>>926152Well I did some contract work for a place and they pay well, and I *really* wanted to upgrade before my travels.
For the recorder I got the Tascam DR-70D. I was skeptical (the price seemed too good to be true) but it's fucking amazing. I don't need to lug around my external preamps and phantom power anymore because the preamps in this thing are just so good. Plus with the tripod mounts on the top and bottom the whole rig is so compact now. Really chuffed over the new setup. I really don't want/need another upgrade ever at this point. Unless I want to start doing multichannel surround...
(pic is with the old mics but the new recorder)