Both...or neither....It always depends on the situation and the source material.

I would personally prefer the killer mic...

Room before artist
Artist before instrument
Instrument before mic
Mic before pre
Pre before converters......

..... but rules are meant to be broken ;)

True dat, though I always assumed a better mic pre to take priority. An SM58 through a Great River preamp could yield some great results, while a U87 through a Digi001 would seem rather useless, imo...?

Well, as Davedog said... "it depends on the situation", but I think that 9 times out of 10 I'll take the U87 through the 001 thanks.
The pre can only work with the signal it's given.

Killer mic first - always. But then I have pretty high standards for even a "decent mic pre"

i recorded a band with supersweet mics (u89s, dpa 4006, km140's)
through an .....02r ( from 1990..)
i was surprised by the decent result! (i even went analog out into my interface..)
Then again, especially for dynamic mics, the preamp totally makes a difference...

In my experience great mics still sound great on decent pres- and even sound good through an art.
what was surprising to me though, was what a great pre did for a budget mic (NT1). the mic sounded like never before, a totally useable sound, the way it never did through an art pre.
Now, if you can get a great mic and a great pre youre set for life.

I say either, neither, or both. I tend to buy whatever I'm having a hard-on for at the time.

hands down: steller mic pre first. Unless of course you want your nice mic sounding like a overcast day.

And who said that a decently priced mic is just decent? In my opinion, there are some respectfully priced mics that perform amazingly these days. Mic pre's on the other hand still seem washy unless you spill out the cash.

Clayphish wrote: In my opinion, there are some respectfully priced mics that perform amazingly these days. Mic pre's on the other hand still seem washy unless you spill out the cash.

true.

For me it's killer mic over killer pre.
The sound starts at the source, next stop is the mic.

what was surprising to me though, was what a great pre did for a budget mic (NT1). the mic sounded like never before, a totally useable sound

Ditto:

In my opinion, there are some respectfully priced mics that perform amazingly these days. Mic pre's on the other hand still seem washy unless you spill out the cash.

Ditto, Ditto: