New pre signal chain question

[MikeNH]

Hi,

I just picked up a P-Solo pre and it just dawned on me that I hadn't figured out the best way to route the signal through it and the MBox2. My first thought had been to just take the XLR out of the P-Solo and route it into the Channel 1 XLR input, but the more I thought about it, the less useful I realized that'd be; as whatever sonorous bliss that the P-Solo imparted on the signal - would be muted by the MBox's pres.

So - would the correct way to do this be to take the balanced 1/4" out of the P-Solo and put it into the DI of the MBox? Would that bypass the pre?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
-Mike

[albee1952]

Don't use the XLR input of the Mbox. That would pass the audio thru 2 preamps(and likely overload the Mbox preamp). You want to run a line output from the external preamp to a line input on the Mbox(TRS input). This still doesn't totally bypass the Mbox pre, but it will bypass a gain stage(start with the Mbox GAIN knob all the way down). Whatever character the external preamp has should be retained for the most part(ultimately, let your ears tell you, not me or anyone else)

[MikeNH]

Dave,

Thanks for the reply - and the heads-up on zeroing out the MBox's input, I would have turned it down, but not all the way...

Hopefully it ends up sounding nice, or I just might have to by a new interface (but something tells me the 'boss' won't go for that...)

-Mike