Look into the Millennia TD-1. It has what Millennia calls "Twin-Topology". Basically it's a solid-state AND a tube mic pre in one. You can select between either pre stage depending on the color or lack thereof, that you want.

I use one every day and love it. Also, it has a great eq section onboard. In solid-state mode it has a crystal clear signal path. In the vacuum tube mode the clearity is still there but it has a touch of "warmth". (I kinda hate that word)

Chris

^^^ Good Lord, LilDog... that sounds like exactly what I need... going to check that out!

**Edit** After looking at it further its a bit out of my price range... :(

Thanks

It's money well spent. After owning a studio for 21 years, I've learned that it's better to save up and buy the good stuff then to get something fast and out-grow it.

My .02
Chris

This is true... but due to my current financial status... saving up $1300 isn't an option right now.

FWIW, in my experience the Grace stuff is indeed rather "hard" sounding [I guess some people call that 'transparent'... I'm just not one of them]. I don't know what the Grace goes for [obviously, under $1,300]... but the Groove Tubes "Brick" goes for $400... and it's a pretty musical sounding unit... whether or not it will work for your applications is another story.

Fletcher wrote: FWIW, in my experience the Grace stuff is indeed rather "hard" sounding [I guess some people call that 'transparent'... I'm just not one of them]. I don't know what the Grace goes for [obviously, under $1,300]... but the Groove Tubes "Brick" goes for $400... and it's a pretty musical sounding unit... whether or not it will work for your applications is another story.

Hey Fletcher did you find the Brick noisy.