newbie question on mic/line in cables from mic to mixer...

[Mike_J]

Dumb ass question but here it is.
Live micing a guitar cab with a Shure SM57 into a Soundcraft Compact mixer:

Is the reason I have to crank the gain levels so high to get any decent signal because the cable running from the mic to the mixer is using a 1/4 inch jack plugging into the mixer.

Would using an XLR cable instead remedy this?

Help appreciated.
Cheers,
Mike.

 

[ido1957]

No it shouldn't make a difference XLR or 1/4" should be similar in gain. I have old Shure mics with 1/4" plugs and they work fine.

Are you using a cable with an XLR converted to 1/4" ? The converter might be screwy.

My gain is about half way up on my Alesis board with a 57 so it sounds like either your gain is weak???? or something wrong with the board or cable. Try another channel and another cable.

 

[dementedchord]

sounds like your running a low imp mic as a high impedence.... your right dumbboy move... but easily corrected... get the other cable... unless i miss read you and your using one of those transformer adapters...

 

[drossfile]

i think there are a few places where you went wrong, so hopefully this will help:

your mixer's 1/4" inputs are likely either line inputs or they're trs (balanced) mic inputs. if you're using a mic cord that has an xlr female on one end and a 1/4" male on the other end, odds are very good that the 1/4" end is a ts (unbalanced) connector.

while a balanced input will accept an unbalanced signal, you lose a lot of signal strength by using a cord that is converting your balanced mic signal into an unbalanced one (you're basically tossing half the signal into the trash by merging the negative "side" of it with the ground).

the way to tell if your 1/4" connectors are trs or ts (tip ring sleeve vs. tip sleeve) is to look at the number of stripes on the male plug. 1 stripe means ts, 2 means trs.

if your mixer has xlr inputs, the best thing to do is to simply get a standard mic cable (xlr on both ends) and use that instead. in fact, if the mixer has both an xlr and a 1/4" input on each channel, it's likely that your currently using the LINE input, which is designed to receive a much hotter (line level) signal than a mic can produce (hence the separate "mic" and "line" inputs).

so, i guess i could've just said, "yeah the xlr cable should solve it" but i don't know much, so i have to flaunt what little i do know.

good luck!

 

[Mike_J]

thanks

Thanks all for the help.

drossfile: looking at 1/4" connectors is what started wondering about the whole issue

Done then-I'll get an XLR cable and try it.

Cheers all.

 

[dementedchord]

your mixer's 1/4" inputs are likely either line inputs or they're trs (balanced) mic inputs.
good luck!

been atech along time and dont think i've ever seen a trs low impedence mic input... line level sure... trs and ts...

 

[drossfile]

been atech along time and dont think i've ever seen a trs low impedence mic input... line level sure... trs and ts...

i was thinking in terms of inputs like the ones on my akai dps12. instead of separate line and mic inputs, it only sports 1/4" balanced mono inputs and the gain knob is marked "line" at the lowest setting and "mic" at the highest. so i use a trs cord to connect my outboard preamp outputs to my daw inputs (the stock pres aren't that great) and turn the daw gain all the way down...

i wasn't suggesting that it would be a fixed low impedance mic input, but rather a variable impedance input suited to either a mic or line level...unless i'm misunderstanding something here, which is well within the realm of possibility...