Mbox 3 vs Saffire Pro 14

[nyjdams]

I just got an Mbox 3 for use with PT 11 on my Mac Pro. Before this, I'd been using a Saffire Pro 14. I did a comparison test using my strat and a hollow-body with humbuckers.

I was amazed at how much louder and clearer the guitar signals were on the Mbox. Particularly with my strat, with the Saffire I'd had to wind the guitar and the interface right up near maximum to get -18 db coming in.

Plugged in the mbox and the signal was scorching, near at half volume with the pad engaged.

Has anyone else found this?

I don't think it can be the fault of the inputs on the Saffire, because I've tried all the guitar inputs on that box and they're all the same. Also, when a mic is plugged into the front combi port, it works just the same as the mbox. Neither is it the cable, I used the same cable in the test on both boxes. Both guitars were tested with all vol and tone pots at halfway, and the input gain on both boxes was halfway.

The Mbox just killed the Saffire. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this?

[albee1952]

In this case, its probably down to the input impedance. That can make a night&day difference for any guitar/bass plugged in via quarter inch inputs