Queston on a vintage mixer:
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Posted on Oct 30, 2012 11:59 pm
J-bot
Byte-Mixer
Member Since: Dec 04, 2007
So, a buddy of mine was given a vintage 1976 Allen & Heath mixer. I think he said it was a 16:8:2 configuration.
He mentioned his American-made mic not working with it. I don't know what model mic he's using. And I figured, XLR is XLR and 1/4" is 1/4" regardless if the mixer was made in Europe or not. The only thing I can think of is if the pins in the mixer jacks are wired completely differently, I mean the thing is from 1976 after all.
He said he may need to rewire his mic to work with it, but would like to avoid doing that, and he was looking for maybe like an adapter or something.
I hadn't heard of American vs. European mics & jacks. All I'm aware of are voltage differences...so maybe the XLR ground/hot/cold pins in the mixer are wired completely differently, or something?
I'll update this post once I get some model numbers from him.
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Oct 31, 2012 01:27 am No, the mic does not need to be rewired. The inputs regardless of pin out does not matter. The only thing maybe the mic line switch. If you're plugged into the XLR, make sure it's no mic. If you're plugged into the 1/4", put it on line.
that should be the only thing making it not work right now. Well, that and make sure the mic works. Put it on a different board, make sure you're getting signal from it.
Oct 31, 2012 01:29 am Oh, and one last thing. Is it a condenser mic? If so, make sure that the 48v in on.
J-botByte-MixerMember
Since: Dec 04, 2007
Oct 31, 2012 02:34 pm Okay, that's cool. For the record, he couldn't find a model number on the mixer itself, and he had a correction. it's a 16:4:2 configuration. He was concerned because someone told him the euro pins were like +/-/+ while american pins were +/+/- on pins 1/2/3 respectively.
The mic is an AKG D8000s Dynamic, so phantom power shouldn't be the issue.
As old as it is, there might well be a mic/line switch somewhere. I'll tell him to look for that. Could be the channel he tried was dead or something.
Also, I may have found his board: But I'm not positive. Waiting for him to respond. 109.203.103.60/veterans/d...%20NO%20PSU.pdf
Nov 01, 2012 03:34 am In looking over the manual that you posted, the very first button on the channel strip is the Mic/Line switch. So yup, it's there.
J-botByte-MixerMember
Since: Dec 04, 2007
Nov 01, 2012 08:22 am Yeah, he said that the image in the pdf does look like his mixer, and the serial number range matches.
The mic itself is good, and he uses it with his line6 amp.
He said he'd try the stuff we suggested. I mentioned the mic/line switch, and I also told him that given the age of the board, one or more of the channels could be dead, so try a different channel.
He said it was his friend who gave him the mixer that said it needed a European mic, and he decided that said friend could have been bullshitting that info, hah.
So yeah, hope he gets it working. I'm betting that old board has some fairly warm character to the sound. Course, he could get a better mic, hah, but I'm sure what he's using is fine for his purposes.
I hope he gets it up and working.
Nov 01, 2012 02:38 pm OK........ Given that AKG is European......... And it's not working.......
A microphone works on only two wires (Dynamic that is). It does not matter with wire is where. As the time varying current travels back and forth on those two wires. Remember, that it's AC, not DC here. So changing the position of the two wires will not make a difference.
If the mic is know to be a good mic, then I believe he has an issue with the board it's self. And that can anything from a power issue, to a ribbon cable, and many other things that it could be.
Looks like he's going to have to open it up, and see what's going on with it.
