[gerax]

I agree with Where, you should set your gain on the preamp (one of the most critical aspect of gain structure) and chain the compressor in the pre output, so no matter what compression is going on, your gain level in the preamp stage will always be the same, an will not change the tone; the makeup gain on the compressor will take care of slight volume losses, unless you really squash the signal; a little compression of the signal can be helpfull in that you can hit your A/D converters with a hotter yet controlled level, and take advantage of 24 BIT resolution, without overs.

L.G.