Setting Levels AD20

[Zaphod]

I use as little gain as possible. At loud shows especially, if the gain is set high it has the potential to brickwall.

I think you mean clip, not brickwall.  Nit-picky, I know...  

When you use the digital in on the JB3 doesn't it disable the meters? If so that's going to be a bitch to set right.

Nope, NJB3 meters are active regardless of mic-in/line-in/optical input.

Nit-picky? Nah, discernment is important to get information across in this medium. I didn't know of a difference in the two terms. Would you mind explaining?

Nice to know about the JB3 digital metering. I'm not sure where or who I heard it from that a digital input disables the meters.

As far as getting the channels equal....I just use my eyes and a little flashlight. But test it out at home and see how responsive the JB3 meters are to level tweeking. If it works you can just use the JB3 meters to see if your even with the gain.

Here's what I see as the difference between the two:

Clip:  going past -0- on your digital device

Brickwall:  (pulled this off of Victor Yiu's D7/D8 page)

"Brickwalling occurs when the output of your microphones is too hot for the preamp you are using (either the deck's input or an outboard mic-line amp), which results in the preamp being overloaded.

Just trying to get this sraight.

When the mic signal is too hot for the preamp, the preamp clips, then the signal the preamp is sending to the recorder then brickwalls?

Thanks for the input.

[AT853rxwh]

The brickwall as its coined is evident by the fact that the levels on the recorder wont get higher as if they are hitting a brick wall...