patchbay problem

Pony!

New member
Ahoy, Sorry for the length of this but I'm totally new to patchbays.

I just started putting together my first series of outboard gear and decided it was time for a patchbay. I bought a few just so I could pick between them because they each had different features. I have a tasca, a furman, 2 behringer px2000's, and a HOSA xlr patch. So, I'm wiring in open mode on the behringer's and I'm not getting signals out of my preamps. So, I decide I must not understand how to properly wire a patch...

I take apart my rack to track down my idiocy and wire things without the snakes I put in the back of my racks just using some spare balanced cables. I'm now getting signal into the snake to my mixer. But, the sound isn't all that full. So, then I plug the pre's directly in the mixer snake and I'm getting a full and nice sound... I've tried every combination of balance/unbalanced/ quarter inch and xlr cables I can think of and every time I get a thin sound when i go through any of the patchbays.

Could this be due to poor internal wiring on the patches? Should I buy better patchbays? If so, what should I buy?
 
Ahoy, Sorry for the length of this but I'm totally new to patchbays.

I just started putting together my first series of outboard gear and decided it was time for a patchbay. I bought a few just so I could pick between them because they each had different features. I have a tasca, a furman, 2 behringer px2000's, and a HOSA xlr patch. So, I'm wiring in open mode on the behringer's and I'm not getting signals out of my preamps. So, I decide I must not understand how to properly wire a patch...

I take apart my rack to track down my idiocy and wire things without the snakes I put in the back of my racks just using some spare balanced cables. I'm now getting signal into the snake to my mixer. But, the sound isn't all that full. So, then I plug the pre's directly in the mixer snake and I'm getting a full and nice sound... I've tried every combination of balance/unbalanced/ quarter inch and xlr cables I can think of and every time I get a thin sound when i go through any of the patchbays.

Could this be due to poor internal wiring on the patches? Should I buy better patchbays? If so, what should I buy?

There's just too many possible causes from what you've posted above... the least likely being five patch bays... Isolate your description to one patch using balanced cables... and I wouldn't recommend patching your mics through a bay... (unless you dedicate an XLR panel explicitly for this purpose, just a straight through)
 
I have an xlr patchbay I'm using to patch the mics through to the preamps. I took a balanced 1/4" snake out of the back of the mic's into a neutrik stage snake and then into the mixer. Everything sounds fine. Then, when I add a patchbay into the mix things get weird.

I only wire the outputs of the pre's and the line in's of the pre's into the patch bay. I keep the xlr/mic in's wired to the xlr patch. The signal... as soon as it goes through any of the patches gets weaker and less full.

So, for now I'm keeping the snake in the back not wired into a patchbay but run directly into the neutrik snake. The problem here is that I have a second rack of compressors that I wanted to wire into another patchbay and then patch the two together when I need a compressor.
 
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I have an xlr patchbay I'm using to patch the mics through to the preamps. I took a balanced 1/4" snake out of the back of the mic's into a neutrik stage snake and then into the mixer. Everything sounds fine. Then, when I add a patchbay into the mix things get weird.

I only wire the outputs of the pre's and the line in's of the pre's into the patch bay. I keep the xlr/mic in's wired to the xlr patch. The signal... as soon as it goes through any of the patches gets weaker and less full.

So, for now I'm keeping the snake in the back not wired into a patchbay but run directly into the neutrik snake. The problem here is that I have a second rack of compressors that I wanted to wire into another patchbay and then patch the two together when I need a compressor.
Whoa Pony... steady now.

Is the patch bay balanced?

Route it like this:
  • Mic into XLR patch
  • Output of xlr patch into XLR input on Preamp
  • TRS output of preamp to TRS input of second patch (normalled)
  • TRS Patch output to line in on mixer

Try that to start
 
Ok, so I tested everything. I also got another patchbay one that's balanced in open mode but unbalanced in every other mode. I think my problem is based on running balanced signals into an unbalanced patchbay. I need a recommendation. I would like a switchable patchbay that's fully balanced in all modes can anyone recommend one that isn't insanely expensive?
 
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