Topic: LEMOSAX - How do you run yours?

[NOLAfishwater]

So I taped last night without recharging my 19V battery pack and everything seems to be ok. the only thing I can think of is that I had it on Hi gain and the OVD lights weren't coming. I did notice the whole show that it looked like my levels were brickwalling on the R-44, but didn't take it seriously b/c the OVD lights weren't coming on. Maybe my battery cable was loose and it wasn't getting enough power? is that even possible?

[Todd R]

I doubt it would be a loose battery cable -- either you'd be getting battery power or you wouldn't.

If you had it on high gain, that might definitely explain things.  If the mk5's have a sensitivity of 15mv/Pascal (a typical number), with SPLs at 118db (a bit high, but about right), if you then had the 'sax on high gain at about 2:00 (at least 36db of gain?) -- then you'd be asking the 'sax to put out a ~26dbu signal, but it can only put out 20dbu.  So you'd be clipping on the output, which would look alot like what you saw.

The OVD lights wouldn't necessarily be lighting up.  Over lights can be set up to indicate input overload (too hot of a signal from the mics) or output overload (too much gain, so asking the preamp to put out a hotter signal than it is capable of) -- or both.  If the OVD lights are only designed to indicate clipping on the mic input side, they wouldn't light even if you were clipping on the output.

[NOLAfishwater]

I doubt it would be a loose battery cable -- either you'd be getting battery power or you wouldn't.

If you had it on high gain, that might definitely explain things.  If the mk5's have a sensitivity of 15mv/Pascal (a typical number), with SPLs at 118db (a bit high, but about right), if you then had the 'sax on high gain at about 2:00 (at least 36db of gain?) -- then you'd be asking the 'sax to put out a ~26dbu signal, but it can only put out 20dbu.  So you'd be clipping on the output, which would look alot like what you saw.

The OVD lights wouldn't necessarily be lighting up.  Over lights can be set up to indicate input overload (too hot of a signal from the mics) or output overload (too much gain, so asking the preamp to put out a hotter signal than it is capable of) -- or both.  If the OVD lights are only designed to indicate clipping on the mic input side, they wouldn't light even if you were clipping on the output.

yeah, I probably had it set on Hi gain.

[NOLAfishwater]

so I ran it Midside with MK21 as Mid. Actually taped in two different venues. The first was Tipitinas and ran 15' from stage with Lo Gain in the 10:30 position. That set looks fine with no clipping. Actually think I could have run a little hotter. The other venue was Le Bon Temps and I set up 2' from the band and reduced the the gain to 9:00 on the left channel and 7:30 on the right channel (which is almost all the way down). The Left or Mid brickwalled, but I didn't notice it on the R-44. Maybe I should run it in the Unity Gain setting when running on stage/stage. Will it hurt anything to change the gain setting when the unit is on?

[shaggy]

The other venue was Le Bon Temps and I set up 2' from the band and reduced the the gain to 9:00 on the left channel and 7:30 on the right channel (which is almost all the way down).

Something is strange with your Lemosax or the mk8 for it to be clipping all the way down at those gain levels unless somehow you were micing the monitors on stage with the mid-channel (perhaps you were closer than you thought to them and those things were cranked).  Then again, I have not run mine for MS and have no experience with it under those conditions.  Funny thing is the mk8 outputs even less than the mk21 (10 vs 13mA/Pascal).

Will it hurt anything to change the gain setting when the unit is on?

Nope, I have done it and I think the switch will 'click' or 'pop' very slightly.  You run it at unity gain setting and risk raising the noise floor significantly, according to Skalinder and my observations.

[NOLAfishwater]

The other venue was Le Bon Temps and I set up 2' from the band and reduced the the gain to 9:00 on the left channel and 7:30 on the right channel (which is almost all the way down).

Something is strange with your Lemosax or the mk8 for it to be clipping all the way down at those gain levels unless somehow you were micing the monitors on stage with the mid-channel (perhaps you were closer than you thought to them and those things were cranked).  Then again, I have not run mine for MS and have no experience with it under those conditions.  Funny thing is the mk8 outputs even less than the mk21 (10 vs 13mA/Pascal).

Will it hurt anything to change the gain setting when the unit is on?

Nope, I have done it and I think the switch will 'click' or 'pop' very slightly.  You run it at unity gain setting and risk raising the noise floor significantly, according to Skalinder and my observations.

Well, it was loud and I was set up 2' from the drum set. MK8 was not clipping it was the Left or Mid (MK21) that was clipping. I guess I was just too close. I was listening back to it and it doesn't really sound bad at all. Guess I will have to run it all the way down when running so close to the sound source on Lo Gain. Thats the good thing about running 4 channels  I can experiment. I wish I could monitor my levels better, but that is what you sacrifice when using the Lemosax. Really love how easy it is to set up. I have run the MK5 omnis through them on stage at 10:00 with no clipping. Maybe the Omnis can handle higher SPL's?