Which blending preamp?

[mrrinse]

Hi,

I'm interested in getting a blending preamp. Very close to taking the plunge on a D-Tar Solstice. Contenders are:
D-TAR Solstice
K&K Quantum
Highlander PAMDI
Rane AP-13 (discontinued?)
Pendulum SPS-1
+ anything else you care to recommend.

In terms of gigging acoustics, I currently have:
McIlroy A25c with passive K&K PWM which I'm going to upgrade (unless people recomment otherwise) to the passive Trinity (i.e. add the mic, which requires 9V phantom power).
Larrivee L-05MT with I-Beam active and Fishmann Rare Earth humbucker (wired in stereo)
Larrivee LV-09 with B-Band A2.2 (XOM blender onboard, mono output; only works with mono cables and doesn't output to L on a stereo cable, bizarrely). I'm not overwhelmed by the A2.2 and am thinking of adding a Passive K&K Trinity (mic + PWM) on a separate stereo output to the guitar.

I also have a LR Baggs PARA DI (like sweepable mid and notch filter, but the eq quality itself ain't great) and an AER Compact 60 (though often this stays at home for gigs, so I can't rely on blending on the amp).

My thoughts so far:

D-TAR Solstice
Great features. Eq possibly too limited (especially the tricky mid area, which is fixed at 800Hz). Possible impedance issues when running with the K&K (10 vs 1meg ohm impedance on inputs)? Looks like the best allrounder, esp for the price (I'm likely to go S/H on this).

K&K Quantum
Less featured than the Solstice. Eq possibly too limited (especially the tricky mid area, which is fixed at 1.5kHz, though that's probably more useful than 800Hz on the Solstice). Possible impedance issues when using non-K&K equipment. More expensive than the Solstice (not seen them s/h).

I guess if I needed additonal mid eq or notch filtering, I could come out of the Quantum or Solstice and into my PARA DI (? impedance issues?) for extra tweaking.

Highlander PAMDI
Good eq section! Should power the K&K condenser mic. Not cheap. (£425/$575). No individual outs per channel (not vital, but if recording a live performance, nice to have separate outs of each pickup).

Rane AP-13 (discontinued?)

Pendulum SPS-1
Looks great (esp fully parametic eq). Presumably the best sound quality. But major issues are price (and s/h availability - can't justify new cost) and compatability with the K&K mic (which is 9v: the 48v phantom power on the SPS would probably fry it!). Maybe the solution is to get one of the above and hold out for one of these S/H, provided it's ok powering the K&K mic.

+ anything else you care to recommend.

Grateful for any comments!

[Michael T]

Here's a good choice for most of the p/u's out there. Not overly fancy but effective. It also has the 1ohm impedance rating for the K&K but with 7 bands of EQ and boost (vol) it should easily accommodate any notch or gain issues. I used my Boss GE-7 for both my T5 and K7K equipped Larris before selling the T5 & getting my Larri L05-12. Now both my instruments have the K&K & I use the XLR preamp (effective/quiet, & simple).

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Boss-GE-7-Equalizer-Pedal-100254618-i1124482.gc