-2. I don't even have a computer monitor hooked up to my system. I am in the complete opposite direction as you: I don't even have a computer monitor hooked into my system. If I want to know what frequency needs adjusting, I just listen for it.
+1. It is the way I learned and I have no desire to change it at this point in my life. I kind of admire the people who learned or evolved to learn in-the-box, but that will never be me.
My chain is old school and I don't even have a monitor to see a sonic graph that I could post for you, but I can tell you by hearing both that the e609 is a little less detailed in the mids and highs than a 57, traits that I want to capture from my Marshall amp, so I switched them. I like it as...
I use an e609 on snare because I didn't like it as much as a 57 on my amp. It sounds like this dry... https://soundcloud.com/seeker-of-rock/drumkit-dry
If your acoustics suck, then I would work on taming your recording environment. But it can be done pretty inexpensively with rigid fiberglass like OC703/OC705 or mineral wool panels, depending on the size.
I had the 424 MKIII before I bought a 488MKII. I can't remember for sure, but I think those higher end cassette models had programmable punch in-out times you could set on the digital counter, which is a really nice feature for what you are doing and may be able to achieve the effect you want...
+1. I HATE ultra low action. I bend strings quite a bit as part of my playing style and don't like them to slip out from under my fingertips.
And to the GI, I totally dig the off-white Gibson color on a LP Custom or an SG. Great choice imo!
I love the older Joemeek preamps/recording channels and have a small collection. I don't have an SM7b, but I know from reading that they are gain hungry. I use a ribbon mic and even the little VC3s have no shortage of gain for it. The VC1 and VC2 even more so. The older JM pres are...
At one point when I started playing in a few metal bands, I almost got mine modded. I'm really glad I didn't. If I need over-the-top, I just crank the pre and stick a tubescreamer in front of it.