noob q: Gain Stages in my Preamp

[dirtythermos]

Hello, I am new here. I've been reading for a few weeks and haven't found an answer to this question in the archives, so here I go.

I am taking the output of a dbx 286a pre into the channel insert on my mixer, bypassing the (awful) preamp in the mixer. The fader on the mixer is at 0db, so there should be no gain or reduction from the mixer on the way to tape.

The preamp itself has an input gain and an output gain. To get any sort of signal on the input meter (of the pre), I have to really crank the input gain. If I do that, I have to significantly lower the output gain to avoid pegging the mixer.

Which is a better method: [1] Cranking the input gain to get the signal to 0db (on the pre's input meter), and turning down the output gain, or [2] Trying to keep the output gain at 0 and setting the input gain to whatever gives a good signal to the mixer, even though it doesn't register on the preamps input meter.

When I was doing live sound, we tried to never reduce something we had added gain to (analogy about water and smaller hoses), but we didn't use preamps either.

Thanks for your help.