balanced mic chord into snake...

[SolomonsRequest]

Hi! buying a snake that only has 1/4". Do you recommend using an adapter to convert mic XLR to 1/4" into the snake? IF not, WHY? thank you much!

Peace, S/R

 

[littledog]

Hi! buying a snake that only has 1/4". Do you recommend using an adapter to convert mic XLR to 1/4" into the snake? IF not, WHY? thank you much!

Peace, S/R

That will work, but only if the 1/4" connectors are TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve). The way to tell is there should be a narrow ring (usually but not always black) about 2/3 of the way up the shaft (towards the tip) of the connector. A Tip-Ring jack, on the other hand, will have a smooth unmarked shaft until it reaches the indentation right before the tip.

The reason why it is important is that an XLR mic cable is balanced and requires three conductors within the cable, which the TRS jack supplies. A Tip-Ring is only two conductors, which will unbalance the signal, and also, I believe, prevent phantom power from reaching the mic.

 

[Roel]

very correct!!

So, make sure that it's balanced (thus: TRS connections; you need 3 wires for every channel), or you will loose signal quality and you won't be able to use phantom power!!!

 

[Wil Davis]

Re: Re: balanced mic chord into snake...

That will work, but only if the 1/4" connectors are TRS (Tip-Ring-Sleeve). The way to tell is there should be a narrow ring (usually but not always black) about 2/3 of the way up the shaft (towards the tip) of the connector. A Tip-Ring jack, on the other hand, will have a smooth unmarked shaft until it reaches the indentation right before the tip.

The reason why it is important is that an XLR mic cable is balanced and requires three conductors within the cable, which the TRS jack supplies. A Tip-Ring is only two conductors, which will unbalance the signal, and also, I believe, prevent phantom power from reaching the mic.

Some of the shorter snakes use Tip-Sleeve (TS) 1/4" connectors, and these are often used for as short line-level unbalanced patch cables. They can be used with balanced inputs but only using the appropriate transformer (XLR balanced --> 1/4" unbalanced), which sounds like what you might need.

So the question I have is how long is your snake? ("...that's a rather personal question, sir...") (!!!) Un-balanced lines are OK up to about 15 or 20 feet, provided the signal is at line-level (ie. NOT at mic levels) - so I'm wondering if your snake is more than 20 feet or so, the chances are that it IS balanced (see KleinHund's comments above...), but if it's a shorty, or if it's an un-balanced longy (made for line-levels), then I'm wondering if you have the right snake for the job...

er, I hope this makes sense...

- Wil

PS: good point re. phantomic-powerage, though...

 

[SolomonsRequest]

thanks so much guys, actually, I didnt make the purchase yet and dont think I will. The snake is 100', so I'm going to make sure I just buy one with xlr's. that settles it! take care, S/R