preamp clipping

[electricabanana]

I am having a problem with my preamps. i have two Art Tube MP's (the $60 tubes), which have primitive peak meters.

anyways, the clip limit light goes on all the time even though the VU meter is hardly charting (at around -10). this occurs when i set the ouptut gain to unity, and then bring the input up until my signal is in the right range going to my Delta 44 (I'm shooting for transients peaking at -18/-15ish on the computers level meters.)

it doesnt sound distorted at all...although i think there might be some sort of limiter kicking in sometimes maybe....

anyeays, the light doesnt come on when i increase the output to the max and lower the input gain....but isnt this bad gain staging? (i actually dont know the first thing about gain staging so help me out if i'm doing it all wrong)

how should i set things up? should i just ignore the clip meter, or is it telling me something useful?

 

[DonF]

If the clip light is working properly (and that's a pretty big "if"), here's how I'd approach it: Bring the input level up until you see the peak indicator occasionally light up. Then use the output level to bring the signal up to the level needed by the next stage (the input of the Delta).

Even better would be to just use your ears, which are probably telling you you need better preamps.

As a side note: are you using a TRS-to-TRS cable to connect the MP to the Delta? I've found that my MP seems to sound marginally better if I don't short half of its output to ground, as happens when a TS connector (standard guitar plug) is plugged into the output jack.

Don