Topic: disparate levels, any thoughts??

[kubacheck]

ok, so I did two Los Lobos shows the other night, early and late at the Ramshead in Annapolis.... I use mbho's and I just got my Tinybox back so I was able to use that instead of having to lug out the MP-2, mic bodies, xlr's, etc..... anyway, the post that I clamp to is back a few feet from the stage and much, much closer to the left stack than the right.... my seat was nowhere near the pole, so I had to "set it, forget it and leave", wasn't able to monitor levels during the shows and both shows came out heavily weighted, levels wise, towards the left channel.... which makes sense given the location of the pole vs where the stacks are....  I did bump up the input for the 2nd show because I saw had a lot of headroom when checking after the first show.... anyway, the plot twist would be that right before showtime of the first show, I realized that the channels were reversed, the right channel mic was on the left and vice versa, and I didn't feel like I had time to get a chair and switch them....  I thought the show could start any moment, so I left it alone and switched them between shows..... so I'm rather surprised that in both cases, the left channel was far and away the louder, even though I swapped them between shows, I'd have thought the right channel would be the louder in the first show since that was the mic far closer to the (left) stack on than the left mic was to the right stack..... any thoughts? or is there something obvious that I'm missing??

[kirk97132]

this points to something other than the mics.  The problem lies past what ever you switched.  If you switched cables and mics then the problem is after the cables.

[kubacheck]

What is the measured difference between channels?  About 6dB?

I'd say around 10db..... there's always been "some" disparity (not THAT much, generally) between the mbho caps, but not really an issue when using the mp-2 because I can adjust each channel separately to equalize them with that..... and part of the issue is where that pole is located in relation to the 2 stacks, but it just seemed odd to me that even after swapping the cables for the 2nd show, the same channel was the hotter of the two.....

[greenmtnsrider]

I had the same issue and a new set of XLR cables fixed it for me. Best of luck!

[kirk97132]

6dB can be a missing leg of a balanced line.  Try a test at home with both mics together aimed at a speaker.  Then swap caps between channels.  If the average difference is 6dB, that is the likely problem.  Any other difference is a problem somewhere else.

Jon, isn't the fact that the two screen shots show the difference on the same channel a sign it is not the mics?  I would think that a mic(or capsule ) problem would have moved to the other channel when the mics were switched, no? OF course I am assuming that the mic it self was NOT moved and the wiring was switched by changing where it was plugged into

[acidjack]

Paging hi and lo... I believe we've seen this issue with MBHO home-brew solutions before that did not include tinybox. Does it work fine with your other pre? I would certainly test that.