Doug, I have had a lot of use out of my old dbx 286A...compressor is a bit weird but in a usable sort of way, a 2 band eq, and a gate...bought it for $100.00 used.

I also get use from a Mindprint Envoice...although tube, you can roll it out of the signal path...decent compressor, 3 band eq, and instrument/mic insput switch...don't know if they are still made, but I bought mine used for $125.00..

Happy hunting

thanks for the tip midlandmorgan! I'll look into those two units.

Doug,

for for under $1000.00 i dont believe you'll find a better stereo, non tube (or tube) clean sounding pre than the $475.00 FMR RNP (Real Nice Pre) its very clean and 2 chan. which comes in handy on all kinds of things...I use it on vox, keys, stereo accoustic guit, etc.

they also have a compressor that was created to match up with th RNP. its called the RNC (Real Nice Compressor) it goes for $175.00! dont be fooled by the size or price of these two pieces, they sound outstanding...should keep you happy for some time!

do some research and check on google (FMR Audio)

please dont waste your money on ART tube pre's, dbx tube channel strips, and the budget tube pre's as I have over the years, they dont compare!

good luck

Yeah....whut he said...the rnp is a very very good unit..it really does kick a lot of +1000 buck pres butts...ya just cant go wrong there.....and for a bit cheeper (but not better) the ART PRO MPA not to be confused with some of the 'other' tube pres, art and otherwise...the 'Pro' is just that...

Thanks for the advise guys. After reading the pros saying "you should hear what an sm57 sounds like through a Great River", I decided maybe when it came to this stuff, a piece here...piece there...of reasonably good pro-sumer stuff would be a smarter way to go that throwing tons of money at cheap stuff to get cheap sound. ;)

I mean I do have a couple of nice boards (PC88MX and K2000) They are pretty sweet little boards, but I've recently been really loving the Prosonus Grand as DXi viz SONAR just a wee bit better than anything Kurz EVER stuck on a micropiano module. ;)

As I get more tracking work, I'll reinvest and buy a good piece of gear here and there.

Stay cool.

Doug

Doug, I use Behringer's ULN mic pres on a regular basis, and they sound very nice. Until you start spending some serious cash, I doubt you'd notice any or much of a difference.

Warren

another great one is the Aphex 207...i don't know how it compares to the RNP...but I'd be willing to bet it's as good or a little better...it has just the right level of warmth in my opinion...I couldn't believe there was a preamp so cheap, that was so good at the same time...

i'm interested in checking out the RNP and RNC