I agree with you that a good mic amp and the enhancer are the real answer to vocal recording, all my best sounds were achieved that way.
I started to wonder when I read about the odd distortion… the compressors just don’t distort! I have not heard of the HPF causing any distortion… the overload margin should be the same as the surrounding stages, well, it’s just an oddity.
That mic you are using is actually not one of mine, that one is a capacitor mic designed and made by ‘797’ company in China and badged ‘JoeMeek’, but never mind that, it’s a good mic with a similar performance to my earlier JM47 design. 