Roland KC-550 hott output...

[Musicman222]

Please forgive me for posting this in a Korg forum, but in the past this site has been EXTREMEly helpful (forgive the TEX pun...hahaha).

I'm playing a TEX and an Electro 3 thru my Roland KC-550 keyboard amp. It has 4 channels, all of which are stereo, and output options. It has 1/4" L and R output as well as 2 XLR outputs (1 L, the other R). My problem is that when I connect to most sound systems, they say that my signal is too hot out of the XLRs. I have my channels turned below 50% or 12:00. and my master volume set accordingly. Sound guys are saying that they have the gain turned all the way down on both my channels on the board, and I'm still almost (if not already) peaking. I called the Roland help desk and they said the XLR outputs are "line level"...which sounded dumb to me, but ok. And the suggestion was to buy 2 direct boxes with a 20db pad. I'm sorry, but the point of getting on the amp was to have that built in.

What can I do? Any suggestions???

[xmlguy]

What should you do? Get better qualified soundmen that know what they're doing instead of the ones who don't know the difference between a line level signal and a mic level signal. A good soundman will prefer a line level signal because it will result in less noise by hooking it to a line level input on the mixer. But they don't know that and are treating the line level signal as if it's a mic level signal by hooking it to a mic level input. They should use a balun adapter to convert the XLR balanced line level cable jack to a 1/4" line input. That would be the best option. If you can't educate the soundmen about how to do their job properly, then you can accomodate their disability by sending them a mic level signal over the XLR balanced snake channel, or see if there's already some 1/4" balanced or unbalanced channels on the snake that are already properly connected to line inputs on the mixer. You can use some direct boxes to convert the XLR line level to whatever you have available. It's preferable to avoid using a pad switch because doing so will add noise to the signal when it get boosted upstream in the mixer, but if your soundmen are profoundly technically challenged, then the pad may be a last resort to help them get your nice, hot output to work around their limited abilities to know how to use it. Using a direct box is a good idea anyways, since it protects your gear when a soundman improperly sends phantom power to gear that's not a condenser mic, such as your line output amp or keyboards.

If you post exactly which mixer they use and what the snake/cable/jack configuration they have, I could tell you exactly how it needs to be connected to work best. A lot of cheap mixers (read Behringer) have only mic-level balanced XLR inputs on the main input channels, but some have extra line input channels or line/mic switches to handle line inputs. It's best to use line inputs for gear with line outputs because they have much lower gain range and add much less noise and distortion than using high-gain mic level inputs. The line inputs will also not have phantom power, while many mixers put phantom power on all XLR mic inputs when it's enabled. Better mixers will have individual switches for phantom and mic/line on each input channel.

[billbaker]

Well... what xml said.

You've got a non-adaptive output from the amp going to a non-responsive or under educated sound guy who may (lets give him the benefit of the doubt) be, as xml suggests, using equally non-adapive equipment on the receiving end.

So, tho the point of buying an amp with xlr outs may have been to not have to deal with direct boxes, that (a Direct Box) is actually the best, most flexible and cheapest (*) solution. So respects to who ever suggested it to you.

I can highly recommend the whirlwind "director" DI box, it has a nice pad switch to move between line and mic levels and is very quiet and runs as a passive (no battery/no phantom device).

(*) Note: this may not be the cheapest direct box, but it has the feature you need in this instance.

---------

Can you lay hands on the manual for the amp? I have to wonder if a pad switch might not be on there somewhere, maybe some recessed micro-switch, as is the case with some of the powered speakers I have that need that flexibility of input attenuation.



BB