Topic: just purchased a dr-2d, quick question regard plug-in power

[rhinowing]

apologies for the nooby question but I can't seem to find the specs anywhere:

If I want to run a set of CA-11s into a DR-2d mic in, is the tascam's plug-in power going to be enough to properly run the mics? or do I need to add a battery box in here?
thanks!

[Church-Audio]

apologies for the nooby question but I can't seem to find the specs anywhere:

If I want to run a set of CA-11s into a DR-2d mic in, is the tascam's plug-in power going to be enough to properly run the mics? or do I need to add a battery box in here?
thanks!

No and as a matter of fact for most things you will want a preamp with that deck because it does not have very much gain, but again that all depends on what you want to record. What kind of music are you into recording? Location ect.

Chris

[rhinowing]

apologies for the nooby question but I can't seem to find the specs anywhere:

If I want to run a set of CA-11s into a DR-2d mic in, is the tascam's plug-in power going to be enough to properly run the mics? or do I need to add a battery box in here?
thanks!

No and as a matter of fact for most things you will want a preamp with that deck because it does not have very much gain, but again that all depends on what you want to record. What kind of music are you into recording? Location ect.

Chris

for this specific show, it's going to be loud punk, running a stand or possibly clamped. probably 15 or 20 feet off the stacks. I do a lot of quieter stuff too, so I suppose one may be in order

[Church-Audio]

apologies for the nooby question but I can't seem to find the specs anywhere:

If I want to run a set of CA-11s into a DR-2d mic in, is the tascam's plug-in power going to be enough to properly run the mics? or do I need to add a battery box in here?
thanks!

No and as a matter of fact for most things you will want a preamp with that deck because it does not have very much gain, but again that all depends on what you want to record. What kind of music are you into recording? Location ect.

Chris

for this specific show, it's going to be loud punk, running a stand or possibly clamped. probably 15 or 20 feet off the stacks. I do a lot of quieter stuff too, so I suppose one may be in order

For sure you need a battery box you can always try you might get distortion you might not I cant say because its impossible to know how loud this show will actually be. If you can borrow a battery box until you can get a preamp thats what I would do.


Chris

[adrianf74]

apologies for the nooby question but I can't seem to find the specs anywhere:

If I want to run a set of CA-11s into a DR-2d mic in, is the tascam's plug-in power going to be enough to properly run the mics? or do I need to add a battery box in here?
thanks!

No and as a matter of fact for most things you will want a preamp with that deck because it does not have very much gain, but again that all depends on what you want to record. What kind of music are you into recording? Location ect.

Chris

for this specific show, it's going to be loud punk, running a stand or possibly clamped. probably 15 or 20 feet off the stacks. I do a lot of quieter stuff too, so I suppose one may be in order

For sure you need a battery box you can always try you might get distortion you might not I cant say because its impossible to know how loud this show will actually be. If you can borrow a battery box until you can get a preamp thats what I would do.


Chris

+1.  Don't record punk/thrash/metal without a battery box or preamp.   I wouldn't even tempt rock myself.  There are some pretty small options out there for both if you're worried about getting your gear in.

[drivingwheel]

actually, you can power mics with the DR-2d - it has phantom power, which would be plenty sufficient on the 'mic in' gain settings as variable as they are.

That being said, I'd get a ua-5 or a littlebox and use that to run your external mics into the 'line-in' and use the 'mic-in' for the internals (with a goid 40-80hz rolloff) or for a sbd feed (completely flat).


Just my $.02

[Church-Audio]

actually, you can power mics with the DR-2d - it has phantom power, which would be plenty sufficient on the 'mic in' gain settings as variable as they are.

That being said, I'd get a ua-5 or a littlebox and use that to run your external mics into the 'line-in' and use the 'mic-in' for the internals (with a goid 40-80hz rolloff) or for a sbd feed (completely flat).


Just my $.02

FYI my mics will overload with plug in power its not enough voltage in some situations, and since i am the one that makes then I should know 
And one of my battery boxes or preamps is needed with the DR2 because I owned one and I know that there is not very much gain in that recorder for recording quiet shows. For very loud shows sure you can get away with it but you still need a battery box. So since a battery box is needed for loud shows and since a preamp is needed for quiet shows why not just get one of my preamps and get the benefits of a battery box and a preamp in one package. That is much smaller than anything else mentioned.

[dallman]

actually, you can power mics with the DR-2d - it has phantom power, which would be plenty sufficient on the 'mic in' gain settings as variable as they are.

That being said, I'd get a ua-5 or a littlebox and use that to run your external mics into the 'line-in' and use the 'mic-in' for the internals (with a goid 40-80hz rolloff) or for a sbd feed (completely flat).


