Can I run a preamp into phantom power

  • Thread starter Thread starter ToddW
  • Start date Start date
T

ToddW

New member
The preamp in the zoom h4n has to be pretty close to max for a dynamic mic, and that adds some noise. But to use a dynamic mic in one channel and a condenser in the other, I have to turn on phantom power to both inputs.

If I have a higher quality mono mic preamp for the dynamic mic, will running the higher quality preamp into an XLR jack with phantom power on hurt it?

Thanks,
Todd
 
I don't think it'd hurt it, but to save yourself worry, you ought to be able to take a line out from your nice preamp and plug it into the combo jacks on the Zoom. That way you're bypassing the Zoom's preamp anyway, just getting the sound of your nice one.
 
Phantom power won't hurt your dynamic. Turn off your speakers before making and breaking connections.
 
The question was whether phantom power would hurt an external preamp that he was running into the zoom's preamp. The dynamic wasn't getting enough gain from the zoom's preamps.
 
Hi The Cancers (Can I call you TC for short?)

Thank you for answering. I thought that if the combo jack was just for different plugs, so the TRS would function as a balanced input and also have phantom power, but this is from the manual.


XLR (balanced input) / standard phone
(unbalanced input) combo jack
Input impedance
(using balanced input) 1 kΩ balanced, pin 2 hot
(using unbalanced input) 480 kΩ unbalanced
Input level
(using balanced input) −10 dBm _ −42 dBm
(using unbalanced input) +2 dBm _ −32 dBm


So I'm somewhat wrong. The 1/4 " jack is lower sensitivity and not balanced. It can also accept line level input (if I set the record level at 1).

But does that mean that if I need phantom power on input 2 which has a condenser via the XLR, that the h4n won't apply that voltage to the 1/4" TRS jack of input 1? You can't turn phantom power on for only one input.

Thanks again,
Todd
 
i have the h4n and i used it to record drums in 4 track mode! the mics as overheads a condenser on the kick and an sm57 on the snare. came out great no problems.
 
It would depend on the output circuitry of the Preamp that is getting phantom power fed into it ..... Many mic preamps have output capacitors that are polarazed and if fed 48v it could reverse bias the capacitors and cause them to explode , while the 48v is current limited and probably wouldn"t blow the capacitors it would shorten there life and might cause noise ......

Cheers
 
Thanks for anwering guys.

Minion,

What about the schematic you posted? Could you run that into an XLR with phantom power?

Thanks,
Todd
 
Hi , what schematic is that ?? Ive been guilty of posting many schematics ....

:D
 
Hi , That is actually just a front end for a Mic preamp it isn"t the whole circuit .....

and since the circuit is discrete you would have to match transistors and do some tweaking to get it to work properly ....

if you are interested in building a simple high quality mic preamp take a look at the INA217 mic preamp chip , just a single chip with a dozzen external components and they sound great , the data sheet has a schematic ....


Cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top