After my much beloved M1 started chomping tapes last month i finally made the plunge to the future. I taped my first show this week using my new DR-1 and CSBs. I had the csbs plugged into a -20db attenuator cable and then into the mic input on the dr-1. With the dr-1 set at low gain i was peaking at probably -40 to -30db so i switched it to mid gain and was peaking at -10 or so and thats where i left it for the show. I have taped at this venue a few times before and i know the show was loud enough (metal show) to get some decent levels. The recording i did get sounds like there is some distortion on louder parts (kind of like brickwalling but not as bad as ive heard my DAT do.) and it definitely didnt sound like that in the room.
I know with my M1 i always had to use the attenuator cable at risk of brickwalling the M1's mediocre preamp. Im going to be taping a couple sets this weekend with it with my CSBs, so i can experiment a little but im not sure how loud that venue is going to be as ive never been to it. Next week im going to give my MBHO603/ka200n > beyerdynamic mv100 rig a run into the dr-1 so im curious how thats going to end up..
Should i run without the attenuator and set the gain to low with the csbs? Im guessing this is the only way im going to get decent levels out of it, but im scared of the brickwalling that my DAT always left me with in that case...