Both choices are about as lowball as you can go. They will provide the bare minimum of mic amplification with none of the other benefits.

Better entry level choices:

Grace 101
Presonus Eureka
Groove Tube Brick
FMR Really Nice Preamp

All clock in at the $400 to 500 range, give or take.

chrispick wrote: Both choices are about as lowball as you can go. They will provide the bare minimum of mic amplification with none of the other benefits.

Better entry level choices:

Grace 101
Presonus Eureka
Groove Tube Brick
FMR Really Nice Preamp

All clock in at the $400 to 500 range, give or take.

This reply has preamps many have recommended in the past.

But the price range is far different than what OP has suggested with his choices. $70 or so.

Just for additional reference, does anyone have a suggestion in the range in the middle of these two, or does OP have to save more dough?

You should include the presonus tubepre in the two you have mentioned.I actually dig my tube pre for what it is...a cheap preamp. If they can sell this item at less than 100 bucks imagine how cheap they have to go on the electronics to make a profit...you pay for crap, and you get pissed you got left with a turd. Save up a few more bucks, and get the FMR, or for about 100-200 more you could get a peavey VMP-2.

MadTiger3000 wrote: [quote=chrispick]Both choices are about as lowball as you can go. They will provide the bare minimum of mic amplification with none of the other benefits.

Better entry level choices:

Grace 101
Presonus Eureka
Groove Tube Brick
FMR Really Nice Preamp

All clock in at the $400 to 500 range, give or take.

This reply has preamps many have recommended in the past.

But the price range is far different than what OP has suggested with his choices. $70 or so.

Just for additional reference, does anyone have a suggestion in the range in the middle of these two, or does OP have to save more dough?

Well, I meant to convey that the choice of pres the poster offered aren't really worth considering, even for a beginner in a modest home set-up. They're not discernibly better than the pres that ship in any standard, low-cost audio interface -- and in some cases are worse because of noise levels. So, it'd be a waste to buy them, I believe. The least expensive pres worth spending any money on cost a little more. That is, adding a Eureka or Grace will make a positive difference to a modest DAW whereas an MP Studio likely won't.

I can vouch for the quality of The Brick and have the Grace 101 on my list of things to aquire when funds permit.

As for the items the original post asked about, if you have no preamp at all these are functional tools and can get you in the game recording and learning. However, if you have a mixer of some kind that has mic pre's, I would use those and save for the the items suggested in the 400-500 range. They will be a significant upgrade over the items asked about.