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low volume depending on the cable


rockitman

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I have had no problems when using a quarter inch cable out of my Left (mono) and into either an amp or our band's mixer.

 

But now we just bought a snake and all inputs are XLR.   So I went to my local Guitar Center and bought a quarter inch to XLR adaptor and tried it out.   It was like I only had half the volume  as before.   So I then purchased a 20 foot cable that has quarter inch on one end and XLR on the other and that was even worse,  same volume issue but also a ton of static.   Looked at the soldering of both ends of this brand new cable and it looks fine.    Went back to using a plain old quarter inch cable straight to mixer and volume problems disappeared.

 

What is going on here?   i have a big gig tonight and we need to use the snake.   My quarter inch cable will not reach the mixer location for tonight's gig.  

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Actually I believe his problem is using a balanced XLR cable on an unbalanced TS output and input.

 

A balanced cable effectively doubles the signal when it's properly hooked up by splitting the signal between ground and signal 180% out of phase with each other.

 

Using an unbalanced adapter simply set's the secondary signal to ground level.

 

The end result is half the output level.

 

The only thing a DI box would accomplish is to maybe boost the signal level but it's nothing to do with impedance,

 

It's all about trying to feed an unbalanced output to a balanced input.

 

 

For more explanation read this link.

 

http://www.aviom.com/blog/balanced-vs-unbalanced/

 

Gary ;)

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One last thing.  A lot of XLR Female connectors on most hardware are dual connectors.  Usually you can plug in either an XLR Male connector OR directly plug a 1/4" TRS or TS connector into the center hole.

 

If the connector on your amp looks like this diagram then it should work.

 

 

 

092-045_HR_0.jpg

 

 

 

Try plugging a 1/4" TS connector in and see if it reverts to an unbalanced input with correct volume levels.

 

Gary ;)

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My powered monitor has that jack and I am fine plugging in a straight TS cable.  But that's only for my own practice. My EV monitor is my monitor that is connected to our Carvin mixer in a gig.  And with this snake now,  I have to figure out how to go from TS output to XLR input.  

 

Bought a new cable for the gig last night,  another TS to XLR cable,  and it seemed to work fine for a few minutes then the rest of the night it was half volume the rest of the way.  Very frustrating.   
 

So,  from reading everything above,   is my only solution to buy an active DI box?    I have no clue what this is.

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So,  from reading everything above,   is my only solution to buy an active DI box?    I have no clue what this is.

 

Like I said in my first reply, a DI box is going to be the way to sort this out. My  Behringer Ultra-DI DI100 is like a little Swiss Army Knife in my rig. Goes everywhere can handle just about anything. Not to $$$ either, which doesn't hurt. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

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Thanks guys.  I just bought the Behringer silver one from Amazon.    Yes!  Thankfully not a pricey piece of gear!! 

 

Most of our gigs we don't need the snake,  but I will be ready next time we do!  

 

Question,  why didn't Casio make this rig with XLR outputs?    No room?  

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  • 1 year later...

My DI box is now causing major problem.   When I plug it in to mixer or my own powered speaker it is making an awful loud hum.    My keyboard doesn't even have to be plugged into it.   Has my box gone bad?    Battery is good and strong.   Have toggled the ground switch ,  doesn't matter.     Tried different xlr cables,  doesn't matter.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

well, no replies,  so I did some digging around on the net,  and everyone says that I should get a passive di box for a keyboard,  not an active.   So I went to local Gutiar Center yesterday and bought a LIve Wire passive DI Box.    Plugged it in and it cuts my volume down over 50 percent!   Not what I want!    Going to take it back and wonder if I should try another Active DI box.   I am so lost and this Casio needs something because straight into the mixer is not working.   It will start off ok, but over time,  I lose volume.  Weird.    Thinking I may need to look for a different synth.

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  • 1 month later...

On August 28, 2015, you posted that your Behringer DI Box was "FANTASTIC" !

 

On January 12, 2017, you posted that your Behringer DI Box had a problem.

 

That's only a couple of months shy of a year and a half that you've been using it.

I would expect it to operate longer than that, but nothing lasts forever, and the

more traffic (plugging/unplugging/hauling/drops/spills/zaps) it sees, the sooner

something goes wrong.  You could have an internal active circuit that has

gone bad, or just a worn out jack.  I have seen jacks on cheap guitars,

that see a lot of use, last forever, and jacks on expensive guitars,

that see only occasional use, go bad after just a year or so.  Go figure!

Time for a new DI Box, me thinks!

 

 

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