Best upgrade to signal path for around £200

[RiF]

Given that the 002's preamps are not the greatest, I'd look out for a decent preamp first. If A/D conversion comes "free" with it, it could be an extra benefit. I am thinking of a used Focusrite ISA One (incl. A/D converter) or Audient Mico.

[lordedwarddark]

thank you, RiF - i've always got the sense that the 002 preamps weren't up to much! (strangely, i recall those on the 001 being better!)

Thank you for the suggestion - now that Pro Tools is an open playground, are there any budget options for getting, say, a dedicated mic pre (GAP or warm audio) and getting a separate, yet still inexpensive, A/D converter. I could always sell the 002 on the secondhand market to raise a few more funds. Any suggestions?

otherwise, the ISA one does seem sensible. A quick question tho - if i used a good budget pre with the 002, would it not still be using the pre's of the002, only not driven as hard?

(sorry, always been more of a musician than a technician - so my naivety is probably rather evident!)

[RiF]

If you don't find a reasonably priced preamp with A/D converter built-in, I'd go with the line-inputs (and conversion) from the 002. This will most likely improve your recordings the most (besides a good microphone, which is even more important). I have used the 002's converters for a long time and heard recordings done with them and they aren't the thing to blame if something sounds bad in the end. There are 1000 more reasons to be found elsewhere.

But what do I know? I am not a converter-corksniffer, I am running my Neumann U87/1073 preamps/Distressor/etc through Behringer ADA8000 converters and call it a day.

And yes, you can plug the preamp into the 002's line inputs and this will bypass the preamps. I heard somewhere that the line inputs 5-8 (the ones that are not switchable between mic and line level inputs) sound better, but I did not care.

That said, I'd stick to the 002 and buy stuff that:
1) get you around the biggest shortcomings of the 002 (preamps would be first on my list)
2) can still be used even if you change the 002 for something else later