Hi all,

Just stumbled upon this forum while doing some research, and decided I might actually try to post a question I have yet to find an answer for..

I'm currently looking to buy a preamp and a new mic to supplement my very limited current setup. I've previously just been recording an SM57 directly in to a MOTU 828, and definitely think I could stand to step that up.

I have about a $1500 budget for these two items. I'm looking to mostly record vocals, though likely some guitar as well. As to what mic to get is a whole other question (I'm thinking maybe an AKG Perception 400). For the preamp, I've been thinking about a Portico 5016. The DI input seems like it would be nice for guitar, and the fact that it can take a line level in seems like another good option.

My real question is this: Why is the 5016 so much cheaper than the 5012 (Just the pre, no DI)? From what I can tell, the specs are the same, so why would just the pre be more expensive? I can understand why the 5016 would be cheaper than their other current models ( with compressors, Eq, etc), but it doesn't seem to make sense with the 5016 and 5012. Is there something I'm missing here?

Thanks in advance!