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Old 06-11-2012, 01:55 PM
oudface oudface is offline
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Default Phantom Power from mixer AND external pre-amp. Ok or super Bad?

Ive been thinking about this for quite a while now, however I dont have the technical knowledge to know for sure. When running a mic through a mixer with the phantom power turned on, is it also ok to run another mic through an external pre-amp with its own source of phantom power plugged into this same mixer. I havent tried it yet because I dont want to 'fry' anything in case it is in fact a big no no. If its perfectly fine then Im going to do it all the time, and if not then naturally I wont ever go there.
The reason Im asking is because I just picked up a Tascam DP02CF off ebay for a steal of a price with the intention of using it purely as an idea notepad. It sounds and works great but the mic pre on this totally blows for my AKG C414, so I really need to use an external pre-amp, yet for my Beyerdyanmic MC930 its all good to just plug straight in. Will the phantom power of the Tascam running the Beyerdynamic freak out together with the phantom power of the external pre-amp running the AKG?
Blowing things up is not on my immediate 'to do' list.
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Old 06-11-2012, 11:21 PM
Fran Guidry Fran Guidry is offline
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The usual connection between a preamp and mixer is line out to line in. Line inputs don't provide phantom, so there's no issue if you're doing the usual thing.

If you're doing something unusual, we'll need lots of details in order to be able to give you useful advice.

Fran
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Old 06-17-2012, 10:33 AM
DonM DonM is offline
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Fran is spot on. Just to add ..... Use the TRS balanced outs of the Preamp that you are 'patching' into your primary Preamp's Balanced 1/4" TRS inputs. In other words you should be using a male to male 1/4" TRS balanced cable (kind of looks like a 1/4" stereo headphone cable with a male on both ends) for the best connection.

-D
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Old 06-17-2012, 10:41 AM
DonM DonM is offline
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An update ...

After I re-read your initial post, I reviewed the manual of the Tascam DP02CF. The 1/4" inputs are unbalanced only. If you want to your signal path to be outboard preamp to your Tascam, you'll have to use the balanced output of the preamp into the XLR's on the Tascam - personally I don't like that route since then you are not bypassing the preamps on the Tascam.

Sorry for the confusion!!!!

Best

-Don
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Old 06-17-2012, 11:04 AM
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Doug Young Doug Young is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DonM View Post
A
After I re-read your initial post, I reviewed the manual of the Tascam DP02CF. The 1/4" inputs are unbalanced only.
That's very typical of line-in's, and should be no problem at all. We don't know what external preamp you have, but it likely also offers unbalanced outs, so just use the 1/4 inch out of the preamp to 1/4 in in on the tascam, and you're all set. Even if your preamp has balanced out, you can almost always just run it with unbalanced cables (1/4 inch plugs, standard guitar cable) intothe unbalanced Tascam line ins and be fine. (You should also be able to run XLR line outs to the unbalanced line ins, with an adaptor cable, if that's the configuratin you have) There's no point in this case of running an external preamp into the Tascam mic inputs.
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Old 06-17-2012, 02:10 PM
oudface oudface is offline
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Thanks guys, alot of spot on information that is of the utmost help indeed.
I am very appreciative!!!!!!!!!
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