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anonymous 26 February 2003

This is a live sound situation, but the same principles apply.

Hooked up a brand spankin' new - right outta the box - Allen & Heath GL2200 this evening. Ran the mixer output to the mains from the Mono out (XLR) of the board into the XLR input of a dbx266 (compressor) set at +4dbu and then fed the output of that into a return line down the snake and into the power amp input (XLR > 1/4" unbal - pins 2&3 tied together at 1/4" end).

Signal was weak - VERY WEAK! Took the comp out of the loop by hooking the snake return line directly to the mixer Mono out (and also tried hooking to the XLR cable plugged into the Mono out) and the signal came to life. The difference is about 180 degrees on the Mono send level pot to get the same volume - really :eek: - and, there is some distortion there too with the comp in-line.

OK - that makes absolutely no sense me whatsoever.

I first had tried running thru a graphic which was 1/4", and it did the same thing so I thought something was up with the EQ (bal vs unbal, etc.). But then I had the same deal with the compressor - so now I'm scratching my head. :confused:

The output level of the comp & the EQ were set to '0' (unity). I even tried using the 1/4" (bal) I/O of the dbx - no change. and bypassing the comp or EQ makes no difference. The comp has a switch for +4 or -10. Only difference is that when set to -10, the signal practically goes away.

Anybody see what I'm overlooking?

Thanks for the help.

Comments

RecorderMan Thu, 02/27/2003 - 07:37

Originally posted by On-Track Recording:

(XLR > 1/4" unbal - pins 2&3 tied together at 1/4" end).

You can't tie Pins 2&3 together.

Go to their Web site
http://
(or the manual) and you will find out this:
"...To connect a balanced console output to an unbalanced destination link the cold output to 0V earth at the console."

XLR's
Pin1 =Ov earth shield
Pin2 = +/ hot signal
Pin3 = -/cold

1/4 TRS jack's
Tip = +/ hot signal/left/send
Ring = -/cold/Ovu/return
Sleeve = OV earth sheild

....In other words...make yourself a barrel or short XLR cable for the that ties Pin 3 & Pin 1 together.
NEVER TIE PINS 2 & 3 TOGETHER to unbalance a balaced line. It's going to be either Pin 3 & Pin 1 together, or Pin 2 & Pin 1 together.

anonymous Thu, 02/27/2003 - 13:34

OK -

I did check the manuals when I suspected the pin 2 hot issue....the 2200 is pin 2 hot - so is the dbx 266.

I'm trying to remember about the cable from the snake to the amp. I must have tied pins 1&3 together since everything works normally when I plug the snake return directly into the console Mono out (XLR). So, my statement about tying pins 2&3 together was in error - hey, it was late after a long day... (I will check that just to be sure.)

Any more ideas...?

anonymous Mon, 03/03/2003 - 06:22

Sounds like something on the snake's return end to me .. also try the dbx and/or EQ at the other end of the hookup just before the amp. Also, what amp, and what's the config on it?
Lastly, is it possible that the mono out is out of phase? Try a line or aux out signal to check what it does against that mono xlr ....

anonymous Mon, 03/03/2003 - 09:23

Got the EQ problem fixed yesterday -

Still ran out of the Main Mono out but I used an XLR ---> 1/4" unbal transformer at the input of the EQ and a 1/4" unbal ---> XLR transformer at the output. Everything works as is supposed to.

As far as the comp. - I'm going to use it on channel inserts so I'm betting that it will work just fine. We'll see.....

Thanks for the help.

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