best mic-preamp for me.. please help

[Avatar_k83]

I want a mic preamp for rock vocals and for guitars mostly.

I have a ECHO Layla 3G and its pre's are pretty nice and clean.. so i would like to get one chanell pre with some character and a step up from the laylas pres.. also i would like to have a good compressor and maybe EQ, because i dont have any hardware gear, and i would like to record the best signal i could and then tweek it with plugins...

also it could be nice if it could work nicely as a Bass DI

after my search, i have concluded to the following:

* Mindprint en-voice (i can find the MK-1 pretty cheap used, is the MK-2 much better?

* Focusrite VoiceMaster Pro

* dbx 576

any input is welcome..

thank you

 

[Rodger Hartlett]

RNP is worth a look at for sure . don't even think about the dbx 576.

 

[ndycus1]

i have an original envoice and like it a lot. so, from my experience, that would be a good choice. i'm not a huge fan of the soft-knee aspect of the compressor. but, it's still a really nice unit...especially if you can get it cheap. you may also want to look into an m-audio tampa. it doesn't have EQ, but it has a very nice compressor.

 

[chessrock]

Of the ones you listed, I don't think either of them are going to be much different than what you have ... nor are they likely to be a "step up," honestly. The pres on the Echo interfaces are actually pretty decent.

I suppose if you're looking for something 'colored' or whatever, you're really not going to get that until you start getting in to the tube and/or transormer based stuff, ala A-Design, Peavey VMP2, and to a certain extent, the GT Brick.

Only other thing I can think of would be that Electroharmonics pre that's selling for around 200 bucks. That one sounds like it might offer something interesting / cool ... although I've never personally tried it. But it might just be your best bet right now.

.