In many regards I agree with Terry... but only if you're keeping your track count to something reasonable and the unit you choose is somewhat clear sounding. In other words, 24 tracks of something like the Chandler "Germanium" will end up with a pretty cloudy haze on it [which might help if you're recording to Pro-sTools... but if you're storing your audio in a system that actually stores audio with a better degree of clarity and definition then it may very well be an impediment].
I grew up in the days when the mic pres on the console were the mic pres for the record... before they plethora of options became available.
I'm in like the generation one or two behind Mr. Manning's generation... we had just started to explore outside options when I was coming up... it wasn't a "staple" like it is today.
I dare say that the "console" pre-amps were a hell of a lot better then than they are now so it wasn't an unreasonable situation... and we also kept the track count way lower. I dare say that even with all the bouncing and other mayhem during the "golden era" of multi-track recording you were still talking about fewer than 20 recorded tracks... and even with all the bouncing that occured on things like 1" 4-track machines, with that format there was really minimal fidelity loss in comparison to doing bounces on things like 2" 24trk decks.
As the storage technology became cheaper and more expansive I have to say that the function began to outweigh the form... no longer were you restricted to 4 or 8 or 16 or 24 or 46 (2 for timecode) tracks... but the audio quality between each of those formats took a hit as the potential track count expanded.
In the early 80's you had things like the MCI 600 series desk come onto the market... which had "competent" sounding pre's but they weren't "Trident" or "API" or "Neev" pre's by any stretch of the imagination. They were good on percussive sounds but pretty scratchy for legato sounds... which led the studio where I worked to purchase a "Jensen Twin Servo" mic pre that at the time was built by "Boulder Electronics" [a very similar machine has been under manufacture by Mr. John Hardy for probably the last 20 or so years].
The "Boulder" pre, to this day, is probably one the five or six best sounding events I have ever experienced. It's way up there with things like the DW Fearn and the Martech MSS-10. I could definitely see making a 24+ track recording using nothing but a "Hardy Twin Servo" or a "Fearn VT-2" or a slew of "Martech MSS-10"s because they are so clear, open, opulent, and lovely... because you could stack a bazillion tracks through them that would all retain the size and depth of the original intention of the recording... but then you still have the limiting factor of A/D and D/A conversion processes that muddy the water as well.
There are pre-amps on the market that have different tones/textures available from them that can indeed add [or at least in my opinion can add... in some cases I can also see great potential for them to detract!!] to the overall texture of tone and separation or act as a congealing agent to give the product the life and depth it deserves... and then we'll run it through 6 million layers of compression, an SSL desk or mix in the box in Pro-sTools with a bazillion plug ins and turn it into the 2 dimensional crap I keep hearing on the radio... so in the end, yeah, you're probably right... but in my world [where I get to listen to music BEFORE it gets trampled by "the biznezz"], it's really nice to have the various levels of textures available to shape the overall texture of the audio to really compliment the music.
Peace.
