to be honest, i haven't run the thing...i got it from jason, thought i'd want a stealth rig, and then decided i didn't care enough. it's got some bizarre gain settings, i think you can increase gain in 3 big steps, then "fine tune" in 6 db increments. you will have to use the calpots unless you use so little gain on the psp2 that you run mic-in. natelsky says the calpots are no problem.