Thread: Best 12-16 inputs (preamps) for a certain budget

look into the Mackie onyx rackmount. they are only available used, have a solid reputation, and fit w/in your budget. any other multi channel pres that match or exceed this quality level will be about twice your budget. i haven't used them personally, but i've never been let down by the mackie stuff i use/own. i use focusrite octo-pre for drums at my studio and it sounds fine, clean clear plenty of gain. nothing special nothing bad. the overheads go thru a Manley tube pre. so mabye a couple of octo's and a a used 'high end' pre might be your ticket. Although i've heard that the mackie has some 'character' which the octo has none. really depends on what your trying to record, guessing a live band.
w/ the studio live your paying for alot more than just mic pres, so there will have to be some compromises in their quality vs. a unit that's just pre's. if you ask me, the best thing presonus did so far is the Eureka channel, their digimax 8ch pre is terrible (noisy, not very clear), but i know bigtree was really stoked w/ his studiolive board.

You should certainly look at the Allen & Heath Zed-R16. It's got 16 excellent pre-amps and can record to a computer via FireWire or ADAT lightpipe. It also makes a really good analogue mixdown system with an EQ that sounds better than any DAW EQ I have heard. The US street price is under $2000, but may be a little higher in Canada.