Gear Overhaul- 5k Budget, help!

[lodstudios]

Ok, I need some advice on what to do. I am going to list what gear I have, what I want to be able to do and ask what I should look at getting. Any and all input is needed and appreciated.

I want to be able to record drums at my house, just need about 4 channels...nothing very in depth, I like more lo-fi sounding drums anyways. I want a very solid vocal chain that will suit most styles and can work well on acoustics as well. I don't currently have a Master Clock, other than that on my 828

Current Gear....

MACBOOK PRO
Dual 1.0 PowerMAC with 2 gigs RAM
MOTU 2408 MKII
Shure KSM32
Joe Meek VC1Q
POD PRO- Rack
Lexicon MPX100
Mach Five
Waves Ren. Bundle
Behringer Truth Monitors-Active

So, I am looking at buying the following

Apogee Big Ben
Soundelux U195
UA 1176
Sytek MPX-4Aii
2 DBX 166
2 sm57's

This would give me four pre's and five comps. and allow me to record very basic drums...now, does anyone have any suggestions for changes or different gear ideas? Anyone have any better ideas on how to spend this money? Also an FYI, I have anout 5 grand to spend and want to make the most of it. Sorry, I know this post is a long one!

Thanks!
Keith

[Jonkan]

Id ditch the big ben, and get something else. For that kind of money theres alot of things to be had that will be of much greater use to you than a master clock.

One option would be to send your motu 2408 to black lion audio for modification. 395$ and you will get a clock of comparable quality, and better ad/da than with just the big ben= better sound.

Then you can take your saved money and spend on acoustic treatment, mics, etc.

/J

[DaViDB112]

I think you could do with a couple more sm 57. Always handy to have some extra around.

[???????]

MONITORS

[slowblue]

Yeah, I'd say you could make a bigger dent hitting stuff closer to the source, maybe:
-Another KSM32 for OHs, a kick mic (RE20, ATM25), 4 57's, call that $800
-Sytek $875
-High end 2 ch. comp that could handle snare/bass/vox/guitar/buss duties (1968, Portico) $1700 (I think DOTs got a 1968 on sale in the Buy/Sell/Trade section)
-2 Channels low/mid end comps (DBX 160, RNLA, Ashly, Symetrix) $600

That puts you at around $4k

Depending on how you like your monitors I could see spending that last $1k on an upgrade there, assuming you really like the Truth's and the mixes translate well maybe get either a 1 or 2 channel pre for your 'A' channel, Great River, Purple Biz (plus rack), 1272 clone or the like.

Good luck.