Wow, didn't realize JT was coming for north america tour dates! The sucky thing is they're not coming to MA (
?) so I'd have to do some travelling to go to any of the shows (Providence or Wallingford, CT).
Regarding the preamp, I wholeheartedly agree with you, Som, it takes some time to learn how to use a preamp. I'm just now (like, last night) getting good recordings using the MixPre I bought. It's taken me several tries to get the right balance of levels and attenuation between the preamp and my Korg MR1 - and the Korg has great level meters! It'd be really hard without the level meters. However, now that I think I have it "dialed-in", I hope it's a lot easier going forward.
One thing I forgot to mention - some preamps have a floor level of gain. This means that even with the knobs turned to zero, there is still some gain being applied to the signal. This means that you could end up in a situation where the minimum signal coming out of the preamp is still too hot for the recorder even if the gain is turned to zero. For example, the older MP2 from Sound Devices had a minimum of 20db of gain applied to the signal, even with the knobs turned all the way down. I have no idea if that's the case in this situation, and I seem to remember Chris telling me his preamps don't have such a floor - they can all achieve "unity gain", a situation where the preamp is in effect passing the signal through without adding to it. You can also have "attenuation" where the preamp is actually LOWERING the strength of the signal =, in effect "de" amplifying it.
When I started out, my whole goal was minimum footprint stealthability, with a Sony D8 and Coresounds Binurals with a battery box. It's still pretty impressive how much you can accomplish with that setup - Sony used some pretty good preamps in those DAT recorders, to my untrained ear better than those in the MicroTrack OR the Korg. I then moved to the MicroTrack for the ease of full digital storage, and later for the phantom and ability to use full-sized mics (AKG391s) in an open situation. Later, I moved to the Korg in the hopes of better preamps and thus a better "single box" solution - just plug the mics into the Korg! I tried this at a Police concert, and unfortunately when using mic in (which means using the fixed gain internal preamp in the Korg), my mics overloaded the preamp, and using line in (bypassing the fixed gain internal preamp), they didn't deliver enough ooomph to properly drive the unit. So, enter the preamp.
What I found is the biggest change in the quality of my recordings and ability to handle a wide range of volumes and high-sound level (high spl) situations was the use of a quality preamp. That being said, it has been quite a learning experience since while living in a city, there's really no way to simulate a high-spl situation (without totally pissing off the neighbors, at least!!) other than at a show, so sometimes you have to just hit record and cross your fingers....
Keep asking questions, the answers are out there somewhere, and this board is an amazing resource for learning how to have fun with this hobby! I'm constantly amazed and grateful for the time many of the very well-educated (electrical engineering, sound professionals, etc.) members are willing to spend to help the rest of us improve our game.
Good luck!
Mike