I think Musicians Friend is just the warehouse operation of Guitar Center, isn't it? My experience with them has also been fine.

The NT1a bundle looks good for a home studio, with the windscreen and XLR cable. That was my first 'good' studio mic and it really made a difference.

Consider adding that preamp when you get some additional funds. My experience with Behringer mixers was very poor, since mine had a LOT of amplifier hiss on the mic preamp. [I am aware others on this forum really like Behringer mixers.] But if you have an external preamp, you can bypass what I consider to be the weakness of the Behringer and just go into the LINE IN. When I did that, my Behringer mixer was saveable.

Enjoy your new mic.


BIAB 2024 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 6.5 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6; Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus Studio 192, Presonus Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors