I have sort of solidified my recording set up and equipment for now. Some might remember that i was having a huge issue with deciding between a 2480 or a MAC G5 with Cubase SX 3 as my main DAW.

Well i am on the 2480 now. however i have added some additional gear to my set up and would like some advice on how best to utilize it in certain circumstances.

First here is the equipment

AT4050 mic
Avalon M5 Pre
Avalon 747sp
TC M3000
PODxt Pro
Roland DR-880
VS2480
Triton Pro 76 key
Taylor 314ce
Alvarez acoustic (non electric)
Paul Reed Smith Electric
MAC G5 dual 1.8. 3 gigs RAM, 2 int HD's 160 and 250 gig, the 250 just for projects
PEAK 4.12
Cubase SX 3
Tracks -24
WAVES Nativie
Maudio 410 firewire
Reason 2.5
soundtrack
JBL speakers

Ok my main couple of questions are this

1) i am trying to get a great, crisp and clean acoustic sound for finger picking on the taylor and strumming on the taylor

I was trying this and did not like the results

Taylor ->M5 ->747 set to avalon's manual for acoustic guitar ->2480.

i set up the M3000 as a send/recieve unit off the 2480.

then i was told to only run the taylor through the M5 and to bypass the pre's on the 2480 on the TRS analog input.

so i did this

Taylor ->M5 ->M3000 in bypass mode so as not to affect the signal but to get the A/D conversion on the M3000 over the 2480 and also to bypass the 2480 pre's

still neither of these were as good as taylor direct into guitar Hi Z port on 2480, a touch of Comp and onto track? the was a huge BUMMER for me cause the M5, 747, M3000 were 4500-5K worth of front end stuff i thought was gonna transform my sound

anyway sorry for this long post

oh i was told to use the 747 only on mastering and not on the acoustic direct? also to mic the acoustic with the 4050 and not go direct. i sort of tried that nd it was flat and not so good too, and i fooled witha bunch of placement and settings

anyway

for a great acoustc sound and great female vocals how would any of you utilize

the M5, 747, M3000 and 2480 with the 4050 mic

thanks