Outputs Direct to FoH

[Flipp15]

What is the difference between running 2x XLR (R & L) to a mixer then to PA // VERSES // 1x (L)1/4-to-XLR MALE cable to mixer PA // VERSES // running a 1x 1/4-to-XLR male out of the headphones out to the mixing board??

 

I have tried and had great results the first two, I currently have been using the 1/4-to-XLR out of the L 1/4output and it’s been great.

—wondering why I don’t just use the headphones out and have an actual MASTER vol instead of the arguable sound/noice ratio issue w the 1/4 unbalanced outs.

[spaceatl]

A headphone output is the same as a 1/4 unbalanced line. In fact, a headphone amp is no different than a line driver...So you can use it to drive line level channels no problem. On some devices, the headphone amps are actually better than the op amps dedicated to line outs...Use what sounds better to you...

 

The main difference is that the XLR outputs are MIC level...Very low signal that requires a mic preamp in the desk to gain stage correctly...

 

I would only suggest using a direct box for the conversion to XLR from 1/4 unbalanced lines or headphone outs over simple wire adapters that tie pin 1 & 3 together...There is nothing wrong with doing that, but a direct box is going to have better luck driving down a snake...

[Flipp15]

So (using a 1/4-to-xlr cable )the headphones out , tho stereo, will have the same result as using the 1/4 (L for example) output?

[Flipp15]

—due to reading up about the outputs I came up w that the 1/4 outs are only half the signal, the headphones tho must be the full, and therefore using a TRS-to-XLR cable would have the benefit of both L&R signals. Furthermore, the Master vol knob would be an actual master vol instead of where the 1/4 outs have some sort of issue w noise if the dial isn’t turned all the way up.

[spaceatl]

If you run LR down 3 conductor wire, you will get reduced bandwidth at some point...Maybe you like the reduced bandwidth for tone? I don't know...Use what you like...good luck.

[pfsmith0]

Hold on,

• Plugging a 1/4" TS jack into the normal 1/4" output will sum L&R to give you a mono signal. You'll get both signals. This is one of the preferred ways.
• Plugging a 1/4" TS jack into the headphone does NOT sum L&R but shorts out one of those. All you get is the other half. I don't think you'll destroy anything but it's poor practice to short a signal to ground like this.
• Using a 1/4" TRS - XLR adapter will apply the L/R signal to the +/- pins, giving you L-R (or R-L). It does NOT give you the stereo output. This is a new signal and probably not what you intended. If you get any sound at all it'll be all wonky.

[Flipp15]

<p>

 

Hold on,

• Plugging a 1/4" TS jack into the normal 1/4" output will sum L&R to give you a mono signal. You'll get both signals. This is one of the preferred ways.
• Plugging a 1/4" TS jack into the headphone does NOT sum L&R but shorts out one of those. All you get is the other half. I don't think you'll destroy anything but it's poor practice to short a signal to ground like this.
• Using a 1/4" TRS - XLR adapter will apply the L/R signal to the +/- pins, giving you L-R (or R-L). It does NOT give you the stereo output. This is a new signal and probably not what you intended. If you get any sound at all it'll be all wonky.

My application is going Out of the HD500 and into a Behringer X32 for IEMs and that gets sent FOH. The X32 has a snake w/ XLR inputs. Instead of taking up 2x spot just for my guitar I would like to do 1x but have the full signal.

So, knowing that, what you suggest?

—have been using a 1/4 TRS out of the L 1/4 into the snake (xlr) for a while now w good results. Wondering if I’m shorting myself on some signal loss that ...because when I plug headphones into that output I have one side / half signal verses plunging into the headphones output. So now I’m wondering if I should just plug my output cable into the headphones out instead.

[pfsmith0]

You're looking for a 1/4" mono TS plug to XLR male adapter. I recommend one with a length of wire since the hard, self-contained versions will stick out the back of your pod unsupported and can more easily cause damage when someone trips over it. Something like this should work well (less than $7). Note, however, that you're starting from an unbalanced signal so, depending on how long the snake is to the mixer, you may get some hum/noise pickup along the way.

 

The microphone outputs are made specifically for this application. But you only want to use 1 line so you'll lose half your stereo signal. There are two easy solutions, 1) just go ahead and lose 1/2 your signal. This is my default usage and I don't miss anything I've lost (1/2 a ping-pong delay, stereo reverb fx, etc). Try this 1st to make sure you really need to capture the other half of the signal. 2) if you have an extra FX block, put a mono FX at the end of the signal chain. That way the L & R signals are the same, so you won't be losing anything when you throw away half your signal when going down to one line.

 

With only 1 line going to the mixer, you're basically dealing with a mono setup. Do you really need both halves of your stereo signal? It is a free and easy experiment to just plug the XLR snake into your L output and listen to what you get. You may be surprised it'll be just fine. Like I said. This is my default setup and use it ALL the time.

[Flipp15]

And is that w/ the panning of L100% R100% 0db / 0db ?

 

You're looking for a 1/4" mono TS plug to XLR male adapter. I recommend one with a length of wire since the hard, self-contained versions will stick out the back of your pod unsupported and can more easily cause damage when someone trips over it. Something like this should work well (less than $7). Note, however, that you're starting from an unbalanced signal so, depending on how long the snake is to the mixer, you may get some hum/noise pickup along the way.

 

The microphone outputs are made specifically for this application. But you only want to use 1 line so you'll lose half your stereo signal. There are two easy solutions, 1) just go ahead and lose 1/2 your signal. This is my default usage and I don't miss anything I've lost (1/2 a ping-pong delay, stereo reverb fx, etc). Try this 1st to make sure you really need to capture the other half of the signal. 2) if you have an extra FX block, put a mono FX at the end of the signal chain. That way the L & R signals are the same, so you won't be losing anything when you throw away half your signal when going down to one line.

 

With only 1 line going to the mixer, you're basically dealing with a mono setup. Do you really need both halves of your stereo signal? It is a free and easy experiment to just plug the XLR snake into your L output and listen to what you get. You may be surprised it'll be just fine. Like I said. This is my default setup and use it ALL the time.

[Flipp15]

Also, what is your master vol set to? Or do you adjust each show? When feeding into our X32 snake my patches and the other guitarists pod as well are set so that our masters are at 50% to equal the same output. —this is also where I’m wondering if we could benefit from using other outputs because people have said there are signal-to-noise ratio issues w the 1/4 outs verses the headphones out.

[pfsmith0]

Let's see if I remember this right. The mixer has 2 channels, Path A and Path B. Both paths are stereo. The mixer output is stereo. So you can pan Path A and Path B anywhere you want in the stereo field. But when it gets converted to mono by plugging a single 1/4" jack into one of the outputs, or you use a mono FX at the end of your chain, then the L/R stereo field gets converted to a L+R mono signal. You should get the same signal regardless of the L/R panning in the mixer (unless there's that balance control vs pan control thing going on in the Pod - can't remember and maybe not pertinent here). But if you are using a single XLR output w/o a final mono FX then yes, you want the mixer pan set to center. That's what I do.

 

I set the Master to the level my sound guy likes. It's usually between 30-70%.

 

Regarding headphone 1/4" SNR vs normal 1/4" SNR, the only difference I can see is when you crank up the headphone output so its signal is very large. By the time it gets to the other end of the snake it'll have to be attenuated (cuz it's too big). On the process, all the noise it picks up along the way will also get attenuated. This will work as long as the FoH mixer can tolerate the huge headphone output levels. IIRC, it can reach more than +/10Vp.