I traded some gear for this preamp on a bit of a whim. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first, but once I heard it in action I was thoroughly impressed! If you record bass guitar on a regular basis, this preamp is a MUST HAVE.

I've used this on acoustic with an AKG 451 with great results, vocals with an AT 4033, and piano with a Neumann U87, and a Cello with a Violet Gold Finger... all sounded very good. However, this preamp paired with the BLUE Mouse on a good sounding bass amp (Fender Bassman, or Ampeg flip-top) just sounds unreal. Using it as a DI also sounds phenomenal, but it just depends on how "clean" you like your bass.

The design is quite simple, and features are limited which is fine because the quality is top-notch. My only frustration is that this thing is so stinking awkward to rack mount. You can buy an aftermarket adapter for this, but you also have to buy a rack shelf, and it takes up 2+ rack spaces. I wish BLUE wasn't so stubborn and would put two channels of this preamp in a (more) conventional 2 RU box. I would easily pay $2,300 for that!

My recording setup is mobile, and I simply don't have the space in a rack for this thing. It also sounds too good to risk letting it get abused by traveling with it, so I usually just re-track bass parts at home.

Another great this is that the sound is very consistent. Mine is roughly 4 years old, and my friend who owns a brand new one achieves virtually the same sounds. It is not hard to find a "stereo" match of these. If I recorded more strings I would certainly get another.

Sure, its a strange design, but the sound is where its at. I did alot of research before getting mine and it sounds just like they said. Very Clean with a soft, slightly rolled-off top end. I used to only favor "colored pres", but now I like the cleaner side also. I have a A-Designs P1 and a Focusrite ISA 430mkII and and the clean flavor of the Robbie is a great addition to my collection. The Focusrite has a nice detailed mostly clean sound with a little character while the P1 has that fat 70's sound and the Robbie is a great flavor for anything that needs a little smoothing or a nice sheen to it. Great for aggressive vocals that would normally sound too sibilant. I read somewhere that the concept of this pre was designed similar to the one that BLUE uses to test their microphones and they make some very nice microphones for sure. I use a Blue BabyBottle microphone which is the sounding best mic Ive ever used in my opionion. Anyway, if you need a sparkling clean, smooth pre-amp, and you don't mind the odd shape or layout, then you will love it

No bells or whistles on this Mic Pre, but it is ultra quiet and fantastic sounding! Absolutely stellar with my Blue Blueberry vocal mic and sounds wonderful on vocals and mic'ed acoutics!

WOW!!! I just got my BLUE Robbie mic pre. It sounds awsome and has such great color to it. I've been doing research and looking for the perfect mic pre for almost a year. Then this showed up on the market. If you're looking for a simple, professional, great sounding mic pre, this is for you. We all know how great BLUE the company is at making microphones so just imagine what this mic pre is like.