Sonic Port VX - use Battery Power for lower noise and charge your IOS device at live gig.

[stevekc]

Sonic Port VX - use Battery Power for lower noise and charge your IOS device at live gig.

 

I'll share a secret 

 

My SonicPort VX came with a MicroUSB cable that was actually defective for charging the connected IOS device 

 

I swapped it with a more robust micro USB cable  - intended for and Android phone ( Amazon Basics)

 

I'm using an iPhone 6 Plus 128GB (IOS 8.1.2), or iPad Air 

 

Using the supplied Line 6 Lightning cable, I  connect  SonicPort VX  to my iPhone, and at a live stage gig I feed its 1/4" TRS Balanced Outputs to a pair of Alesis Alpha 112A Powered PA cabs (Alto TS112A clones)  

 

What works great for me  -is Yonac ToneStack as my go to IOS Guitar FX app  - its much lower latency than the competition, and thats a big requirement for me -as  I need to play "in the groove" when I play funk with my drummer at the live gig 

 

But if I play a real long show, or busking at Pismo Beach Pier - I feed all above into a  battery powered stereo Roland BA-330, and be mindful of taming the low frequencies, as they can be a problem.

 

In that situation, I add the  MicroUSB cable to SonicPort VX - but use a generic high capacity external Battery with a 2.1Amp USB power charge port

 

This one was $20 recently

 

 

 

RAVPower® Element 10400mAh External Battery USB Portable Charger 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using this Battery provides two important things

 

1) Compared to using an AC Powered 12Watt USB charger - I experience a  Huge reduction in 60/120Hz hum and noise. I can use single coil PUs with far less noise using Battery Power.

 

2) I can play for over 10 hours straight  - so this is perfect for going anywhere  - even with no AC power,  just  iPhone, SonicPort VX, two cables, headphones,  and the external battery pack  - I sit under a tree in the park and practice guitar riffs , learn new tunes, etc.

 

Another trick is Belkin RockStar

 

 

 

There is more than meets the eye here - besides being a 5 way headphone splitter , the Belkin Rockstar is also a 5 channel Stereo Passive Mixer  -( it works both ways)  I can hang the  Belkin Rockstar on the Headphone output of SonicPort VX, and mix in four additional stereo sources ( like another Ipad, or hardware synth, etc,) and still have a remaining port for my Headphones  - or feed a self powered PA with a 3.5mm TRS input 

 

I carry two Belkin Rockstars along with Sonic Port VX, in my Guitar gig bag and using a Guitar with a Fishman Tripleplay Guitar to MIDI interface, and two iPads and pair of ATH-M50 Headphones - I can record song demos  anywhere, anytime using this setup.

[sinistralx]

Sounds good!,, Great idea about the battery back as well. I have a 10,000mAh battery pack and will give it a go...