i want my vocals to sound as clean as possible.. the only thing the pre on the digi 002 has for me to use is that gain knob.. i was thinking about getting a pair of mercenary audio avalon mic pre's but am still sort of debating on wether or not i need one since i have the plugin inserts available to me. what do you guys use? i am basically looking for the best way to make my waveforms look a bit more even without overcompressing vocals and i dont want to do anything wrong basically..

A gain knob is all you need for clean vocals, if the preamp is clean. I have an 002, and an Avalon vt737sp. The 002 preamps are nice and clean, they sound fine. The Avalon is nice, maybe not as clean, but adds a compressor and EQ. It also cost almost as much as the 002.

That's a good point - need vs. want. I've got a 002 and I added a Mackie 1604-VLZ. So I use that for pre-amps, and then use the direct outs into the digi. So, that gives me 8 pre's... When using 8 mics, the digi inputs are my main ones, but the Mackie pre's do an excellent job for what I'm doing right now. Also, if I need to, I can do a couple group sends into the 002, so I can use more than 8 mics. It's worked well for me - I got the Mackie used for $550 and I think it was totally worth it.

i dunno.. i just want my recordings to come out as clean as possible and sorta wanna buy the right pieces of gear as i go along so that i dont have to replace something later.. i.e. i dont wanna buy something cheap now and a year from now have to buy the nicer model etc..