Guitar isocab for cheapskates and amateurs.

[Steenamaroo]

PS. Can anyone advise about input pads etc? I'm thinking of you, Greg.

With the amp reasonably loud but not taking the piss, my preamps and converters are clipping.
I've got my preamp gains set to minimum and 20db pads engaged.
I could diy another pair of inline pads, but should this be necessary?

I'm using a 57 and a cheap akg dynamic an inch or two from where a grill would be, if I had a grill.
All I can do is turn the amp down or move the mics farther away, but both of those defeat the purpose, right?

 

[Greg_L]

Yeah I don't know why you'd be coming in so hot. I would assume my amps are about a thousand times louder than yours and I can easily dial my input gains to come in at a regular level with dynamic mics. I'm afraid this is one area I can't help ya with. I don't know jack shit about the electrical engineering side of things.

What pres are you using? You don't have like phantom power or something engaged do you?

 

[Btyre2013]

has anyone ever made a bluetooth/wireless isocab? was just thinking of how cool that would be, your cab could be on the other side of the flat or in a garden shed and well out of the way, if there are any inventors out there you heard it here first! ©Ben Tyreman

 

[Greg_L]

has anyone ever made a bluetooth/wireless isocab? was just thinking of how cool that would be, your cab could be on the other side of the flat or in a garden shed and well out of the way, if there are any inventors out there you heard it here first! ©Ben Tyreman

You could just use a wireless guitar setup and put the whole amp shebang out there.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Yeah I don't know why you'd be coming in so hot. I would assume my amps are about a thousand times louder than yours and I can easily dial my input gains to come in at a regular level with dynamic mics. I'm afraid this is one area I can't help ya with. I don't know jack shit about the electrical engineering side of things.

What pres are you using? You don't have like phantom power or something engaged do you?

That's pretty crazy. My preamps are very hot, to be fair but I assumed gain@0 would be the same as any other preamp.

Not to worry. I just got done modding a second input pad into them and we're getting a healthy range now.
Cheers Greg.

 

[Steenamaroo]

BTW. I'm sitting testing all this at 23:15 without annoying anyone.
The guitar sound coming out of my monitors is waaaay louder than what I can hear from the pit.

 

[Greg_L]

Awesome!

 

[jonny deep]

BTW. I'm sitting testing all this at 23:15 without annoying anyone.
The guitar sound coming out of my monitors is waaaay louder than what I can hear from the pit.

That's how I have it in my room now. You can hear the guitar coming out of the isobox a bit if you just have it on there, but I can have it coming out of my monitors or headphones at whatever volume I like, all with the amp cranked to full (at 1W!).

I'm surprised you clip the preamp even set at 0. Through an SM57 at full volume, I can have my preamp set at half way to get around -10 on my Reaper inputs. What interface/preamps are you using. Your amp is around 65W solid state, if I remember right?

 

[Steenamaroo]

I'm surprised you clip the preamp even set at 0. Through an SM57 at full volume, I can have my preamp set at half way to get around -10 on my Reaper inputs. What interface/preamps are you using. Your amp is around 65W solid state, if I remember right?

Yeah, I was surprised too. The interface is a moth 828mk2 and the preamps are custom racked ward beck console modules. They're hot!
I guess their minimum gain equates to half way up the scale on yours.

Yes, it's a 65watt solid state.

 

[ecc83]

Yeah, I was surprised too. The interface is a moth 828mk2 and the preamps are custom racked ward beck console modules. They're hot!
I guess their minimum gain equates to half way up the scale on yours.

Yes, it's a 65watt solid state.

Aha! Ward Beck was a new name on me but a few Googes later and I see it is quite prestigious gear!
Now, pre amps of that quality are surely not going to clip from a 57 even with 130dBSPL affront it IMHO.

The problem must surely be in the path from WB pre to 828 clipping the line input amps.

Dave.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Aha! Ward Beck was a new name on me but a few Googes later and I see it is quite prestigious gear!
Now, pre amps of that quality are surely not going to clip from a 57 even with 130dBSPL affront it IMHO.

The problem must surely be in the path from WB pre to 828 clipping the line input amps.

Dave.

Ha! There's a very well established online bias but, yeah, I think they have a pretty solid reputation in US/Can broadcast.

Nah, the preamps and converters clip at the same time, I'm afraid.
The front end of the preamps required no mods. They are, and always were mic modules.
That might sound like a strange thing to say but I have others that were line->mic converts.

Thinking about it, I've never been over half way on the gain knob, and I pretty much always use dynamics for vocals etc.

Here's the spec sheet on the modules, if anyone's super interested.

 

[ecc83]

Ha! There's a very well established online bias but, yeah, I think they have a pretty solid reputation in US/Can broadcast.

Nah, the preamps and converters clip at the same time, I'm afraid.
The front end of the preamps required no mods. They are, and always were mic modules.
That might sound like a strange thing to say but I have others that were line->mic converts.

Thinking about it, I've never been over half way on the gain knob, and I pretty much always use dynamics for vocals etc.

Here's the spec sheet on the modules, if anyone's super interested.

View attachment 88154

Not quite sure what you mean there Steen mate? "All clips at the same time".

On that specc' the 57 should not clip that pre amp but the clue, to me at least, is in the headroom figure, a coruscating 15.5volts rms! That is going to pk-pk above the internal supply rails of the MOTU I would think and certainly beyond its input clipping point. I shall seek out some numbers on it!

Dave.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Not quite sure what you mean there Steen mate? "All clips at the same time".

On that specc' the 57 should not clip that pre amp but the clue, to me at least, is in the headroom figure, a coruscating 15.5volts rms! That is going to pk-pk above the internal supply rails of the MOTU I would think and certainly beyond its input clipping point. I shall seek out some numbers on it!

Dave.

Thanks for taking a look.
What I mean is with a hot input signal the preamp clip LEDs light up at the same time as the converter clip leds.
It suggests to me that there isn't a problem between preamps and converter. They are both complaining in unison, you know?