What kind of limited funds are you talking about? $50? $500? $5000? Yes, good preamps do make a difference. You can hear the difference between an ART and an API. The nice thing about some of the more expensive preamps is that a lot of them have nothing BUT sweetspots in them. Focusrite had this one preamp I was listening to, and you just clicked to detents on the knobs, and every time you sang or said something it was "Guh...oh my gawhuhuhuh....!" and it was just a question of where you wanted that particular voice or sound to sit in the mix in relation to others. Some other high end pre-amp/EQ/compressor channel strips are like that, too. They have fixed bands that are JUST RIGHT, and then you dial in or dial out as you need to fit the sounds in with each. Yum...yes, preamp good. I used to think that it was nicer to have all the flexibilty and in between tones on EQs and in many cases I still do, but there is something nice, especially when you have to get things done fast to just go *click "ahhh....all better.", and move on to the next part of the mix instead of trying to dial something in for twenty minutes or even two. Food for thought.

O