Listen to the nice housepig, he's speaking sooth. Please note that preamps also can add, subtract, or change sounds, giving them character. Think of the microphone as the brush, and the preamp as the paint. They are also one of the items in your setup where price is most variable, and you get what you pay for. El cheapo, starts at about $80 for one channel. Mid-range models offer 1 or 2 channels for about $250-$300 per channel. High-end pres can set you back big bucks, to the tune of $5000 per channel and even more. When a rack mounted pre is combined with a compressor, usually in a 1 rack unit single channel, it's called a "channel strip". Some general suggestions to check out- Wicked cheap-Audiobuddy. Mid range-Joemeek VC1Q (1 channel) or twinQcs (2 channels). High end-Neve, Great River, Avalon. Preamps will generally also give you the phantom power you need to use condenser mics. Most home studios will use a mixer for a bunch of fairly cheap channels for many mics (drums, etc.), and 1-4 dedicated high quality channels for mission critical tracks (vocals, acoustic guitar, etc.)
On a side note, there are solid state pres, pres with tubes, and hybrid units that are basically solid state amps with a small tube in the preamp section to introduce variable amounts of "drive"or "warmth" associated with tubes (the British call them "valves"), which really means selective distortion, which may or may not sound good, depending on what you're recording. These are sometimes called "tewb" or "toob" amps. A lot of hype and misinformation has been put out regarding the advantages of vacuum tubes in pres, and there are high end units of both types that work great, as well as some very effective and affordible hybrid units that sound just fine. I use DBX 386, a hybrid unit, and Joemeek twinQcs, a tube unit, for different sounds, and both work very well when used properly. Hope this helps.-Richie
