pleased to find that the mkIII brings plenty of weight and life. Going direct with an electric guitar yielded similar results: a full-bodied tone with plenty of headroom and top-end detail. It makes an excellent front-end for driving digital amplifier emulations in the box. My only nitpick is that there seems to be some gain-bunching towards the upper-end of its range. The gain knob is very consistent and smooth until the final quarter turn, where it begins to increase disproportionally. Gain-bunching can cause less sensitive, passive microphones, such as the Shure SM7b, to be touchier and less precise when pushing the preamp into this range. Final Thoughts I can't comment on how the new model compares to the previous generation, but the new Auteur MkIII is a rock-solid preamp that is even more impressive when you consider its modest price. The 1 /4 addition, with an excellent sounding Hi-Z input for passive instruments. The combination of modern input-stage and vintage-inspired output-stage creates a unique hybrid; it threads the line between a transparent vanilla preamp and one with overt coloration. For that reason, it would serve as a reliable workhorse that will sound good on just about anything you throw its way! " inputs are a great Price: $419 More from: blacklionaudio.comhttp://blacklionaudio.com http://usefularts.com