Modern equipment contains sophisticated power-regulating mechanisms that minimize the chance of voltage spikes ever reaching a microphone. They provide a soft-start and smooth ramp-down when AC power is turned on or off at the console or mic-preamp. With older or faulty equipment, problems like leaky electrolytic blocking capacitors, faulty components, shorted diodes or regulators, etc. can lead to uneven power being supplied to the microphone. Because microphones are designed to work within balanced conditions, uneven power can create a number of hard-to-pinpoint problems like low output, distortion, degraded frequency response, and other performance issues.