Got an Avalon vt737dp which work great with vocals, but wanted to know if my instrument input is not malfunctionning :

I have to put the preamp gain and the output knob to the max if i want to have a descent level of recording( like -3db digital )in Cubase from my bass ( musicman stingray ), i m running my Avalon thru an AD16X, so i may be doing sh*t about the "+4db, +10db " well i really dunno where is the prob, or it may be normal to put hte preamp gain and the output for instrument imput but i don't think so.

thx.