mystery mic

G

gaichele

New member
I have a GLS ES-57 dynamic mic (a cheap clone of an SM57) that works just fine when I plug it into the audio interface of my home recording setup, but not at all when I plug it into my VOX mini3 portable amp. I use the same cable with it either way. The problem is not with the amp, because it works just fine when I plug a cheap old Radio Shack mic (I think -- I bought it many years ago) into it.

Any suggestions? I'd really rather use the GLS!

George
 
Taking a guess, the mic is a loZ mic, the amp input is HiZ, the old radio shack mic you have is a HiZ mic as a lot of cheap mics were. So the GLS has not got enough gain to work properly when plugged into the amp (instrument) input.
The other thing could be that are you plugging into a jack input on the amp? if so what cable are you using?

Alan.
 
Possibly that's it, could try an XLR cable with one of those $20 Low-Z XLR to Hi Z 1/4" adapters.

Interested to hear how the amp actually sounds for vocals. Could this be used as an acoustic guitar/vocal busking amp?
 
Thanks. The VOX amp has separate jacks for instrument and mic, so I'd guess it would be handy for busking. But as far as I can tell, both jacks are hi-Z (why don't they publish this data? it would help prevent buyer frustration like this). The GLS mic is lo-Z, and the cable I've been using is XLR to TRS -- I've tested both with other equipment and they work fine. I'll try one of the impedance transformers that mjbphotos mentioned, but I wonder if a preamp would also help.
 
gaichele said:
The GLS mic is lo-Z, and the cable I've been using is XLR to TRS --
Click to expand...

You should be using a XLR to TS cable, maybe the Ring part of the TRS plug is causing a no contact in the socket.

I had to find a picture of the amp before I realised it actually had a mic input, the link you posted said nothing about the amp really.

Alan.
 
gaichele said:
Thanks. The VOX amp has separate jacks for instrument and mic, so I'd guess it would be handy for busking. But as far as I can tell, both jacks are hi-Z (why don't they publish this data? it would help prevent buyer frustration like this). The GLS mic is lo-Z, and the cable I've been using is XLR to TRS -- I've tested both with other equipment and they work fine. I'll try one of the impedance transformers that mjbphotos mentioned, but I wonder if a preamp would also help.
Click to expand...

I don't think an XLR-TS cable even exists as a standard item, there are adapters for TRS to TS, but that won't help the impedance issue. Please report back when you try the Z adapter and what the sound is like from the amp.
 
I was thinking that 5" speaker won't be much good for an acoustic guitar, either, but there aren't a lot of battery powered amps out there that are any good for an acoustic.
 
I received the impedance transformer (Shure a85f) today and it did the job. It plugs into the mic input of the amp, with an XLR-XLR cable between it and the mic. The mic/amp sound great together.

I use this setup when playing my acoustic tenor ukulele (no vocals). I'm sure the output of the 3w Vox amp is no great shakes, but it helps me hold my own when I'm sitting next to my wife while she's playing her mandolin. That's basically what I want it for.

Thanks again for the help.
George
 
Mandolins are not exactly loud instruments, I'm surprised you need to amplify the uke at all, but if the amp volume is only adequate to equal a mando, thne it wouldn't do any good as a busking amp.
 
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