[genericaudioperson]

Hello,

If you are sending a balanced line-level XLR signal to a mixer that
has XLR mic preamp inputs, and 1/4" line level inputs, what's the
solution?

Can you simply keep the gain very low on the XLR input and run the
cable into the mic preamp input? Or is it better to convert the XLR
to a 1/4" at the end using one of those inline tranformers and sending
the signal into the line input?

Usually the idea of a direct box is to take an unbalanced instrument
signal and balance it for a long cable run. But I'm actually looking
to do the reverse: to take a +4 XLR balanced cable run and step it
down to 1/4" instrument level at the end before going into the mixer.
Is there a direct box that works in reverse like this?

Maybe it's o.k. to simply run straight into the mic preamp and keep
the gain low. But I'm not sure if that makes feedback more of a
problem.