I am finally getting familiar with the 248 I bought from Focker on here recently, and it has made a pretty dramatic difference in my recordings.
I have noticed that the pre (probably because it's designed for what we do, and not nature recording, I'm guessing) seems to have a pretty limited gain range, especially depending on the impedance of your mics. For example, on my -414s and Schoeps, I've found that I get a solid signal running it at 9 o'clock or at most 12 o'clock; actually, with the 414s at a recent fairly-loud club show, I had to run it at 7 o'clock and dial down the gain on my R-44.
Last night, I recorded the band Low, who are pretty quiet, but certainly amplified, running 4021>Oade>M10. To get peaks around -12dB I had to crank the Oade to nearly 3 o'clock and turn the gain on the M10 all the way to max on the knob. I assume this is because the DPAs are pretty high-impedance mics (they always require more gain than the Schoeps) and the show was pretty quiet, but again, I was surprised, as the show was not THAT quiet - certainly not as quiet as an unamplified acoustic show or something like that (more Cowboy Junkies quiet). The recording sounds great, so I'm not complaining.
In any event, I had also been told that Oade recommends running the pre fairly low, around 9 o'clock, and then cranking the gain on your deck if necessary. This makes no sense to me, since it would seem to obviate the benefits of using an HQ pre. Has anyone else heard that?
In any event, I'm loving the unit, but it being a used, handmade piece of gear, I'd love some user tips from those who have run it for a long time.