put more money into mic, or mic-pre?

Pro Audio Asylum

Pro studio recording equipment and music production/industry.

My post asking for recommendations on a good mic pre for the Rode NT1A hasn't gotten any responses, so I thought I'd try a more general question...
I'm having trouble deciding what is the right balance between how much to spend on a mic, and how much to spend on a mic-pre.
I've been looking at the Rode NT1A which is about $300CAD. The VTB1 mic-pre is only about half that much, but from what I read I'm not sure how good it would be for my vocals. The Grace Design 101 looks great, but it's about twice as much as the mic, and I suspect it would be better to spend the whole $900 on just the mic and use the mic-pre that's built into my mixer.
Does anybody have any thoughts on what the right balance is? How much should I spend on a pre for a $300 mic? Or should I just use the pre-amp in the mixer? Or should I spend more on the mic, and get something better than the Rode NT1A??
Thanks for any help!

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Topic - put more money into mic, or mic-pre? - prkaye@iqc.ca 10:41:00 05/26/05 (6)

Re: put more money into mic, or mic-pre? - tmcconnell 19:11:54 06/01/05 (0)

Re: put more money into mic, or mic-pre? - tavegia@bellsouth.net 16:12:27 05/28/05 (0)

Re: put more money into mic, or mic-pre? - elektron 11:51:45 05/26/05 (3)

Re: put more money into mic, or mic-pre? - prkaye@iqc.ca 12:01:24 05/26/05 (2)

Re: put more money into mic, or mic-pre? - oldroadie 22:55:41 05/26/05 (1)

Re: put more money into mic, or mic-pre? - CarlSD 15:36:49 06/02/05 (0)

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