Signal strength help

My issue here is not so much about the legato runs themselves, more along the lines of a really, really hard pick attack after a legato run, which can clip the preamp.
 
My issue here is not so much about the legato runs themselves, more along the lines of a really, really hard pick attack after a legato run, which can clip the preamp.

Ok I get you. I'm curious to see what others will propose. I've not had this issue yet, only because I haven't recorded that kind of lick. But I would obviously have the same issue as you do.
 
My issue here is not so much about the legato runs themselves, more along the lines of a really, really hard pick attack after a legato run, which can clip the preamp.

If you're using active pickups, that shouldn't matter at all anyway. If you're using passive pickups, it might clip the DI input a little bit, but since that DI is later going to be distorted to hell and back, I highly doubt anyone will notice or care.
 
My issue here is not so much about the legato runs themselves, more along the lines of a really, really hard pick attack after a legato run, which can clip the preamp.

Just set the gain so that it doesn't clip on any hard pick attacks and you should be fine. I think you're over-thinking it a bit. High gain amp/sim will compress the legato stuff anyway. If it sounds good, it is good.