Well what do you want to record? Vocals, guitars, drums? What type of mic do you have in mind? Condenser, dynamic, ribbon?

I know you were talking about the vocal preset, so should we assume vocal?

What kind of price range are you looking at? You can go to somewhere like Sweetwater and search in a specific price range.

The mic pre in the 11R is certainly not stellar, but it ain't all that bad either. Some pres can be noisy as a farrowing house, but the factory 11R is quiet and very neutral, in my opinion.

Yes, you can run it through a rig and color it any way you want to or not and process it in your DAW. Your choice there.

I use my 11R in combination with with my 003R + (8 mic pres). But, when I have used my 11R alone as the only interface to Protools, I have a fairly inexpensive 2 channel mic pre that I like and use on the line ins, as well as the factory pre.

I have recorded acoustic guitar with my 2 channel mic pre, set very transparent, and using certain micing techniques, get good sounding stereo audio. I will also use the pup on the acoustic guitar and go into the 11R DRY and mix all three together.

As for the mic, MY vocals come across best with a dynamic mic. I use a very old (1970 vintage) Shure Unisphere. On other vocals I have a variety of mics ranging from inexpensive MXL, and AKG to medium priced Rodes.

A microphone, just like a mic pre can color what it sends to the track, so I usually advise to get something that colors the LEAST. You can usually add additional color with FX.