Just to clarify, I don't think it is "clipping" per se. Clipping is a digitial phenomenon, and unless I am mistaken, the Church preamp does not have an A/D and the signal to the iRiver is still analog. I think the proper term for this in the analog realm is brickwalling.
Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you. I myself have dozens of recordings in the dust bins of history.