TC Helicon Play Acoustic noob question

[crnazz]

Just ordered one of these and it's on the way.
As I do more research on it, now I'm wondering if it can be used plugged into an acoustic guitar amp (Ultrasound Pro 100). This amp has a XLR input for the mic... but it just has a regular guitar cable input for the guitar...
The outputs for the guitar and mic on the back of the Play Acoustic are both XLR ...
So... how can I use my guitar cable going into my acoustic amp? Do I need some sort of adapter?

Thanks.. and sorry for my ignorance.

[lkingston]

This is one of the reasons I went with the Boss VE-8 instead. The VE-8 has two 1/4" and two XLR outs. These are all independently configurable with very practical options. For instance, you can send guitar in mono through one of the 1/4" outputs, vocal through one XLR and guitar through the other. This would be a typical PA setup where you wanted guitar in your amp, vocals in the house and a balk facing monitor, and to send a guitar feed to the house PA. I have a Roland Street Cube EX with Jensen speakers. My favorite configuration is a stereo mix of guitar and vocals with reverb to that amp over the 1/4" outs, while using one XLR for vocal PA feed and the other for guitar, both with reverb disabled but other effects on. This keeps both me and the soundman happy. I also use this setup for videos, monitoring the guitar and vocals in stereo with reverb while recording guitar and vocals with no reverb in the camera. For self run PA applications though the Play Acoustic would be fine. Many here seem to prefer it.


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[Nick84]

That's the only big thing TC Helicon left out of the design imo! Huge oversight.

Can you get TRS cables XLR to 1/4?

[lkingston]

For your application, just feed both into the mic channel. If you really want to separate them, just use an XLR to 1/4" adapter cable to the guitar channel. It will work great even though I really don't see the advantage to mixing in the Play Acoustic.


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[crnazz]

Originally Posted by lkingston

For your application, just feed both into the mic channel. If you really want to separate them, just use an XLR to 1/4" adapter cable to the guitar channel. It will work great even though I really don't see the advantage to mixing in the Play Acoustic.


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Thanks for all the feedback!

So would I need some sort of splitter adapter to put both the guitar and Mike into the mic input?

[lkingston]

No, there is a mono option that will give you a mono mix of the guitar and vocal out of one XLR output.


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[crnazz]

Originally Posted by lkingston

No, there is a mono option that will give you a mono mix of the guitar and vocal out of one XLR output.


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Good to know! I will look at that option when I receive it.

[Marty C]

Might be good to go to the TC website and download the manual to get familiar with the settings. Taken from manual:

Output parameter
Use the Output parameter to set how signals are sent over the XLR outputs of Play Acoustic.

Vocal/Guitar (DI) setting
With the Vocal/Guitar (DI) setting, vocal (and Aux) signals are sent over one XLR connector, and guitar signals over the other. (In your case you will need an xlr to 1/4" adapter http://www.guitarcenter.com/Livewire...C-adType%5EPLA)

Stereo setting
With the Stereo setting, a stereo mix of Vocal, Guitar and Aux signals is sent over both XLR outputs.
Mono setting
► All effected Vocal and Guitar sounds are sent via the left XLR output.
► Dry vocals (with Tone and pitch correction, if you have set the Pitch Cor Amt parameter on the Input page to a value other than zero) are sent via the right XLR output.

Mono setting
► All effected Vocal and Guitar sounds are sent via the left XLR output.
► Dry vocals (with Tone and pitch correction, if you have set the Pitch Cor Amt parameter on the Input page to a value other than zero) are sent via the right XLR output. (Only need one cable to mic in on the amp)

Hope this helps.

[crnazz]

Thanks Marty. That does help. I read through the manual online but didn't really appreciate those details ....

[fuman]

I got an XLR to 1/4" cable for my Taylor because they recommend using a balanced line. You can get one of those -- not outrageously expensive. One benefit of using a balanced line out is you can run it longer without the signal degrading, so you might find this useful in some venues if you buy a longer cable.