Is my preamp useless?

Mr. Pass must in fact believe his best effort active preamps sound best. He must believe that. He is charging 10 of thousands for his best preamp effort and he advertises it as the best.

Integrity is also important here. I assume he has integrity and actually believes his mega dollar designs are his best sonic effort. If he felt a passive was best, surely he would spend as much time, money and effort designing a SOTA passive.

An active preamp is no more needed than a fine meal at an upscale restaurant. A simple piece of toast and an apple will take care of ones hunger without the need for an elaborate culinary effort. Sure, a passive is all that is needed. We get it. Gain blah, blah.....

I want to experience a delicious sonic event and I know this is extravagant. I know my active preamp is elaborate and beyond what is needed to play good music. But, I want to indulge and experience something beyond what is merely needed.

Mr. Pass is an electronics Master Chef and I have to believe he and many other audio Master Chefs design with a passion for the best. Master Chefs don't create merely for profit, no they create to deliver an unforgettable experience.

I do not believe companies and individuals making top dollar active preamps are doing so knowing that a $500 passive is just as good and all that is needed. Nor do they do it to just make money.

Integrity is at play here. What about the ads and sales materials these individuals and companies put out saying it is the best sounding and their best effort. Are they also now lying? Integrity. No, I don't really think so.
I think they have genuine passion and creativity for their products and the experiences they deliver to us.

"The OP has way too much gain as he has to lower the PSA volume (which could then be bit stripping), but is also in the negative volume on the BAT volume, which means it's not pre-amplifying but de-amplifying, which a total waste of source signal strength. It's like putting attenuators networks on a MC cartridge and then having to amplifying again, noise and all."

The BAT preamp lets you adjust gain for each input separately, as well as globally. So if you have a source with high gain that doesn't allow the volume to go positive, all you have to do is lower the gain on that one input the source is connected to.

It's not really accurate to draw a conclusion about whether Nelson Pass thinks active preamps are the best solution for most systems just because the company with his name offers that type of product. At one point point Pass Labs offered an active loudspeaker, but now they only offer passive loudspeakers. Does that mean he really thinks passive designs are superior, or is it a reflection of marketplace realties? I don't know and only Mr. Pass and his cohorts can truly respond. Integrity can be expressed by making a high quality product that people want to buy. If you look at the vast number of products Mr. Pass has been associated with it's apparent that he is very flexible at doing that.

The point is he and his company advertise these SOTA preamps as best, the point is not that he makes them.