Best but affordable Tube Preamp for vocals

I wouldn't buy something just because it has a tube in it. A cheap starved plate tube preamp like the ART or Presonus stuff is very different from say...a Groove Tubes Vipre.

The least expensive, non-starved plate, tube preamp would be the Groove Tubes Brick although it doesn't have a really tube-y sound nor does it offer a whole lot of gain.

The ART MPA Digital is not starve plate designed, and I've heard a lot of good things about it. It retails for 300$ I think.
 
I have an ART DMPA Gold in my rack. 'S about $400 new. Very nice. I have NOS Mullard 12at7s in there, and it has a nice... I guess one might call it "vintage" character- more mid-centric, warm yet still clear, nice harmonic content. This isn't a cheap muddy fuzz box by any means- it's quite clean.

Definitely more of a "character" pre compared to the built-in pres on my Saffire Pro. The variable impedance can do some fun stuff, too, especially with dynamic mics. The insert point is handy for me as well as I frequently commit the sin of printing a bit of compression on vocal tracks and bass DI.
 
The ART MPA Digital is not starve plate designed, and I've heard a lot of good things about it. It retails for 300$ I think.

the digital MPA retails for $400 - the MPA gold(i think it might be the MPA II now) is $300 - only difference is that lacks the digital outputs of the DMPA

you can also score each for a lot less than that if you look used...i got an MPA gold a while back for $200 on ebay
 
I know this thread is a little old, but if you haven't purchased a mic yet...

3 mics under $200 that I've heard good results from are:
AT3035
MXL V67
Mercenary SM57 (Tab-Funkenewrks)

I wouldn't spend the money on the pre-amp, as stated before the mic will give you better results for the money.
 
For budget Pre's I have used an ART MPA (which I believe is a starved plate design BTW, but I could be mistaken) Studio Projects VTB-1, which for metal vocals sounds very similar to the ART MPA, but I think the character of the VTB-1 is the ticket for screamers, it just does something different to the vocals, maybe it's a subtle distortion that I'm hearing, but it's definitely warm. I have also used M-audio DMP3 which is not good for vox. I have also used Firepod Pre's which were alright as well. For high end pre's I have used API, Great River, A-designs P1, Silver, and blue, also Purple Biz, Avalon 737, and my fav at this point in time is an SM7b going through the Great River (which has a nice grittyness) and then into an LA-2A. I have also tried and compared a SM7b against a Heil PR40, and they can both do the trick, just depends on the singer.