no, i'm pretty sure the lights on the v3 measure the levels at the a/d stage since they max out at 0 dBFS (which is the digital measurement)...i don't fully understand bricking the pre myself but if the spl coming in to the pre is very hot, the preamp circuitry can be overloaded...this is why the sony portables have problems when you run them mic-in...the pre stage overloads easily...when this is the case, if you apply too much gain, the pre overloads and you don't approach overs on the a/d, but it sounds like muffled clipping (it's really an awful sound). i think this might happen here because with the 20 db pad on the v3 engaged, he may have had to apply a lot of gain to get the levels where he wanted on the a/d...however, at peaks in the music, it was probably overloaded the pre-amp circuitry...i'm not exactly sure if this is correct, but it's my best guess.