I've always found with the TLM103 that you NEED a good preamp. So I seriously doubt you'll find anything in that price range. But YMMV.
I tried the TLM103 with a friends Mbox a few months back and I hated the sound.
Maybe try the RNP, or the Studio Projects VMP-1. They are both half decent, but I certainly can't guarrantee them with the TLM.

And to run MIDI devices with the Mbox you need a 3rd party midi I/O unit.

Two words:

The Brick!

Or of course there's two of my other favorite options:
Grace 101 (I know Kurt - there's a wall wart...)
Summit 2BA-221

J.

Brick make it sound pretty I bet. Don't forget the Safesound P1 if you want a good channel strip. It'll give you a compressor and expander and a limiter which are all great for tracking vocals/guitars/etc. Brick beats it slightly in sound; P1 wins big in the features department.

The brick

Thank you very much for your answers, I have done all the review about The Brick, and it sounds right for my home studio, I will try that and get the M4 as a midi interface.....

If someone thinks otherwise, please let me know....

I'm letting you know.
I honestly don't like the TLM 103, or any other transformerless Neumann, with ANY pre... but I don't think you can improve much on the MBox's mic pres for $500.

For $1500 you can improve on it enourmously.
But I'd suggest saving until you can make a MAJOR improvement; not a tiny incremental or barely noticeable one, that you'll only be upgrading from in not much time.

Will,
You gotta try the Brick. I would have agreed with you about two weeks ago until GT sent out a pair of those babies for me to review. I am very impressed with them. They really does compare to the high end offerings, from sound to the build quality.

It's transformer balenced in and out and has 3 tubes. It features through the board constuction with a super adaquate power supply. The switches and connectors are all nutted to the case, not soldered to the PCB. I really don't see how they are selling these things for under $350 but they are.

Jus bought THE BRICK

I recently purchased and hooked it up to the MBOX, I dont know to much about some other preamps but this brick is solid and improved the TLM way much more than I expected.... Thanx CUCCO for the great advice, it was worth it buying the brick...
And thx everyone who posted a reply on this subject ....

Re: The right preamp

I might suggest using or at least trying a Mindprint. They use a 12AX7 tube and sound really nice and warm because of it. And they are not too exp.

Wwittman stated that the tlm 103 is transformerless. This probably is a dumb question, but is a Neumann U87ai transformerless? the specs say that it has a pressure gradient transducer. I ask b/c I have heard many good things about this mic, but I myself have used and do not like the tlm 103.

Justin

I purchased The Brick a few weeks ago and I couldn't be happier with the results. Anyone looking for a budget pre really needs to get The Brick. You can't beat it for $350.00

All Neumann mics with the prefix TLM stand for Transformer Less Microphone.

So then the U87ai has a transformer??

You are correct

the right preamp

I purchased The Brick for $420 at guitar center , where can I get it for $350 as mcmilliropn said.

$420?
Damn it all :x

Re: the right preamp

somerstein wrote: I purchased The Brick for $420 at guitar center , where can I get it for $350 as mcmilliropn said.

Guitar Center.

Haha you got skrued.

I got The Brick at my local guitar center in Chicago for $340 but it was a display model. My guy at guitar center told me he could do $360 brand new out the door. I guess it depends on the guy you're working with. they go for $399 at Sweetwater.com

You should always check online first, then print out the price before you go in.

Re: the right preamp

somerstein wrote: I purchased The Brick for $420 at guitar center , where can I get it for $350 as mcmilliropn said.

They are advertised at 399 at my GC. They usually take some off of that too if you ask. Having a go to guy in the store helps too.

Just do what I do. Walk into guitar center and be on your cell phone with your buddy while looking at the gear you are interested in. I was looking at a Shure KSM44 Mic at guitar center and was talking to my friend how was at home on the net looking on EBAY. I asked the guy how much and he told me 599.99 and my friend said on EBAY there is one from an authorized dealer for 545.99 with free shipping so i turn to the guy and said "Nevermind my friend said he found one on EBAY for 545.99..." the guy dropped it to 540.00. I said "Sold". I've done that several times now and everytime I have saved at least 40-60 bucks each time.

The Brick

I guess I am going to go and tell them That I want to return it because I found the same product at a lower price on ebay, I hope that does "the trick " for "the brick" thx for your replies....

Make sure you tell them you found it on Ebay from an "Authorized Dealer" who includes any warranty the product may come with. Otherwise GC won't drop price.