question about levels to DI guitar

[steveguitarplayer]

hi

im using a countryman type 85 into a UA twin finity preamp into
an RME fireface 400. with the gain control on the preamp, the sound is
distorted at around halfway so I have to back it off to about 3. then I have to put the output control fairly high to get a good signal into reaper. im using a musicman petrucci with an EMG 81 in the bridge and 85 in the neck.
even after setting this up, it slightly distorts if I hit the strings a little hard. im wondering if there is any problem with the slight distortion since it will be reamped to get an overdriven sound later? or should the signal be 100% clean (which I don't see possible without turning the gain down to almost
zero)? im also wondering if having the gain this low-will it affect my reamped sound later (in terms of quality or noise)?
I tried using my musicman axis (with dimarzio pickups) and it produces a cleaner signal although not 100% clean. I need to use both guitars anyway

thanks - Steve

 

[xFkx]

If the gain needs to be at 0, then it needs to be at 0.
If you're worried about clipped peaks, that is also an inherent property of emg active pickups.

oh, and there's an option for editing posts on this forum

 

[mickrich]

UA stuff is extremely sensitive to proper gain staging, in my experience.
0VU on the UA is about -14DBFS on your DAW meters. (depending on calibration of your converters)
You need to set output of your pre so the signal is hitting about -12 on your DAW meters.
Any more and you will be driving the mic pre too much.
Once recorded you can regain your recorded DI to whatever level you want.

 

[steveguitarplayer]

ok, thanks guys for the help

Steve