Can I use a Cloudlifter with my MKH 416?

openminded

New member
Currently, my ZOOM H6 gets WAY too noisy past the 7 notch mark on the gain dial.

Up till 1-6, it's great! But once it hits 7 and above, it gets so darn noisy it's almost unusable.

Would getting the Cloudlifter, plugging it into my MKH 416 and ZOOM H6 work? Or would it not be compatible?

Thank you for reading.
 
Is your Sennheiser MKH416 a T12 or P48 powered version?

If it is P48, you need to get phantom power to it somehow - the cloudlifter is powered by phantom power, but doesn't pass it on to the microphone. So your mic will not work. If you have a T12 mic with a separate power supply then it might work.

But really you might just need a better preamp.
 
So...... around here you're a twin triode and elsewhere a pentode. What other tube names do you go by? :D
That ef37a in red is pretty sharp looking :)
Ah! Now see...I WANTED to be ECC83 over there but their software is pretty clunky I am a PC numpty and the whole thing got cocked up and I could not be a double triode. I chose ef37a because it immediately stamps me as an audio bod and a bloody old one at that for them as knows!

Red? Where is it red? Must be your browser? Mind you, tis fitting. The valve was part of a very reliable group called the "Red E" series, used a lot in radios post WW2.

Dave.
 
Darn, it is the P48 model.

So it looks like I'll have to get a preamp for it. What's a good preamp that can do directly into my H6, with 1 or 2 channels?
 
Currently, my ZOOM H6 gets WAY too noisy past the 7 notch mark on the gain dial.

Up till 1-6, it's great! But once it hits 7 and above, it gets so darn noisy it's almost unusable.

Would getting the Cloudlifter, plugging it into my MKH 416 and ZOOM H6 work? Or would it not be compatible?

Thank you for reading.

are you using your shotgun mic correctly?

positioning is important.

turning things up past 7 makes it noisy. yes I understand your logic of the cloud lifter. as that fixes most impedance mismatches. first you have to understand that the mic has to have a stable phantom power. no less than 44.5V and no more than 52V is the voltage tolerance for that mic. Your recording device might not be able to handle the 1W load on the phantom correctly. also the termination of the balance line could be too high to satisfy the impedance termination.

now those are the variables to troubleshoot. the latter because your input z is too high to mic z is because the mic pre isn't terminated properly. place a resistor value anywhere between 200 and 600 ohm on between pins 2&3 on the mic pre side of the mic cord to troubleshoot termination problems. This sometimes will fix your issue. now if it a phantom problem there will be no change. what I would suggest in that case would be to get a proper mic pre that is used for remote applications like a sound devices mm1 or mp1.
 
"Your recording device might not be able to handle the 1W load on the phantom correctly."

I know little of shotgun mics and less about that Zoom but there is no way phantom power can supply anywhere near one watt!
The maximum spook juice can put out is into a "matched" 3k4 of about 170milliWatts.

The Sennheiser site will show what the proper loading is for that mic.

Dave.
 
"Your recording device might not be able to handle the 1W load on the phantom correctly."

I know little of shotgun mics and less about that Zoom but there is no way phantom power can supply anywhere near one watt!
The maximum spook juice can put out is into a "matched" 3k4 of about 170milliWatts.

The Sennheiser site will show what the proper loading is for that mic.

Dave.

just looked it up.

2mA x 48V = 98 mW you would need, he should be fine. usually I make my bricks to handle 10 times that (1W) for four channels.

what would be the question is if he has two of them as that would be too much for the stated 170 mW. a good rule of thumb is the nominal loading should be not more than 80% of the maximum current capacity.
 
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