[uncle duncan]

You might consider a Safesound P1, which is a single channel pre/compressor for vocals and bass. The pre seems to have a little dip around 6k, which has the affect of smoothing harsh mics without losing detail. It also comes with an input for monitoring your DAW and a headphone jack, so you can have zero latency monitoring of your source. The pre/comp was designed by one of the Neve guys, and lists for around $600 or so.

The thing bout 'character' preamps is, they can actually accentuate the harshness of a mic if they mess up the S's. I first noticed this on a Sytek with the Burr Brown channels. (I have since gotten much better preamps to ruin the S's of my singers, and only use the Sytek Burr Brown channels for rack toms these days.) The UA 610 could also be a good choice I suppose, as long as you watched your headroom to keep the S's from breaking up.

From what I've heard about the pres on the 002, the Safesound P1 would be a giant step up. Plus, later, when you get other pres, you can still use the SS P1 for compression. There is no other clean compressor that comes close to it for the price. At least if you get your stuff recorded clean, you can muck it up later, but if you record it dirty, you have nowhere to go but more dirtier. (Bad grammar, I know. It's a joke!)