I think I jumped a little head first into this whole thing. I am fresh out of college with a degree in Software Engineering and a master plan to make money so I can buy some sweet gear and get my music off in an beautiful explosion! I have a good job, about 30 min worth of songs almost completed and am looking to get a reasonable setup for gear so I can concentrate on writing and recording. I believe I'm in the correct forum. now for some questions. BAM! Who wants to step up??

Preamps. .what are they and what do they do. Or better yet, what will they do for ME :D

This is a bit of a repeat, but I think its better suited for this forum.

Setup:

-Cubasis 2.0 VST
-Tascam US-428 Controller - Its a board with small amoun of eq per channel. It connects to the computer via USB. So I guess a small mixer?(I'm ignorant. I got nothin)
-Line 6 Vetta II Modeling Amp(for recording guitar direct, no micing)
-Yamaha S90 Synth
-Bass Guitar
-Shure SM57
-Soon to have a KEL Audio H-1
-DrumKit from Hell Drum Machine
-Small apartment, no possibility of good acoustics or recording aloud for that matter.

I play melodic rock/metal ala Tool, some Pink Floyd definetely in there, and Kyuss. I use a primarily heavy crunchy tone along with some cleans. I like to sing in a very airy tone with vocals . probably a bit of falsetto. think "I'm Only Sleeping" by the Beatles for the "airy" quality. BADASS SONG!

Now...what does a preamp do exactly and what might it do for me? It has been veriefed by Sebatron that it might add organic qualities to my guitar tone with it being purely digital. Anything else? What about vocals. .I would imagine that the US-428 has horrible preamps being a $400 board. Lastly, do people use these new-fangled "preamps" for live purposes? When we talk about the benefits of a preamp, are we talking about a 5% difference or are we talking massive? When I buy gear now, I want it to be a good investment that will be something I will want to use forever.

DAMN IM IN A GOOD MOOD! :D...AND :D 8-) :D FOR GOOD MEASURE?

By the way, please don't tell me to just go to a pro studio. I do not feel that my music is at a maturity level that deems it adequate for a pro studio.. I want to mature all around before I do that.

THANKS!

Brett