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Re: EDP input gain




At 8:28 AM -0700 6/20/00, rich wrote:
>Hey Folks,
>
>I have recieved a lot (read A LOT) of information from this list, and my
>thanks go out to everyone for contributing to my 'gearhead' madness.  Now
>is the time for the dumb question regarding this input gain subject.
>
>Does the EDP not have an input level pot?  I am a JamMan/DL4 user and am
>straddling the fence on buying the EDP.  Being able to control the input
>level, mix, and output level is something i've become accustomed to with
>the jammie.  What's the story with the Echoplex?


yes, the echoplex has input, output, and mix control knobs. It is designed
to easily handle up to +4dBu signal levels.

This is why Luis' comments are a bit baffling, for two reasons. One, if he
is clipping the input, whatever he is driving it with is WAY hotter than
any typical signal. Very few pieces of gear are designed for signals beyond
the +4dBu level, and many only support -10dBu line level signals. The
obvious thing is to suggest he use standard signal levels. (what are you
doing luis, plugging it into the speaker outputs of your power amp????)
And second, there is an input gain knob right on the front panel of the
plex! If you are clipping in the input, why not just turn the input gain
down? I can't imagine why you would need any line attenuator before this.

There is some confusion here because older units had a different gain
structure at the input. In general, when you hear comments about this on
the list, its from people with these older units. You don't hear it so much
anymore, since it is easy to change.

We originally let the input knob control enough gain to plug microphones or
guitars in directly. This made the control rather sensitive for line and
+4dBu signals, so you would need to have it way over counter-clockwise and
it was a bit hard to set. (although it was still quite usable.) It was very
flexible for a wide range of uses, and we thought that was a good idea.
However, people couldn't figure this out, constantly set the input to where
the knob "looked" right (at 10 :-), clipped the crap out of the digital
side for the loops, and whined that the sound quality was bad. Apparently
there is a collective mental block about turning the level DOWN sometimes
to where it sounds right instead of setting it to 10 everywhere, and we
were not able to change that attitude. So instead we eliminated this
flexibility of the input, reduced the input control's gain a lot, thereby
giving it a wider control range for line level signals. All new units ship
this way. So far, this seems to make the Nigel Tufnel crowd happy, and
nobody else complained either.

For people with the older units, you can change this input gain easily if
you want, by replacing a couple of resistors on the circuit board with
different values. (note: you need to know how to solder to do this.) It's
on the site:
http://www.annihilist.com/loop/tools/echoplex/FAQ6.html#Anchor-47383

I think Luis actually did this mod to his unit, so another possibility
there is he made a mistake somewhere and did the modification wrong.

kim

______________________________________________________________________
Kim Flint                   | Looper's Delight
kflint@annihilist.com       | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html
http://www.annihilist.com/  |