Members Zeromus-X Posted January 27, 2007 Members Share Posted January 27, 2007 Our EV 24-channel board died a few nights ago, and we're borring a Mackie as a temporary fix because we had a few gigs lined up back-to-back with no time to get a new one or get this one fixed. Anyway, I'm having a huge problem with volume. The board goes into a passive DI, since our dbx crossover is XLR only, and the board is 1/4" only. The crossover splits off to our mains and our monitors poweramps. Mains are powered by a boat anchor Peavey (1.4 maybe?), which is running wide open; monitors powered by a Yamaha CP2000 running wide open. Mains are JBL JRX 1x15 tops and Peavey SP118x subs, monitors are an Avatar 2x10 and a Meyer 2x15. Anyway, with the old board we had no problems... but with this setup, we're not getting any sound from the subs really. My kick mic is as high as it'll go before it clips the board, and we've got the crossover output bumped up pretty damn high too. I stuck a dual 31 band EQ between the crossover and my monitor amp, and I've got the output level on the EQ cranked as high as it'll go, AND every single band pushed up to the top... and it's still not clipping at the EQ. It goes into the 2000w poweramp, which is cranked to full, at which point I should be sterile... but the speakers aren't even bouncing. Loud enough to hear but that's it. The mains subs are worse... the kick drum overpowers the subs at full blast. Is there something we can check on the Mackie board maybe? A pad switch hidden somewhere? It's a 16-channel rackmount board, I don't know the exact model because it's packed away in the van... I'd hazard a guess and say it's 3-4 years old. Could there be a problem going from the board to the DI to the crossover maybe? Never done it that way but that's what we were told to do since we needed to go 1/4" -> XLR. Lugging a few hundred pounds of subs sucks when the 15" bass combo amp and the kick drum can overpower them!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Not Serial Posted January 27, 2007 Members Share Posted January 27, 2007 i suspect the DI is dropping line level to mic level. i suggest you use an TRS to XLR cable instead, a CHEETER. i have a plethora of these, esp when i use a mackie into an XLR EQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boomerweps Posted January 27, 2007 Members Share Posted January 27, 2007 Depending on the model, some Mackie boards REQUIRE you to go to the mains via a sub group. So select the channel to a subgroup and then select that subgroup to the mains. This confused the hell out of us initially on a loaner once. So after routing the signal correctly (maybe left that way from before), you need to turn up the subgroups to get the proper signal level to the mains. Boomerweps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zeromus-X Posted January 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 28, 2007 Even easier... {censored}ing mono output has a small black level knob on the back of the mixer which is impossible to see in the dark. Bingo. Thanks guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Riffi Posted January 28, 2007 Members Share Posted January 28, 2007 If its a Mackie Onyx 1604 you'll find a mic/line, level switch at the rear, near the outputs. Obviously the mixer is in the mic position and need to be in the line level position in order to output +4DBU.I remember that switch can be engaged by picking it up the mixer. So its likely been pushed in during handling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 28, 2007 Members Share Posted January 28, 2007 A passive DI will drop the signal level by about 16dB or so. You really need a 1:1 isolation transformer to do this isolation and conversion properly. Additionally, you might consider a TRS to XLR cable as that will allow you to remain in the balanced line level mode throughout. If ground loop noise is a problem, try lifting the pin 1 connection on the amp, and if that doesn't work (or makes it worse) then the 1:1 transformet isolation is the best and most correct solution. I stock the 1:1 islolation units for this purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members W. M. Hellinger Posted January 28, 2007 Members Share Posted January 28, 2007 Even easier... {censored}ing mono output has a small black level knob on the back of the mixer which is impossible to see in the dark. Bingo. Thanks guys. aargh... a "got-chu knob"... I hate those. I had a "helper" for awhile who insisted on turning every knob he could find down before he powered off the equipment (even knobs that he didn't have any idea what they did... like crossover frequency knobs). Every set-up was a hide and seek exercise in finding all the turned downed knobs. I finally broke him of that habit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.