Looking for something cheap but useable for my very basic home set up - recording vocals, guitar and double bass.
I have my eye on a second hand Joe Meek VC3Q or an ART Pro Channel II. Alternatively an FMR RNC is on my radar if I could find a decent seperate preamp.

Any guidance or suggestions appreciated.

 

I have an Art Pro channel 2 and the real nice compressor here. Never used the Joe Meek.
The Art is nice, it can introduce a bit of noise at extreme settings (compared to a spl one which I use most of the time), but overall it is a bargain and very useable. I use it now and then for acoustic guitar and bass. The RNC is great too, but nowadays, I would not use it while tracking anymore. Why? It is good simple clean compression, nothing special, it is something you can achieve in the box very easy.

The preamp-comp(-eq) is probably better nowadays. You get more for your money. Like a Golden age Pre - RNC/RNLA (or the klarkteknik / alctron mpe 73 / midas 500 series stuff)

One cheap option that comes to my mind for a full-fledged channel strip is the presonus eureka. A friend of mine have one. It is the old transformer coupled preamp version of the presonus channel strip. It sounds decent. And you can find them pretty cheap.

 

Last edited: Jun 20, 2021

It was suggested to avoid Presonus due to the pre-amps. Is the pre-amp in the eureka better than newer models?
Looks like the auction for the ART is taking it out of my budget.

Another possibility is a 2nd hand klark teknik eqp, then saving towards a klark 76. Still leaves a gap for a preamp.

 

The eureka is pretty good. Probably better than the art. More features. I like it, everything I heard that was recorded with it sounded excellent. No complaints. My friend is raving about the preamp and the compressor of the eureka for the price.

Not sure about the Klark Teknik eqp. YouTube reviews are not very good and a lot of them are on the second hand market. ;)
The klark76 seems to be useable judging the YouTube reviews.

 

Do you mean affordable? If so, check out:
DBX 286s single channel strip

 

Last edited: Jun 20, 2021

This one might be a bit more expensive than what you are looking for, but the Drawmer MXPRO-60 is somewhat affordable, not cheap though. It's a one channel mic/line pre-amp, gate, de-esser, compressor, limiter, three band EQ and multi band saturator. Crazy amounts of features for the price! I would probably look at something like this, unless I had the cash to buy a UA LA-610 or Avalon or something.

 

When it comes to hardware gear what you spend is what you get: more quality corresponds to higher prices, there are no shortcuts whatsoever.
No, I'm sure you won't be satisfied buying a $ 299 channel strip to create your golden channel in the studio

 

I have a DBX 286s, ART Pro channel II and ART Voice Channel.

The 286s has a sound, its very cold crisp - I think its best for broadcast or like futuristic genres. The controls are minimal and most are "automatic".

The ART Pro Channel has weird gain staging that despite reading the manual several times I can't wrap my head around. (Theres essentially 3 gain knobs and a post compressor make up). It also suffers from noise issues which can be resolved by opening up cutting out one resistor.

The Voice Channel is my go to. Simple to operate with a decent assortment of controls.