Groove Tubes - The Brick, finally got one after all the hype on RO here and I must say it's one of the first pieces of equipment that has more than lived up to the hype. IMO the best tube preamp I have heard so far in that price range. Other option would be to go the jonyoung route, which I also did, and get an Art Pro Mpa (one of the old ones) and switch out the tubes with better ones. He was right, it does make a large difference having quality tubes in there. What's great is I spent maybe 320 total on the Pro Mpa and I have some coloration and variety now by putting two different tubes in them. One of the few budget gear pieces I have picked up that I think I will keep for a long time.

I'll second The Brick. I'm picking up my second one tonight from GC who gave me a stupidly good price on both of them.

The salesman did make a comment that GC was going to stop carrying it though because they weren't moving a lot of them. Not sure if he meant the entire chain or just that store but I think he meant across the board. He also commented that he thought they might be coming out with a new product to take its place. He was just speculating on that point though. I doubt GT are dropping a product this good though. I think GC just isn't the goto place for most people looking for pro audio gear.

They sold those GT-44 mics for stupid prices a while back when they were discontinued or whatever. Maybe the same will happen with the Brick.
They have such a weird thing to market; a big chunk of a mic preamp that people are supposed to want to take with them on the stage. How many live performers do you come across that complain about needing special outboard preamps for their mic signal? Also, doesn't really look like anything novel or useful when you see it in a catalog. Lucky for them, us recordists are catching on to it....