Topic: littlebox with ribbons

[weroflu]

trying to get beyer m160's working with the littlebox. my lb has high/low/off for mic power
it seems like the off is a real off switch, not just for mic power.

if so then i can't use the lb with ribbon/dynamic mics?

 

[noahbickart]

Get in touch with Jon directly (via e-mail, his PM is disabled. Search for "Jon Stoppable"). He checks e-mail often, and provides excellent customer support.

I wouldn't be surprised if he would be willing to mod your unit for use with ribbons.

trying to get beyer m160's working with the littlebox. my lb has high/low/off for mic power
it seems like the off is a real off switch, not just for mic power.

if so then i can't use the lb with ribbon/dynamic mics?

 

[weroflu]

looks like the mic power switch is a master on off switch so i can't run ribbons as is.

pair of fetheads looks like the cheapest way to go.

wondering about getting a dav bg1 or a higher end transformer coupled preamp.

will there be a noticeable jump in quality from a fethead/littlebox?

[weroflu]

i already have input transformers.

the power switch would work of course, but shipping from eu takes  a while and they may try to double screw me on import taxes when it comes back.

[weroflu]

most of my cables are home made so i will always be fearful of shorts. which is why i haven't tried the m160's with phantom.

would your inline preamp work better than the fethead?

is there any way i could kluge the littlebox to work without phantom just to hear it?

i'm not sure if you are implying that the littlebox is just not designed to work with ribbons period, or with the input transformers/an approprite inline preamp it could be acceptable.

thanks

[SmokinJoe]

is there any way i could kluge the littlebox to work without phantom just to hear it?

They have these things called ground lift adapters... typically a little XLR extension tube, where pins 2 and 3 go through, but not pin 1.  Their primary purpose is to eliminate ground loops, but it kills phantom power as well. Here is an example http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=408144&Q=&is=REG&A=details  You could do the same thing by unhooking pin 1 on a standard XLR cable.

[weroflu]

smokingjoe:  sounds perfect if i just make some cables with the ground not connected.

are you sure that it won't create any strange issues with the littlebox or the mics?
obviously there won't be any phantom but will there be grounding issues or added noise?

[weroflu]

thanks for your help jon.

i finally got over my phantom fears and they worked fine with the littlebox, no problems. i had it up on full gain and it sounded quite good.

a/b'ed against a dav bg1 and there is almost no difference. maybe a little more bass in the littlebox (from the input transformers?)

there is some hiss from both preamps, not sure if this is room noise or mic noise. it's audible but by no means loud, though it's louder than the dpa 4060's. haven't seen any published noise specs for the m160's
 
i was surprised how similar they sounded. i was sort of hoping one would outperform the other and it would be easy to then make a decision to get rid of the lesser.