Mbox 2 volume problems, clipping etc

[JayB]

I'm still having a bit of trouble with the Mbox 2 I recently bought. I made a thread not too long ago about how the Mbox 2 was recording a very weak signal when recording vocals. Today, I went to record some guitar, and the signal was so hot as to be clipping, even with the volume knob for that input at the lowest possible setting. Does anyone know what could be causing this weirdness?

 

[juarez]

If you're recording the guitar through the DI on the mbox you're probably gonna need to use the pad. Then you can play with the gain knob a bit more.

 

[JayB]

If you're recording the guitar through the DI on the mbox you're probably gonna need to use the pad. Then you can play with the gain knob a bit more.

I'm really confused by this. I see that Pad is above the DI text on the front of the unit, does that mean I need to press it in to be on Pad instead of DI? And what exactly is the difference?

 

[JayB]

So I just read up on the pad thing and apparently it's for guitars etc with active pups, which is what I have, that produce a really hot signal. So I have it engaged now, will try in a bit. Weird thing is I never needed the pup thing when using my UX2... just used the regular instrument input... but then again that had the POD controls to lower the input signal

 

[JayB]

Yep, I think this solved both my problems. I just realized pad was engaged on the vocal side, so that explains why the vox were low and the guitar was too hot. Thanks!