I would go with the A-Designs Pacifica.

It's got 2 channels, sound great on guitar, vocals, drum overheads, and has a killer DI for guitar or bass.

This way with two channels you've got some options too as far as doing multiple mics on a guitar cab or acoustic guitar, etc.

Some people mentioned 'getting big names to increase your hourly rate' but I don't think you mentioned whether you're doing a commercial enterprise or recording just your own projects, etc.

Peter's got a real winner with the Pacifica, it's definitely worth a look.

Chameleon 7602 . Great preamp and EQ ( neve clone ) with a good price.

i don't have a great river, but i do have api 512's, ua610,chandler ltd-1,avalon 737, and porticos. to my ear the api's are the cleanest and least colored of all my pres. in fact they sound fairly similar to my da7's pres, although thicker. so it sounds to me like the great river may give you the most flexibility. people love them.

Mark Warren,

I do mostly my own projects, but I do outside production sometimes.
I need the pre to be nice for vocals, tracking drum machines, and keyboards.
Working on a project for commercial release (independent) I usually sequence songs with midi then dump into my DAW, and add more stuff.

I hear what you're saying about two channels though, but I think the Great River will do me justice til' my next major purchase. I do keep hearing good things about the Pacifica.

the pacifica is double my price range for now, the MP-2NV too for that matter

You would probaby do well with the 1-channel Great River. I haven't used it extensively enough to compare it to anything else, but I know a couple of people who have a smaller project studio and do well with using the GR on a variety of sources, and as their main go-to pre.

I ordered the ME1NV, just waiting for its delivery!! Thanks for the help everyone.

Anyone who has an MBox, should I run the 1/4" output of the pre to the inserts on the MBox or use the XLR output?? Also, anyone see the review of the Great River in SOS this month? They made it sound like a good pre, but not a great pre.

thanks again

Not having used the Great River it's hard for me to say what the best method for hooking it up to the Mbox will be. I'd suggest getting an XLR-1/4" balanced cable and try that first. I think that should be fine. Otherwise try running 1/4" to 1/4", maybe unbalanced? It looks like the 1/4" outputs on the GR are unbalanced (for use with a mixer when monitoring) but I could be wrong about that.

Just keep an eye on the clipping lights on the Mbox as it is sometimes easy to clip the converters.

Just so you know; here is how I hook up my Hamptone. Hamptone preamp (XLR to unbalanced 1/4") to FMR RNC (Stereo Y Insert cable with only the out plugged into the RNC) to the Mbox insert. works great for me.... You could try hooking a stereo Y cable out to the 1/4" outputs on the GR and the stereo plug into the Mbox insert.

Don't try and run the GR insert into the Mbox though, because the GR insert patches in before the output amplifier stage. (according to GR's site)

thanks hopeless_opus for the help. i'll try those methods out. next purchase is a converter.

My first high end pre was a Daking 52270. Since i got it i have been very impressed with it, and even now when i have many other pres to choose from (neve api etc etc) i still use the Daking a lot and think it was great value.