Using outboard Preamp/Bypassing Mbox2 Preamp

[KennyC]

I have an Mbox 2 Pro that I use on my Mac. I have a Univ.Audio LA610 channel strip that I use as a Preamp for vocals and as a DI for bass. I am curious if there is a way to get around the Mbox2 preamp, because I can't seem to figure it out. I know the conversion sucks, and I accept that, but I still think it's kind of BS that I am forced to double my gain stages. Can anyone help me out here? Either a solution to this problem or $2000 to buy a Rosetta 200 would be great! Thanks!

[The Dougfather]

On the Mbox 2 it has 4 ins, 2 with preamps, mic/Line 1 & 2 and 2 inputs via SPDIF which require additional preamps. I assume it's the same for the Pro so SPDIF is the answer.

Cheers

[KennyC]

That's what I was hoping not to hear... I think it's insane that you cannot bypass the preamps. I suppose I'll have to deal with it until I can come up with the money for the Apogee...

[Park Seward]

Not hard to believe when you look at the cost of the unit.

[EDurney]

if you go for the Apogee mini me / Mbox 2 combination, believe me, you won`t regret it!

[KennyC]

wouldn't this pose the exact same problem though? from what i can tell, you can't bypass the preamps on the mini-me either. Sure the conversion will be better (a lot better), but the gain staging is still doubled. to me, it seems that going with something like the rosetta is the only answer. it would also give sweet d/a conversion for monitoring, and all the other nice-ities that the unit comes with. i think i am just going to deal with my problem for now and save for the rosetta 200.

[Slim Shady]

I have an Mbox 2 Pro that I use on my Mac.

The Mbox 2 Pro has the "Aux In" jacks which should be line-level only and appear as inputs 3-4 in ProTools right? From what I can tell by the documentation those aren't going through the preamps, although there does still appear to be a gain adjustment knob so there might be another preamp involved (could just be an attenuator though) - have you tried those inputs?