Hi everyone, a few years back I had this similar problem with my original 1602 (so annoyed I went down the Firewire route way back... and now there's a 1602 USB!)

The gain setting for channel 1 needed at least an extra 30-40 percent more to match the other channels. Of course, it's a channel I use all the time. Then I snapped off (another) gain pot and the desk needed a service to fix that, so I got channel 1 fixed too without actually being told what was done.

Now it's happening again, except to two channels now - channels 1 and 4. They both need a shitload more gain to be on a par with the rest. Everything else about those channels is fine - no hiss or crackles, no issues.

It seems such an oddly consistent problem. They simply lack gain unless I really dial it up. But I'm afraid to do that in case something "fixes" itself and blows the channel out of the water.

Has anyone else had this issue? I guess the 24.0.2 or 16.4.2 has the same channel design and preamps. I live in the boondocks and freight to a service centre will cost more than the service! I want to investigate all possibilities before considering that.

Trust me, I've got a rough idea what I'm doing and I'm comparing the channels with everything flat or turned off, and disconnected from the DAW. There's no software thing happening in the background. Even if someone's dealt with this and it needed a hardware service I'd appreciate being told. Then I know what I'm dealing with.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.