Is it too late for my .02? lol.
Behringer BAD!
As for the XLR to TRS situation, I promise you that if you spend the coin (or many coins as the case may be) to get some Zaolla cables (XLR-TRS) you will be SHOCKED at the pristine quality of the sound. I kid you not they will actually improve the sound of the pre. They are made of pure solid silver (which happens to be the very best conductor of audio) Find a Zaolla dealer (they are a division of Hosa) and ask them to let you A/B a normal cable to a Zaolla cable on a guitar or something, you WILL hear a difference.
Which brings us to the compressor problem.
If you cannot afford a Universal audio 1176, I would say go with
a DBX 160a. Believe it or not some times, for some tracks you will actually choose the 160a over an 1176 if you had both. Many studio's use 160's everyday even though they also have 1176's, LA-2A's, Manleys, Neves, and Pultec's OH MY! The 160 isn't perfect for everything, but no compressor is! The 160 is a very smooth and pro sounding warm compressor and can be had for under $500 anywhere brand new and less for a used one on ebay. I will say that, I will always choose the 160 over an 1176 on bass guitar every time. But the 1176 is in my humble opinion, the best overall compressor ever built on most sources. I prefer the LA-2A, or a Manley for vocals most the time though.
Who am I kidding I want two of EVERTHING!!!
lol.
Hope this helps!
(ok, if you can't afford the 160a, I picked up some ashly cl-100's on ebay a while back for CHEAP! and they sound AMAZING! I was going to keep that to myself, they are my secret weapon! shhhhh, don't tell anyone,............else lol)