Seeing as most questions in this forum seem to revolve around the "best of the worst" idea I thought that we could all put in some input, and maybe stickey it. Kind of like David's VST post.

So the Best of the Worst as of fall 2005

Mic pre: Seems unanamous that Groove Tubes The Brick is the way to go.

Microphones
Dynamic: maybe SM57
large diaphragm condencers: ?
small diaphragm condencers: ?

Cables
XLR:
1/4 inch:

Monitors:
Passive:
amp:
Active: Yamaha MSP5

VST plugs can be found in: (Dead Link Removed)

Hardware:
Compressor
EQ
Mixer

Anything else you thing runs a great product for the price throw it on the list

Happy budget gearing!