[music] Presonus Audiobox USB

People who know me might remember that I used to play the guitar. I say 'used to' because the last few years my Fender Tonemaster and Kustom amplifiers are rotting away somewhere upstairs, basically because they're too loud to get a decent sound at low volume, and because of lack of time.

So I decided to invest in a little soundcard, allowing me to play electric through my computer, using Reaper or other software.

Somehow my eyes fell on the Presonus Audiobox USB, which seemed great if you look at the features:

• full metal case, no plastic crap
• 2 Neutrik combo inputs (2 XLR and 2 jack/instrument inputs)
• USB Powered
• Midi IN & OUT
• Balanced outputs
• Phones out
• 48V Phantom power
• Separate dials per channel/phones/main

All in all nice features for the incredibly low price of 149 euros. I started looking forward to playing again without disturbing my neigbours, being able to record or even jam along with an e-drum.

However, this device seem to have one big flaw, making it almost useless: although the diagram clearly shows you can plug in a guitar, the box is designed in such a way that it applies gain even with gain levels at minimum.

This results in almost constant clipping when you strum hard or slap a bass. This is clipping on the box, not software clipping, so no matter how much you lower your volume in your software, your signal will most likely be distorted.

Searching the presonus fora learned me that I'm not alone.

People from the Presonus Support department suggest using a DI and using the XLR's instead as a workaround, but I think this is ridiculous: it really makes the two jack inputs useless.

Fortunately, Music Store has a great money back service, so I'm going for a full refund.

So be aware when you consider buying this. Even though it looks great, I think Presonus made a design (usability) mistake with this one.

So what did I learn? Once again, before you buy, never forget to do your own due diligence.