I like the ADA 8000 pres for a lot of things but it depends... I did a shootout a while back and posted sound samples of a distorted rock guitar, set a 57 in front of a cab and left it there, I played and recorded the same riff through the focusrite, the ada8000, an Art tps II tube pre, and then through my yamaha board then into the computer. I felt for guitars the Ada took it hands down and most seemed to agree with me But, if you have to turn the pres up a ton for quiet signals they seem a little noisy. I always run them for distorted rock guitars (loud source) but I wouldn't want to use them for vocals, or say acoustic guitar (quiet source) I also try not to use them on mission critical drums (kick/snare) or any drum track that is going to stay open throughout the song... by that I mean they are fine on toms, etc. because I slip edit the silence between hits anyway... but overheads are in the mix generally from start to finish so they never get tracked on the ADA to avoid any unnecessary hiss/static. I will eventually upgrade out of this unit, no doubt but It was a cheap way to jump in and learn how to mic a full band.