any standard XLR preamp, they are transformer-coupled, which helps them maintain signal integrity over long cable runs. They pair beautifully with clean, transparent preamps if you want to hear the microphone's natural character, or colored preamps if you want to lean further into vintage saturation.

Yes, because these are tube condenser microphones, they require the included external power supply to provide the necessary voltage to the tube circuitry. You will need to connect the microphone to the power supply unit via the included multi-pin cable, and then connect the power supply to your interface or preamp via a standard XLR cable.

The pad switch reduces the microphone's output level, which is useful when recording very loud sources to prevent clipping at your preamp. The roll-off switch cuts low-end frequencies, helping to clean up recordings by removing unwanted rumble or proximity effect in close-miking situations.