Extravaganza, I have heard people comment that this preamp can best preamps up to $10,000. At $9,995 for the ref 3 that's close enough. Actually I'm pretty sure there's no easily adjustable gain. I'm more thinking if you pop the top and maybe had something internal. A couple of years ago I had to take it in for warranty and the volume control was replaced. After I got it back I was lower on the dial for the same amount of volume. Maybe the difference was because the first one was defective. That's what got me thinking about adjusting the gain