I get the static all the time on input 2 now, even without a cable plugged in. I should say all the time when the pre is on. I shut the pre off (line in), ran my ipod in and both channels showed nicely on the meters. The mics are fine, I switched them from channel to channel and all is good there when they're on input 1. I traced the continuity before I plugged them in, but didn't really pay attention to the difference betweenn 1 & 2, I just saw, 1:1 continuity on all of them and thought, cool, now I'll test voltage when they're plugged in.
I think with the multimeter I crossed a few pins not knowing the voltage was mixed. So I touched 1 & 2, or 2 & 3 with one of the pins, while the voltage was crossed.
What would be the effect of turning phantom on for a line in level input and running mics straight in bypassing the pre? Would be ok, but quieter?
--Ryan