Since you afforded a good mic, you might wanna check out a really good preamp, and if you want thick, and I mean creamy thick, check out the Focusrite red series compressors and or the preamp/compressor combo's. The compressor is so creamy yummy delish. I love that unit. I thought it was the pre for a long time, but its a combo of the two, I think, very very very nice together. I think the preamp/compressor, which makes a GREAT front end with a Neumann, is about $2500. Dont waste a good mic with a crappy path. Just audition one somewhere, you'll see what I mean.