Nuuska
Enlightened Member
When I was MUCH younger I started with lot´s of questions - stupid or not - now is payback time :courage:Wow. So many questions. If there is some sort of "Audio Hookup Primer" somewhere, point me to it. I hate to ask stupid questions, but...
, so how do I know these things?
What is the definition of "High Impedance DI?" Is there a value I should look for in the specs?
Hello - when talking about passive guitar or bass as source - then high impedance in minimum 100 k-ohm - 1 M-ohm is far better - tube amp inputs are high - some transistor amps may be high - mixer line inputs are low for guitar.
What happens, when input impedance is not high enough ? As impedance comes down from high - first you hear loss of low frequencies - the lower the impedance gets, the worse the sound becomes - eventually you are left with "phone-call from Chicago". Too low input impedance also loads your output so that the level may drop.
The rule of thumb is that input impedance should be at least ten times the source impedance, that is feeding it. The more the merrier.
krysh says: "the audiobox doesn't have have a high ohm input for direct guitar signals" -- is there a spec somewhere that I can start checking to see this?
Unfortunately very few give specs out - they simply say it is great and give us your money.
Also, both the Fishman Aura and the BOSS VE8 have "volume" controls. Is this effectively a pre-amp boost? (if there is such a thing.) And if I am chaining things ... how should I put it together?
I have no experience of those you mentioned - but the MXR Microamp has gain range from 0 to +26dB - zero being unity gain = what goes in comes out at same level. So if you connect MXR and toggle it IN/OUT and you have i.e. your mixer line input next, you should hear difference between those two sounds. As mentioned before -depending on mixer input impedance vs guitar impedance, there may be level difference even at 0db setting.
And that 26dB is pre-amp boost - which you can use to whatever - i.e. compensate low sensitivity of your mixer - overdrive the next stage in your signal chain etc.
Suppose I want to go through the BOSS VE8 AND the Fishman, AND the Audiobox? (I don't know that I do... but suppose...) Are there things I should never try to chain? Is there an implied order? (I am assuming that the Aura goes first, since it literally changes the guitar sound... But is that right?) Do I turn all volume controls on the chain up to Max and then control the overall volume at the guitar?
Chaining different units is quite normal - especially with electric guitars. Basic rule to get good signal-to-noise-ratio is to put all gain-adding devices - such as preamp - overdrive/distortion box - in front to bring level up and choruses, flangers and like later. If you use volume pedal, have it last thing in the chain.
You are supposed to turn the gain up in first unit - but only to a level, that following units can take without distortion - from then on you work more or less with unity gain = 0dB
I'll try it tomorrow night. Funny thing... I have easy access to the church's system. I have no home stereo. So... I'll try it there.
Playing with church pa is safer even if you have home stereo. Home stereo speakers blow their tweeters quite easily with guitars, as it is very easy to produce exessive amount of high frequencies.
Thanks again!
You´re welcome
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