any suggestions? im not into that 'tube running at 9v' bullshiteeeeee i just want a nice simple fairly transparent mic pre that isn't going to cost me a limb.
i've heard mixed reviews of the joemeek stuff... plus i suppose its out since its single channel.
m audio apparantly has one but ... is it worth it?
does anyone have anything else to suggest? 300$ max out..

thanks... and i know kerble it up and ill admit i half assed read some threads but couldnt make up my mind.
sue me haha
thanks guys

Have you heard about the m-audio DMP3? You could probably buy 4 channels for your budget. Next step up, but a bit more is FMR's RNP.

yes thats the preamp i was talking about by m audio. but i dont know anyone with any real time experience with it. have you tried them out?

I've tried some Joe Meek stuff last year. Did not like. Aphex has one that's rated pretty good (I forget the model). L+M has lots of their shit.

I've had my DMP3 for about 2 years. Never really blew me away per se, but pretty solid and a decent amount of features for the money. I wouldn't mind selling mine, actually.

I've got like 3 outboard pres and two of them are the Sytek (4ch) and the RNP. The RNP sounds better on some things than the Sytek. I don't like the non physical switched polarity and phantom power buttons (shutting the rack down turns the settings on both to off) but other than that I'd recommend it as a decent neutral pre that handles deep LFs better than the Sytek.

= Justin

I have the RNP and love it.

The Symetrix 302 is clean and cheap. I'll be testing mine out next week.

I'd maybe go second-hand if you don't want to spend much.

M-Audio stuff isn't particularly nice. I have a Joe Meek preamp and it's not particularly quiet but sounds decent. I don't like the opto compressors they have on some of the preamps as they are really unsubtle.

The preamps the others mentioned by FMR, Symetrix and Sytek are probably a good bet.

http://www.toftaudiodesigns.com/afc2.html
http://www.toftaudiodesigns.com/atc2.html

http://mercenary.com/toaudeat.html
I got a Toft ATC2 from mercenary. Its a really good deal.
Dual mono/stereo mic pre/eq/comp. The mic input amps are Burr-Brown ICs, so they are not discreet, but they are probably the best analog ICs available. The Toft stuff is really flexible (you can use it for almost anything), but also very sensitive. So you can't just run shit through it and expect it to produce pure gold on the other side.

Joe Meek, Presonus, M-Audio stuff is just cheap. Not really worth owning IMO. Back when I was really cheap and wanted a lot of gear, I would buy things like these. They are sitting in a drawer somewhere, waiting for someone to take them.

I've heard many good things about the RNP, which we should be getting soon, but I have'nt had one to try out.