K&K Trinity with Zoom A3 as Pre Amp

[Centrestu]

I have a K&K Trinity installed in my Rosewood Gibson Hummingbird. It sounds great and the external K&K dual source pre amp supplied work fine enough for stage use. I'm playing with the idea of using a Zoom A3 to act as an all-in-one solution for ease of portability ie for tuning, effect, pre-amp etc. My concern is the 24 volts of power the mic channel supplies to the internal mic. I know the mic for the pickup is rated at 9 volts, I also know that others have successfully used pre amps that supply 18 volts. Would 24 volts be too much? Has anyone ever tried this? Any thoughts much appreciated.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by Centrestu

I have a K&K Trinity installed in my Rosewood Gibson Hummingbird. It sounds great and the external K&K dual source pre amp supplied work fine enough for stage use. I'm playing with the idea of using a Zoom A3 to act as an all-in-one solution for ease of portability ie for tuning, effect, pre-amp etc. My concern is the 24 volts of power the mic channel supplies to the internal mic. I know the mic for the pickup is rated at 9 volts, I also know that others have successfully used pre amps that supply 18 volts. Would 24 volts be too much? Has anyone ever tried this? Any thoughts much appreciated.

There are two different kinds of "phantom power". One uses three wires and the other (which is actually called T-power, bias power or A-B power) uses only two wires. Microphones that use true 3-wire phantom power have three wires. Microphones that use T-power power have two wires. Some 3-wire microphones can be used with 2-wire T-power by connecting two of the wires together.

Your internal K&K mic is 2-wire. It will not work with true phantom power without modification in the signal chain. The Zoom A3 only provides 3-wire phantom power. Therefore, it will not work with the K&K internal mic as is.



One workaround is to add a small device between the internal mic and the mic input on the Zoom A3 which converts 3-wire 48v phantom power to 2-wire 9v T-power. K&K sells one. Some additional cabling is required.

[Centrestu]

Thanks for the reply. I just stumbled upon this post which asks much the same question with a different piece of kit. The answer seems to be NO.

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=293137

It would require converting Phantom power to T-power, and 28 volts down to 9 volts. It was a pleasant fantasy while it lasted.