Just my $.02

FYI my mics will overload with plug in power its not enough voltage in some situations, and since i am the one that makes then I should know 
And one of my battery boxes or preamps is needed with the DR2 because I owned one and I know that there is not very much gain in that recorder for recording quiet shows. For very loud shows sure you can get away with it but you still need a battery box. So since a battery box is needed for loud shows and since a preamp is needed for quiet shows why not just get one of my preamps and get the benefits of a battery box and a preamp in one package. That is much smaller than anything else mentioned.

The DR2-D does not have phantom power, it has plug in power which is possibly about 5 volts, (not 48 volts). That said, I would agree with Chris. I have to say that using the CA Ugly preamp the sound is noticably nicer (to me anyway) than using a battery box.

[danny3]

although this is a dated post, I wanted to add my experience from last weekend. Maybe I should post in the main thread too.
Some rambling history first: The DR-2d was my first deck, I started out using small mixer boards to get phantom power, then got a UA-5. I also have used a Denecke PS-2.
Anyhow, I now mostly run a DR-680, but always carry a DR-2d (or 2 - i own 3) with me. The 2d has saved the day many times where circumstances at a venue made my plan-for-the-night inpracticle.

anyhow, I was at a venue I frequent in Concord, NH and usually run cables from my audience mics back to my rig behind the band where I also do sbd and stage lip. I have been having fun and success with CA-14s; esp. light weight and ease of running 1/8 cable. On this night, I wasn't getting a signal at the 680, and it turns out the cable was faulty. I was travelling light and didn't have all the extra gear usually found in my car. I set my DR-2d on a table by the post where my CA-14s were, but I didn't have the male to male cable needed to go from my CA-9200 into my deck. So just for kicks and with nothing better to attempt (I had stage and sbd going into my 680) I turned on Plug In Power on the 2d, set the input gain at MED, and plugged the CA-14s directly into MIC In (set at 68). I didn't expect much, but the levels looked good.  This was a 3 piece band in a small venue, drums, electric bass and acoustic guitar (with lots of pedals) going into an amp. Vocaks only through pa. Pretty loud rock.

The recording came out great! NO distortion or dropouts. I plan to experiment with the plug in power more (as a secondary rig) in other types of environments.
sorry for the length of this post, but I was excited to find that these mics can work with this deck without a bb. Although I agree with above posts that it isn't recommended.

[mec111272]

I have run the CA-14 Omnis into the mic in with the PiP turned on several times as well and had good luck.  Mostly from near the board at moderately loud to loud shows. 

In general when I run that rig I have 9200 with the CA-14 cards go line in and the CA-14 omnis (split 3'-4') direct to mic and make a four channel mix in post. 

Side bar about DR-2d's be very careful with the variable output external batteries.  THEY WANT 5 VOLTS ONLY.  You can fry the input if you go over.  The cheap tekkeons that were on ebay in late 2014 can be problematic as the voltage doesn't settle into the set value for up to a minute after you set it.  My DR-2D has a horrible noise when run on these after months of great use. 

[mec111272]

DR-2d four channel with PiP

https://archive.org/details/TM2014-09-04._CA14_956
https://archive.org/details/JTB2014-09-18._CA14_
https://archive.org/details/MC2014-08-24._CA14_

[colinw]

Side bar about DR-2d's be very careful with the variable output external batteries.  THEY WANT 5 VOLTS ONLY.  You can fry the input if you go over.  The cheap tekkeons that were on ebay in late 2014 can be problematic as the voltage doesn't settle into the set value for up to a minute after you set it.  My DR-2D has a horrible noise when run on these after months of great use.

Interesting. I have a strange noise from my dr2d when I run on external battery power. It isn't slight and regular ticking sound on the recording. I have tried multiple power sources all USB which are outputting 5v, so I can't s email the input being fried. The input still accepts external power and runs the recorder, I just get the weird ticking cycle on the recordings, with both internals and externals mics. Any ideas? What horrible noise did you hear?
Has anyone successfully used an external power bank with the dr2d??

[Gutbucket]

Energizer XP8000 has worked fine for me.

[colinw]

Just adding in an experience I had on the weekend. I some how managed forget the correct cables to run the CA14 mics with my Tinybox.    I had everything set up, but couldn't use the Tinybox. At the last minute, as an alternative to the internals, I turned on plug in power and ran the CA14s into the mic in. I had a SBD feed going line in. The mics were hanging from the ceiling not too far from in front of the stacks.
I had the mic in at about 70, and the levels were good. With a boost in post, and mixing with the SBD feed the recording came out very well. I was pleased with it.

I was happy to find that I didn't really notice the difference in the recording using the Tinybox and the CA14, and having the CA14s go right into the Tinybox. I understand the clean gain the Tinybox would provide for some quieter environments and bands, and that anything too much louder would have distorted the mic source too. However, the spot I used them in, the band, the loudness of the PA, all conspired to make things turn out pretty well. I thought the night was ruined when I forgot the cable, but I was leasantly surprised to salvage something reasonably decent to listen to.

Here is one of the bands I recorded https://archive.org/details/beforethewar2015-08-07.matrix.sbd.ca14.flac16 with the plug in power setup.