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We've got some nice pres here (Millenia, Symetrix, Great River, Manley)
but consistently run into problems of too much gain when tracking kit.
E.g. with the Millenia on its lowest settings a 451 on the bottom of
the snare clips our A/D convertor.

I'm considering two options, neither of which I know much about and
would appreciate any advice as to the merits of either:

1. Using an inline pad on the mic cable - Shure A15AS or Audio Technica
8202. Do these degrade the signal? Do they pass phantom power ok?

2. Skipping the preamps altogether and running the mics directly into
the A/D convertor. Would this work? My concerns are (i) would it be
loud enough? (ii) impedance issues? (iii) How to handle phantom power?
If we buy an inline phantom power box is this going to blow up the A/D
convertor? And does the quality of the phantom power unit affect the
sound quality? (e.g. Behringer do cheap little ones).

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks - Jon