[sunburst79]

I've had one and thought it was great for the money. As far as spending 550.00 to mod it? I'd burn the money first.

Nothing against BLA (they do good work) but IMO you would be better off buying something better that works out of the box. Something thats going to have some resale down the road. Spend 349-399.00 for a B stock D8 and put the other 350.00 or so savings in your pocket.

Nothing wrong with a ADA8000. Mine was 99.00 used worked great. Its alive and well in a Chicago HD studio. I bought a new one at 199.00 and it had a bad power switch. I sent it back and got a D8 instead. I would snag a used ADA8000 and see how you like it. If you don't like it you can probably get exactly what you paid for it out of it.

The ADA8000 and 002 pres seemed very similar to me as far as gain and noise went. The 002 was a little brighter and harsher and the ADA8000 sounded a bit fatter and smoother. Compared to the 003 and the Presonus D8 the 002 and ADA8000 sounds slightly masked or veiled. A D8 should sound better than the 002 and the ADA in my opinion and cost half the price of the modded ADA8000 and plus retain most of its retail value. I have no idea how these would compare to the Alesis however.

Just a Note.. Who's Black Labs Audio? A Google search turns up nothing. If its Black Lion Audio then as far as I can see they offer no ADA8000 mod.