Sound Devices MIXPRE II owners: KNOW your XLR plug MIGHT BE LIKELY TO GET FIRMLY STUCK in the MIC INPUT.

[Libertinus]

My MIXPRE-6 II CAN'T HANDLE SOME / MANY XLR CABLES. And apparently I am not the only person having this problem.

It *seems* some (cheaper?) XLR cables are of substandard measurements, and/or Mixpre II is too picky, but especially those non-Neutriks get stuck insanely hard in the mic input. You can push the release tin lever till you are blue in the face, and pull the plug, but it just stays there. (And even a Neutrik can get stuck, as I'll tell you later in this post.)

I had an experienced professional audio service person remove the stuck cheapo cable with some difficulty, after I had unscrewed the cable and removed the pins at home, so that only the shell of the XLR plug remained in the Mic 1 input.

Some sort of wiggling & pulling while pushing the release tin lever finally did it. It was beyond my dexterity, but the pro got it done after perhaps 10-15 minutes of trying. It was not a matter of using force, but coordination of movements.

I have had an AKG broadcasting headset and a Beyerdynamic broadcasting headset connected without problem - those use good quality (Neutrik??) plugs. I was able to plug and unplug those plugs without problem.

* However, now I have a good quality Neutrik XLR plug stuck in the Mic 1 xlr input. Earlier I was able to plug and unplug it without problem, but now it is stuck. *

This is most annoying, as I need to be able to switch between two headsets and an xlr cable, when testing various mics and headsets.

SO I advise you to PLAN AHEAD in order to AVOID ENDING IN TROUBLE should a headset mic cable or xlr cable get stuck on your Mixpre, too.


It is needless to say I am rather spectacularly disappointed at the cr@ppy quality of such a vital part of this Sound Devices product - so I don't say it. (But you know I'm thinking about it!)

L

 

[JDL]

The Zoom F8 at least has this issue also. I'm not of the opinion that (cheaper) XLR cables are necessarily the issue. It is a severe design flaw that will not accept XLR mating connectors that are within so-called reasonable tolerances. And you're quite correct, even many "good" XLR's seem to be difficult to remove. I've found a jeweler's screwdriver can sometimes be of help, pushing into the opening next to the tab you normally push while pressing the tab in also to assist in ejecting an XLR, but mostly I find it just takes a lot of patience to remove the "offending" cable and to also take time to mark it as "not compatible". Sometimes a blunt end of a tool pressing on the tab will help, but with all of this be careful that the tab is not bent or the underlying structure abused into non-functionality.

 

[JDL]

If you're out in the field in a work situation this is a production faux-paux that you don't want to be in if you're stuck having to explain why sound isn't ready.