Steelhead as a preamp?

We tried to eliminate the preamp and use the Steelhead alone as a preamp. However, the Steelhead alone sounded soft and not very dynamic so we now use the Steelhead as a phono stage only.

..just another thought ....Steelhead is a single ended component, and doesn't do well in a balanced circuit.

I had the Steelhead running directly into a pair of Tenor 300 amps. I much preferred the direct run. Much more transparency. Don't agree that it sounds less dynamic. I think it sounds less hyped. Much easier to hear the micro-dynamics. One other thing you might try: even though you may have a moving coil cartridge, use the moving magent output. I spent a full day going back and forth and it is quite clear that the moving magnet output is much more transparent - no contest. Initially, the sound seems a bit thread-bare, but after you get used to it, you realize, what you are missing is just the coloration. The sound is much more natural. The higher the output of the cartridge, the better, but I used the Dynavector DVX-1s. Occaisionally, I would turn up the gain, but tried to avoid it because of the added noise. In any case, I would give it a real try and see if you like it.