Hi guys!

This is probably not so much of a Babyface specific question but perhaps someone can chime in.
I've finally received my new RME Babyface and promptly jumped into trying to silently record my Blackstar HT-5R via the FX-loop send (I know the amp has a simulated headphones out but I wanted to try using impulses on the unfiltered signal). So I connected a cable instrument<->XLR from the amp's FX-loop send to the analog XLR input of the Babyface. The amp is kept in Stand-by so the speaker is not being used but the tone still goes out through the FX-loop (the preamp tone that is).

The first thing that struck me was how low the output volume of the amp's FX-loop send is! The fx-loop on the Blackstar has a -10 / +4 db switch and even if I set it to +4 db I get a really weak signal. I need to turn up the volume on the amp's drive/clean channel way up (there is no master volume here). So I kinda turn it up half-way to avoid overcooking the amp's preamp tubes (if that ever happens.. don't feel good about having the volume set to max anyway... if someone accidentally flips the StandBy button there shall be ashes if the amp's volume is maxed out).

On the Babyface I'm forced to raise the gain on the XLR analog input by some good 10-20db (that's how much I need to raise on the clean channel before I start to get distortion, even though it's not yet reaching overload levels). On the distortion channel I get some considerable noise/hiss but I suppose that's simply how the drive channel is.. just not so obvious through the amp's poweramp/speaker

Further on in my DAW when applying the impulse I have to turn up again the output volume of the Wet processed impulse response quite a bit (another 10 db or so) to have the amp's fx-send+impulse sound as loud as complete mastered songs so that I can play along to them.

Is it normal that the amp's fx-loop level is very quiet and must be boosted quite a bit in the babyface or perhaps this is something specific to my amp only ? How can I get the best levels for recording ? Does increasing the gain on the analog inputs introduce noticeable noise if the signal was weak to begin with or is this the way to do it ? I can imagine that this situation will be similar to trying to record a pre-amp directly through the Babyface.

Thanks a lot for any hints!