EuroAussie Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Follow up to the other thread in the new venue. We had some PA problems where a few times we received sort of a coughing / distorted sounded that felt like we clipped the gain / volume limit ..... except the volume was only on around 4/10. I sent this message to Yamaha awaiting, response, but i wonder if also any of you might offer some insight as to what could be the issue. Thanks a lot in advance ! EA MESSAGE TO YAMAHA Im writing you again, this time with a separate problem we have been experiencing with this unit during our past two shows. We found that we are getting an unregular 'distorted cough' sound coming from the unit, as if it was a clipping issue. Its now happened in our last two shows, both times in the second set around 2/3rds into the show. I had a chance to record our last show so Ive created two examples where this happens so you know exactly what the issue is and hopefully let us know if the unit is faulty and should be returned or there is a solution in the settings to fix this very problematic issue. Just to let you know how we are set up. We have three mikes plugged in (2 vocals, one cajon mike) and one acoustic guitar (UST pickup). All go into first 4 inputs where we have it set under 'mike' setting rather than line setting. The volume levels is quite low in this case. The master is set at 5 while the individual channels are between 3-4, hence overall volume levels are quite low. We monitored the light indicators and didn't get the impression we were about to clip from too high volume levels. In the first video you can hear the 'distorted cough' sound at the 28sec point. What we don't understand is that the volume level seems to stay constant, there was no major change in attack of signal gain that could lead to a surge in clipping the level. In the second video happens right at the end of the track where we increase the volume level in the final moment in guitar and vocals. Can you please advise if there is an issue with the unit and we should send it back or we can fix it ourselves, and if yes how to do it ? What I don't understand is that this sound seems like the symptom of clipping, where the signal is too hot and the volume too high, but we are generally only at 50% max volume level, hence I don't understand why its doing this. Looking forward to your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 Untrained ear, and not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but that second clip sounded like you lost a whole channel - almost as if something came unplugged. First one? I dunno - how long has it been since you checked the battery in the 'Bird? Had similar experience with a trio I played in - one guy's battery was dying on stage, and us along with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Untrained ear, and not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but that second clip sounded like you lost a whole channel - almost as if something came unplugged. First one? I dunno - how long has it been since you checked the battery in the 'Bird? Had similar experience with a trio I played in - one guy's battery was dying on stage, and us along with it. Actually replaced the battery on the Bird a month ago Dan, and also this noise is coming both from guitar and vocals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Could be all kinds of things... A lead or a connection - do you have the Stewmac lead tester? Software on the mixer - try the same setup, but turn all reverb/echo/effects OFF. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Could be all kinds of things... A lead or a connection - do you have the Stewmac lead tester? Software on the mixer - try the same setup, but turn all reverb/echo/effects OFF. BluesKing777. Actually in the second set all the effects were off and thats exactly when it happened, in the second set. Im curious what Yamaha wll have to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Heard that channel popping sound twice before, Mark. Once on a fairly budget PA that continued to demonstrate you get what you pay for…. the other on a rather decent PA and it was surge/dips in the power source. You should be able to check the power received, are you in the orange/red of the signal with spikes? Some bars can look jazzy but have older fairly crap wiring behind the pizazz of the interior decorations. As others mentioned, it could be some dodgy cabling on your side, well worth a check, but also see if you can gauge the power sources in other places, one of our favorite places to play has a crap throughput where we have to plug in, I've seen similar things with their PA for open mics… Is it a Beringher perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 Heard that channel popping sound twice before, Mark. Once on a fairly budget PA that continued to demonstrate you get what you pay for…. the other on a rather decent PA and it was surge/dips in the power source. You should be able to check the power received, are you in the orange/red of the signal with spikes? Some bars can look jazzy but have older fairly crap wiring behind the pizazz of the interior decorations. As others mentioned, it could be some dodgy cabling on your side, well worth a check, but also see if you can gauge the power sources in other places, one of our favorite places to play has a crap throughput where we have to plug in, I've seen similar things with their PA for open mics… Is it a Beringher perhaps? Hi mate, its a Yamaha Stagepass 400i, their latest model, the mixer is included with the model. Perhaps wiring could be an issue, we played a coouple gigs in other venues with it and had no issues and very good sound. The signal never went beyond organge, with mainly on green as we really had the master at 5 while individual channels at around 4. This is why were perplexed as we arent frying the signal and only playing in second gear gain wise. Anyway, by chance the Prague Yamaha service center is a 5 min drive from my place, gave em a call and they were pretty cool and will run a full test on it Friday morning, so hopefully this will be sorted ..... very annoying mind you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 I tend to agree with the guys that it may not be the PA itself per se, but more the power source or wiring to/from the mixer. OTOH, I know that every time I've purchased electronics of any sort, I've run it for a minimum of a week nonstop, 24/7. Other than mike wires or power wires or speaker wires, ain't had problems even with what's technically "cheapie" stuff. There is a possibility something in the amp and/or mixer is getting hot too, I'd guess... but... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 To me it sounds as if the cajun mic has been hit by strokes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted November 5, 2013 Author Share Posted November 5, 2013 To me it sounds as if the cajun mic has been hit by strokes... However that would be impossible as its placed inside the soundhole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ol fred Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 On the Stagepas series make sure that the plugs on your mains out are molded plastic rather than metal. Metal plugs will cause an intermittent short across the face of the mixer/amp that sound very much like clipping. Speaker output is the only place this occurs, it is not an issue with any of the inputs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.