I would like to know how can I bypass a Mackie 8 bus preamp. What I want is to pass the signal through an external preamp (PreSonus digimax 96k), then through the mixer for some EQ or slight compression but without affecting/changing the signal from the external preamp. I assume that moving the faders on the mixer will create lots of noise because it would be like using a preamp 2 times which is unnecessary, all I want to do with the signal through the mixer is add some EQ or compress then send it to Digi 002R through any bus. In any other case where EQ or compression is not necessary it will go directly into the digi002r.

could I be right on my assumption? any advice on how to do this?

thanks a lot.