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Mic vs return 1 differences


themetallikid
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Ok, so I have a buddy coming out to my acoustic show tonight that wants to sit in.   I had the crazy thought that I could run 2 vox and 2 guitars through my helix on 4 separate chains.  I have the preset created, but wondering if there is any sort of special sauce or anything I need to add to the Return 1 vocal channel or guitar (AUX) channel to help them match my Mic In and Guitar In levels.  

 

I have added gain blocks to the Return/Aux channels, but wondering if there is some sort of standard difference that I can use as a starting point.  

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You probably want to use an external microphone preamp for connecting a mic to the Return 1 jack. Yes, you can connect it with just an XLR to 1/4" TS cable, but that doesn't mean the signal level or impedance will be ideal for what that jack expects. Adding a gain block will increase the signal level, but also the noise that comes along with it. Microphone preamps are designed to add gain to microphone signals in a way that results in a cleaner output signal, partly because the input impedance of a microphone preamp will be different than a jack that expects line-level signals. The Aux jack also probably has a different impedance spec than the Guitar Input (apart from the fact that it doesn't come with the ability to control the input impedance) and will likely also behave differently than the Guitar Input, although I suspect this will cause less of an issue than plugging a mic into a line-level jack. 

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I have a Helix LT...delighted with it. Occasionally, I need to run an Acoustic guitar with Vocals...as there's no MIC Input on the LT, decided to try a MIC to LINE Adapter. I got this one -

https://www.gear4music.com/…/Audix-T50K-Impedance-Matc…/ST8…

It works great ! I can plug my Dynamic Mic in via the RETURN 1 Input on the LT, made a patch with Dualpaths for Mic on Return 1 and Guitar on Return 2. With the Studio Preamp and some Compressors, and a bit of Gain boosting, I get a great clean Mic signal.

My Patch as above is available on Customtone (free) at -

https://line6.com/customtone/tone/4433419/

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