Mic/cable issues..please help!!

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:11 pm

hey guys, im new here and was having problems w/ a mic i just bought... its a nady sp1 mic that i got w/ the nady sp1 mic/stand package from musician's friend-- to test it out, i plugged it in to the Planet Waves XLR to 1/4 adapter and put that into the line in of my Crate amp... we have another mic from a karaoke machine that seems to work fine w/ the amp (it has a 1/4" plug instead of XLR).. first time i sent it back to musician's friend i figured it was either the mic or the cable (unfortunately dont have another cable to test out with), but i had to send the whole package back since they both came together .. i figured it wasnt the adapter, and before i thought about sending anything back again, i wanted to see if im doing something wrong since i seems unlikely to get 2 bad mics/cables in a row.. anyone have any ideas? ..id really appreciate it..thanks

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:55 pm

1: You don't mention what the problem is.

2: It's a $20.00 mic/stand/cable combination. You can't expect much. You're probably spending more money on shipping than the actual product is worth.

If the stand is anywhere near reasonable then be thankful you got something of value out of it.

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:09 pm

oh sorry about that!..the problem is that there's absolutely no response from the mic ...i realize its 20 bucks, but from the reviews it seemed as if a bunch of other ppl at least had it working

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:07 pm

Are you in Europe? It may be a question of the wiring. In North America pin 3 is hot, pin one ground whereas I believe pin 1(?) is hot. I may have my own signals crossed here.

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:26 pm

Pin 1 shield/ground/0volts
Pin 2 hot
Pin 3 cold

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:48 pm

the XLR cable can only go into the adapter one way, and i just made sure that they were lined up correctly.. im in North America btw..maybe i should just take it to a local guitar center or music shop and see if they'll test out the mic for me..

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:00 pm

Kev wrote:

Pin 1 shield/ground/0volts
Pin 2 hot
Pin 3 cold

Thanks for the clarification.

RHF: it wasn't a matter of the plug I was talking about but the internal wiring. Say if the Mic were destined for the UK it would be wired differently than if it were destined for US AFAIK. At any rate, I think it's definitely the mic. If you know the cable works, it's the mic for sure but I have to say, you're probably not much better off with that mic than one from Radio Slack.

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 5:25 pm

hueseph is right here

you need to know what you have
open the connectors to confirm
this goes for adapters too
1/4 inch plugs can be 2 connections (mono) or 3 connections (stereo)

if the cable has 2 conductors and a shield
leave the shield free
or tie the cold to the shield
or leave the cold free

a transformer coupled unit will not work with the cold flapping free
so some adapters will not work here

each , method can work and depends on the gear and the methods internal to each piece of gear

the point is
KNOW your gear

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:24 am

radi0headfan wrote:

-- to test it out, i plugged it in to the Planet Waves XLR to 1/4 adapter and put that into the line in of my Crate amp...

Two things. Is that adapter an XLR to TRS, or an XLR to TS? If it is a TRS, could one of the pins not be connecting on a 1/4" jack?

You plugged into a "LINE IN" on a Crate amp? Or, did you plug into an instrument input? It makes a world of difference. Get your terminology and connections straight, and let us know.

Kapt.Krunch

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:37 am

Uh...
Is the problem not as simple as plugging the mic into a "Line input?"

It seems pretty simple to me -
A dynamic mic with very low output fed into a line input...

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:41 am

DOH! roflmao. That's funny. How did I miss that. Wait.....yeah that's about par for the course for me. lol.

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:29 am

Cucco wrote:

Uh...
Is the problem not as simple as plugging the mic into a "Line input?"

It seems pretty simple to me -
A dynamic mic with very low output fed into a line input...

that makes sense, however, i have had a Shure 58 mic with a diff. cable/adapter work in my Crate amp, so i didnt think the Nady mic was all too different...also, the karaoke mic worked...its the second one that musician's friend sent me, so i just wanted to check before sending it back

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:30 am

hueseph wrote:

DOH! roflmao. That's funny. How did I miss that. Wait.....yeah that's about par for the course for me. lol.

i have had a mic work w/ the exact same setup work with this amp...i was just wanting to test it out and mess around with it

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:33 am

hueseph wrote:

Kev wrote:

Pin 1 shield/ground/0volts
Pin 2 hot
Pin 3 cold

Thanks for the clarification.

RHF: it wasn't a matter of the plug I was talking about but the internal wiring. Say if the Mic were destined for the UK it would be wired differently than if it were destined for US AFAIK. At any rate, I think it's definitely the mic. If you know the cable works, it's the mic for sure but I have to say, you're probably not much better off with that mic than one from Radio Slack.

yea the cable might very well be faulty for the second time.. the musician's gear cables they send with the package have been known to be faulty... i figured after sendign it back once, everything would work second try

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:46 am

Kapt.Krunch wrote:

radi0headfan wrote:

-- to test it out, i plugged it in to the Planet Waves XLR to 1/4 adapter and put that into the line in of my Crate amp...

Two things. Is that adapter an XLR to TRS, or an XLR to TS? If it is a TRS, could one of the pins not be connecting on a 1/4" jack?

You plugged into a "LINE IN" on a Crate amp? Or, did you plug into an instrument input? It makes a world of difference. Get your terminology and connections straight, and let us know.

Kapt.Krunch

ahh, i think what you said may be why its not working... here's the adapter i got:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Planet-Waves-XLR14-Adapter?sku=335209

and its going into the "line in" of the amp...only reason i tested it out on this is b/c it worked w/ the Shure mic about a year ago.. sorry, i still need to get up to speed on a lot of the terminology-- kind of a newbie to all this

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