Hey Phriendlyguy, mutual respect will make this forum much more fun! I think he has a good point about how "hot" you run your V2. Having owned one and loved it, and talking to Mike Grace about how he would run it since I owned unit #0002 which was his original prototype unit, I can give all V2 owners this advice. Read the owner's manual where it talks about the red clipping lights!!!!!
I personally cannot imagine running the V2 to the point where the clipping lights come on. More gain equals more noise and more distortion. I have always found that the best results are yielded by keeping all resistor circuits as open as possible. However, all of us have different tastes and we should run our gear in a manner that satisfies them. Every tech person I know understands that a variable resistor used as a level control should be set on or near maximum for the best possible performance. As long as you can get enough level, a preamp on a low gain setting will sound cleaner .
Now, having said all that, I have to say the noise and distortion is so low and headroom so high in the V2 that running it as high as 40 dB is not a problem in most instances. However, I will stick to what the Mike Grace says....