Presonus TubePre - Unnaturally High Output?

W

Whale Bone

New member
Has anyone had a problem with the Presonus TubePre's output (XLR) being too high? I use it regularly on two different Allen & Heath boards (don't know the models) and the output is very high with my bass and prohibitively high for my guitar. In both cases, the board op's say they're using the pad (I'm guessing -20dB). At home (where I rarely have it) I can connect it to my computer without any particular difficulty. I'm connecting via the 1/4" input, on which the pad on the preamp has no effect.

Thanks for any input.
 
Yeah- you are plugging a line-level out from your preamp to an input that is expecting a mic signal, which is a much lower level. If you plug into a mixer, use a line input.
 
Thanks for the replies. What boingoman says seems to make sense. I am connecting to the mic input on the boards (XLR), but in looking at A&H boards on line, it looks like the "line" input is directly the XLR jack and you're supposed to use the pad, which I now think is 30dB, to handle line signals.

So I'm still confused. I also realized that when I connected it to my computer, it was via the unbalanced, not the balanced, out as I'm doing with these boards.

I sent Presonus a note asking if I should expect this to be the case. I guess what I need to do is get my hands on another one to compare the output levels.
 
If you are plugging into an XLR jack on a mixer there is a about 99.99% chance it is looking for a mic signal, which is a tiny fraction of what is coming out of any line level on a preamp. If there is no line in, use a Send/return "Y" cable and plug into the return for that channel.
 
I would agree, but I've since looked over the Presonus specs/features and they are saying how useful it is as a DI also. I've sent Presonus a note and received no reply...

I just picked up some jacks and I'm going to make an adapter from XLR to 1/4" TRS and try the line input on the board for chucks. Though, if the diagrams in the Allen & Heath info and on the board itself are correct, then it shouldn't make a difference - perhaps they've simplified the drawing, but they show both inputs connecting to each other before the -30dB pad and before the preamp.
 
Are these combo XLR/TRS inputs? If they are, it is likely that only the TRS input will be line and the XLR input will be a mic input. Otherwise you can do what Amra has suggested and use the channel return.
 
While I can't count the number of times I asked the sound guy at the one place if he had the pad switched on, to which he replied, 'yes,' it turns out he hadn't. I had to go to the board myself and finally confirm this.

Though, I do think the inputs are ganged together before the preamp because in addition to the diagrams I saw, the pad button is labeled 'Pad (line)', and because switching it to line worked on the XLR input. I had made an XLR to TRS adapter in case it toggled between the two, but didn't bother using it.

Everything is fine and the gain is at a reasonable level and he's no longer cutting all bands of the EQ to reduce extra volume... It blows my mind that he never even tried the pad button.

The strange thing is that this likely means the other guy at the other club is making the same mistake. I'll find out tomorrow.

Thanks, everyone for your input. Sorry I didn't check the console myself before posting.
 
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