The Sony units have great preamps, no need for any external gain!
- Ambient/household recording: Mic in, high sens, level #4, plug in power on,
- Moderate shows: Mic in, low sens, level #4, plug in power on,
- Loud shows: standard (2-wire) battery box, Line in, level #10, decrease until you get right levels,
By the way, this is using Countryman B3, regular sensitivity mics, with 4.7k source resistor.
Richard