Yes. a new preamp.

I have been thinking too long about this, mainly due to the vast and excellent choice out there, along with all the reviews available. I have only used a tfpro p3 channel strip, apart from my built in Edirol DA2496 soundcard preamps, so I am limited somewhat in experience.

Hopefully this will be my final question before my wallet emerges, but which would be the best choice out of the two -

Versitility of strip over just a preamp. Would the additional comp/eq of this strip (even if the preamp was not as good as the brick) still possibly sound better because of good comp & eq.

My home studio setup

Carillon PC
Edirol DA2496 soundcard
Alesis M1 active Mk2
UAD-1
Cubase sx2
Rickenbacker Bass
Yamaha AES500 guitar
GT67 mic
Sample Tank 2xl / Rhino soft synths
Midi controller

Thanks for any help.