M-Audio TAMPA Pro Microphone Preamp and Compressor with SPDIF Output

Feature:
Everthing you need is included (except for cables of course)

Quality:
Housing, knobs, and switches are all good for a unit in this price range

Value:
nothing touches this unit in this price range.

Sound:
I have never owned an expensive compressor or mic preamp, because they have been out of my price range. I usually rent them when I do final tracking. I was pleasantly suprised upon pluggin this thing in. No more renting Avalons or UA preamps for me. The compressor is great, and the preamp has plenty of gain. This is by far the best deal for $400, and I highly recommend for the musician on a budget. I use it as a direct box for bass, and for vocals. I use a Studio Projects C1 mic and they work great together. Recording media is Sonar with a Delta 1010 sound card, Event 20/20 monitors. As far as vocals, my style is hard rock, and go though many dynamic changes on songs. MY VOICE CAN GET LOUD. Budget line preamp/compressors squashed my vocals and were not loud enough for the softer parts. This unit solved my problem. This is the best thing for the budget minded home musician who still insists on quality.

Support:
I have not had to use support, but my support on other maudio products has been supurb. They back up their products

Feature:
Although the mic pre is very transparent and clean sounding, I bought this piece to have variable impedance for some of our mics, which works great - offering a variety of sonic signatures from the same mic. Another impressive feature is the compressor (easily worth the price of this unit alone!), which rates up there with sme of the finest I have used - transparent with no pumping when set properly.

Quality:
Very solidly built, nothing appears cheap. Connectors are all top-shelf. This piece should be kept safely in a studio rack, but I would be tempted to run it live onstage as a bass DI! Only owned it for a few months, so can't speak of long-term reliability yet. M-Audio is a great company though, and should take care of you if any problems arise.

Value:
In the under $1000 range, you would be hard-pressed to find a better value in a mic pre/comp combination (IMO).

Desirability:
Not as sexy as an Avalon - but I think it sounds better! Sexiest part about the Tampa is what's inside - the internal design of this piece really makes it sound great! (No, I don't work for them!)

Sound:
I come from a background of using Avalon's, Neve, and other great pre's. Picked this up because I was curious about the "Temporal Harmonic" feature - it's not an "effect," but rather a way of processing the signal. Anyway, it is fantastic! The sound is very pleasing to the ears, and easy to listen to.

Support:
Haven't had to use any yet.

Overall:
Actually, I'n thinking of buying another one to run stereo sources through!