Preamplifiers gainlevels

Hi
I´m trying to sort out some questions concerning the outputlevels of different preamplifiers. There´s been a lot of questions regarding the the G9:s level but no really answers. Hi or low level seems to be relative and subjective, but surley there must be some limit where you pass acceptance?
I´m recording through an EMU 1820M and those preamps gives a lot of gain and sound acctually quite good. No comparison to the G9 i´ve built (sonically) but the level of the G9 is low. An accoustic guitar, 1 sm57, 1dm distance, full gain and output and i can hardly reach the "red" when I´m recording on +4dB.
Is that really ok?  ???
cheers
//Leffe ???

use tones and measure the gain of each.  only way to know. 

A G9 has lower gain but sounds BIG. An API has massive gain and sounds punchy. And other preamps are clean with no sound at all. Depends on what you want. And what you are recording.

Depends alot on the mic you use. And what you point it at!!! And where you point it. After all that is the major link in the chain. The preamp just get's the mic to the tape or converters... But certain preamps used on certain things bring out the sound. Like API's on drums with 57's Or A U87 into a G9 or Mila for vocals etc...

And that of course depends on the singer or drummer what to use... Just an example

And remember the EMU or any digital media is just a digital tape deck. How you pipe in "Real" sound is up to you. I go analog and use mostly hardware but record digital now. I can't image the preamps on the EMU are usable for pro recording. But I haven't heard them.

no problem to record at -10 or -12 in fact it should be preferred, and gain raised once inside.

Playboss is right you should always record at -10ish using 24 bit. After you stack alot of tracks and add some plugins you will be glad you did!