low signal from condenser mic at long distance

[leadghost]

Hi all, first post!

So here's the deal. I am micing up a small drum kit in my basement and routing it into a stage snake that runs up to the second floor of the house. SM57's on the snare, tom, and batter head of the bass drum. Beta SM52 is in front of the bass drum. There is a single AT2020 overhead (not the usb one). This runs into an old Sunn 2112 and out to a Delta 1010. The problem is that I get almost zero signal from the AT2020. The Sunn board has one phantom power switch...not sure how that works across 12 channels. I brought it upstairs and plugged it into the board with a 6 foot patch and it works fine, so the mic is OK. Tested another mic on the same channel with the same cables and it works too. Any ideas?

 

[witzendoz]

How good is the quality of the snake? is it a cheap one? I have found that some cheap mic cable has a too much resistance for phantom over distance.

Alan.

 

[moresound]

Check an other line on the snake with the 2020.
I don't remember the 2020 being all that hungry when it comes to phantom.
Is the suun pumping out 48V or maybe it's a bit lower?

 

[Chili]

Even if the phantom voltage is lower, it should still work. And it's not like phantom voltage has to supply any real current, so 1 channel or 12 wouldn't make a difference.

Like the others said, the snake is the most probably cause.

Ah, you might also check your other channels on the snake, too. The phantom power is probably going to all channels and if one of your dynamic mics or its cable is bad, it might be grounding the 48v. Try plugging JUST the 2020 cable into the Sunn. Unplug all the others.

 

[leadghost]

It seems that the bum snake is the culprit...which sucks. Just for kicks I'd like to test the voltage w/ my multimeter. Red lead to XLR pin 3 / black to pin 1 correct? No chance of a BBQ unless I short the leads right? Just checking. So if the voltage checks out I guess that leaves me at either replacing the snake ( sucks...not in budget hence the cheap one ) or buying two good cables and re running them. That sucks too. How about one of those phantom power supply boxes? Would it work between the snake box and the mic? Thanks for the help guys.

 

[moresound]

Just check your snake for continuety(sp) with your meter. Or open one of the plugs on the fan tail to see if it was wired balanced. Some of the real cheap ones aren't.

 

[buzzard bass]

The advice here boils down to 1 very simple statement: trouble shoot 1 thing at a a time. When checking different mics change only that, the mic, use the same cable, input on the snake etc. You can't trouble shoot 50 things at once. You can try, but you'll get nowhere fast.

 

[moresound]

The only time that I was able to trouble shot multiple factors was when I stuck a fork into a wall outlet ~ which amp got me? Answer : ALL OF THEM!