Inputs. Preamps. Etc.

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Outlaws

Outlaws

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I am getting very confused about some things.

For example. When a mic is connected to a Mackie board, you use XLR. Now a Mackie board has a switch for line ins or Mic. So if you use a Mic with another Preamp that outputs with XLR, you still use the XLR on the Mackie with the switch on Mic. Correct?

If so, then the Preamped mic signal is now entering a second preamp via the Mackie board. Correct?

So howcome when I use the XLR on my Roland with my Davisound, I am told that the Preamp in the Roland is causing the Davisound to not sound as good as it should? And don't just say its because the Roland Pre sucks. Because a $3000 preamp into a Mackie would be just as disgraceful.
 
Outlaws, you're a classic case of the guy who refuses to read the instruction manual, aren't you? :D
 
If you are refering to the Roland manual, then there is no way evern a engineer with an English degree could decifer most of that stuff.
 
Yea, but anyone with even the most rudimentary of comprehension skills should be able to tackle the Mackie manual pretty handily.

Give it a shot.
 
Ain't got a Mackie. Just using that as an example because I don't want to go to indepth on the Roland since most people are unframiliar with one.

So Mr. Chessrock,

If you would care to elaborate on how this works, I would appreciate it, as you are one of the Davi-sceptics, so you, I hope, won't just write it off as my equipment is bad, or my room sucks, and the Davisound is GOD.
 
The Roland pres must suck a lot more than Mackies.

Just fucking around over the weekend I was patching my TB-10 into the Mackie line-in for headphone monitoring and the Davisound is a knockout. Tons more headroom than the Mackie pres and measurably smoother at 35-40dB gain. None of the harshness of micing through the Mackie, either.

I think your problem is with gain-staging through the Roland.

What exactly makes you think it doesn't sound as "good" as it should, anyway?

And what mic are you running? I put a C3000 through the TB-10 and it sounds like ass, because that mic sounds like ass!

I put an NT-2 through it and it sounds like buttah............ from 3 feet away!
 
Outlaws said:
I am getting very confused about some things.

For example. When a mic is connected to a Mackie board, you use XLR. Now a Mackie board has a switch for line ins or Mic. So if you use a Mic with another Preamp that outputs with XLR, you still use the XLR on the Mackie with the switch on Mic. Correct?
Click to expand...
Wrong, you would use the line selection for a line level output like a preamp.
 
Which Mackie are we talking about? I don't remember seeing a line/mic switch on the 1604's I used to own (both CR1604 and 1604 VLZ PRO). There's a phantom switch, but no line/mic switch as I remember.
 
Outlaws said:
So Mr. Chessrock,

If you would care to elaborate on how this works, I would appreciate it, as you are one of the Davi-sceptics, so you, I hope, won't just write it off as my equipment is bad, or my room sucks, and the Davisound is GOD.
Click to expand...

Well, I am a Davisound sceptic . . . in the sense that I am basically an everything sceptic. I don't just accept that something is good or bad because someone tells me it is -- unless it's a very rare person, mind you, and there are only a handfull of those who's opinions I merely accept by default.

That said, I hope you take my criticism in the proper, intended light -- which is to help you further yourself and to get better. But to put it quite simply, the weakest link here is your brain. It needs more knowlege. :D Now don't get me wrong here; what I mean is that your knowlege is a little weak . . . your brain is probably just fine (I hope).

Balanced, line-level outputs should be feeding balanced, line-level inputs.

Your Roland, I'm assuming, has those. Wherever those (that) are (is) . . . that is where you need to be pluggin in to. If all it has is an XLR input, and there's a switch that says something like "mic / line," then I would assume that this switch would allow you to to use it as either / or. So my guess is that switching it to "LINE" would allow you plug your mic pre in to it (but don't quote me, as it's been a while since I've played with a Roland and my memory isn't the greatest :D).

. . . But there is a small catch. You need to make sure that any gain control for this input is at unity. What unity means is that it's merely passing the signal from your mic pre (Davisound) at the volume it is coming in -- without boosting or attenuating.

Usually, unity is marked in some way. Generally right in the middle, if not all the way to the left. If you don't have a manual, and Rolant tech support isn't returning your calls . . . then the best way to figure out is the old fashion method by using a test tone. Run a test tone out at 0 or -6 db or whatever, run that to the input of your Roland, and adjust your input gain untill your input meters match the output of your test-tone device. This is assuming that you have the +4 / -10 thing all sorted out. I highly doubt you'll have to resort to this, though. Someone out there has to know.

If there's a balanced, 1/4" input with no gain knob somewhere on that thing, then that is probably your simplest and best solution.

Good luck.
 
Chessrock,

My problem is that I don't have a mic/line switch. I always assumed that when the gain knob was at unity (0), it was "off".


SonicAlbert,

There is a Mic/line switch on bigger Mackie boards.
 
Outlaws said:
My problem is that I don't have a mic/line switch. I always assumed that when the gain knob was at unity (0), it was "off".
Click to expand...

Then what it sounds like you're doing is running a line-level output in to a mic-level input, which is basically going to negate any and all benefits of using an outboard mic pre.

Find out where your line-level inputs are, and plug in to that. Otherwise, you're a dipshit. :D Sorry for being so blunt, but I'm trying to help.
 
Outlaws said:
Chessrock,

My problem is that I don't have a mic/line switch. I always assumed that when the gain knob was at unity (0), it was "off".


SonicAlbert,

There is a Mic/line switch on bigger Mackie boards.
Click to expand...

Gain Unity set @ "ZERO" indicates that the incoming signal is coming straight from the source w/o gain increase or decrease or simply "as is".

Basically what chess'da'rock said!
 
Well I just read War and Peace, and the book says some thing about Mic being -55dbu and Line being +4dbu. +4dbu being when the trim knob is all the way to the left. Which would mean that simple not using the trim is bypassing the Preamp in the Roland. But I don't believe that.
 
Thank you for all the help, and my deepest apologies to RECORDING ENGINEER for even doubting the Davisound. Thought I have still yet to hear it properly......

I cannot send a TRUE line signal to my 1680 without the use of an outboard A/D converter.

I visited VSPlanet, and all is lost.
 
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