I see your point there and thats how I do it now. I tend to record in small rooms and sometimes the levels spike into cliping on say a snare hit. I just want to have more control over the signal. I dont plan on compressing the hell out of it or anything. perhpas I just need to keep my levels lower.
Thanks,
It sounds to me like what you really need is a limiter (soft limiter).
The Apogee Mini-Me has a compressor and limiter function that can be switched in or out. I've use the limiter for soft (acoustic) music when the audience clapping is sometimes louder than the music being played. I'm not sure if any other pre-amp/AD's have that function built in.
Personally, I don't care for the idea of printing with signal enhancement live to two track.
Let us know what you end up doing.