Well, you've got one of the finer compressors ever made. And in fact, I'd think the distressor on something similar to nuke mode would be able to get you the kind of squashed, yet articulate in-your-face modern vocal that you'll hear with a lot of bands like Linkin' Park.
I would definitely record dry in a dead space. You'll want the vocals as up-front as possible, so I'd take the room out of it as much as possible.
Now you mention that you're using an MXL condenser. I guess this is kind of where the red flag is for me. I probably wouldn't use a condenser for that kind of vocal, period. Especially something crappy like an mxl. It's just too aggressive, transienty and dynamic of a vocal styling. Remember, you're not recording Justin Timberlake here.
If it were me, I'd start by close-mic'ing the vox with
an Electrovoice RE-20 . . . maybe a Shure SM-7 if that weren't available. That, to me, would be a good starting point. I've never heard of your Eureka mic pre, but if it's of the colored variety i.e. API, then I'd try slamming it good and seeing what happens. If it works, then go with it. If not, then I'd back it off until it works for you.
From there, I'd set the distressor on something resembling Nuke mode, and just play with the attack time until you get some good punch out of the beginnings of your words . . . but not too dynamic so as to cause a lot of peaking.
