focusright scarlett interface?

Agreed with vdubreeze, for that entire post. The "air" feature though just seems to be a high frequency lift which I can replicate with an EQ plugin. As for anything "next level" from the Gen 3 Focusrite Scarlett in terms of preamps: I think they're as good as I can imagine for something in that realm (not a transformer-based preamp, solid state only). They're clean sounding and have no obvious coloration that stands out. Steinberg's preamps on the other hand (I've owned a UR22 and MR816X), they do have some coloration. It's a bit less clean in a particular way. It's not worse as such either; they're perfectly good. You might say they seem "warmer" sounding, I guess. Still not like a transformer-based mic preamp though. I chose the Focusrite Gen 3 over the Steinberg because of that. I wanted something basically as clean as can be for a mic preamp, and then I'd add coloration in plugins (easy to do nowadays). Plus the Focusrite has a bit lower noise in its output; it's very quiet. The headphone amp of the Steinberg is louder, but the Gen 3 Focusrite headphone amps are ok too (I don't use them very loud, but Gen 1's headphone amp was pretty weak). I consider the Focusrite and Steinberg devices to be on the same general level. A friend of mine prefers how the preamps of the Steinberg sound, so that was his choice. There are some noticeable differences in the overall circuitry of audio devices even if they use the same converters. For instance I don't like using Behringer UMC HD devices since the output is noisy and a bit weak by comparison. It's not horrible, but given a choice I know that I prefer the other interfaces for that reason. But the mic preamps of those Behringer units sound very similar to the Steinberg preamps. Recording with it sounds great...but playback annoys me a little bit by comparison to other devices.

I think the poster would be happy with Steinberg or Focusrite. Comparing the two, it's possible someone can notice a difference, and it might lead someone to choose one over the other. The prices of the UR22 MKII and the 2i2 were so close (within a few dollars), I could allow myself to split hairs like that. If one had cost even 25% more than the other, I honestly might have just gone with the cheaper one.

And of course there are plenty of plugins that emulate classic preamps out there, many for free. About the only ones I use are SSL UA or Waves & either I got them free or bought them at a huge discount on sale (Waves Abbey Road stuff, etc.) FWIW I have a very excellent GAP 73 from the original batch, plus a vintage JoeMeek Studio Channel VC1, both of which do a great job of tarting up the original sound from my (currently) Behringer ADAT preamps. Previously Focusrite Octopre & I couldnt tell much difference. Preamp sound these days in the budget to midrange area is all very much the same. Marginal differences, but not enough to be worth obsessing over.

re gear 

the set up im using right now cost about 300 my audio chain for my guitar is a bit messed up right now im using a suresm7b to record a godin archtop through a vox amp (it records at -32db or something) for vocals i record through an austinmartin stealth mic i d/i my bases i dont actually need a pre amp per say, i just think a tube is going to even out the dynamics of strumming the accoustic and provide some compression for my gibson clone it boils down to how the different circuts handle peaks i think modern tubes probably dont add 'color' but they do distort 'enharmonically, (old ones might have a yellow or orange color??) being an archtop the guitar is supersenstive and needs to be played hard enough for the tone to 'bloom, but too hard and you wreck the tone i also play with my fingers alot which has a large dynamic range

start the story frome the start 

im a craigs list hawk; yesterday there was a pair of yamaha hs5 on for 440, in a pawn shop, so i can trade in my current speakers and get a good deal the problem is the steinberg ur12 only has rca outputs so i saw a 2 channel focusright on for 230 and it seemed like a good deal (upgrade one thing and then you upgrade everything) my problem now is theres a pair of Yamaha HS8W 8" Powered Studio Monitor (PAIR) - $600 on sale today i cant afford them but they are only 160 more

actually this is my guitar tone 

(im not saying this is the sound i was going for) godin archtop into vox amp recorded with a sure sm7b through a steinberg ur 12 recording volume -52 rms this thread is actually about me buying a new interface because i was upgrading my speakers the tangent about pre-amps was about how they handle transients not peaks the idea is like ,...every engineer i used to work with would overdrive their neve channel input gain anyway it was a subtle effect my main focus is still on improving my singing and playing but i dont know if i can pass up Yamaha HS8W 8" Powered Studio Monitor (PAIR) - $600 theyre a little on the large side though vs 440 for yamaha hs5

so i bought the hs5s which kinda sucks because the guy with the hs8s just got back in touch the hs8s wouldnt fit in my room i may have overpaid for the speakers but damn do they sound nice ironically they had anouther stienberg interface on sale so i just ended up with anouther channel + a pair of akg headphones for super cheap i feel fully upgraded, hope it helps with the music