Topic: Battery Box --> UA5

[blu666z]

Surely if I ask enough newbie question, I will run out at some point.  Anyway, right now I run my mics into a SP battery box with bass roll-off and a 9V battery.  This is my pre-amp right?  So when I get my UA-5 will I still need to run through this?  I know it has phantom power but its 48v right?

-Kevin

[Brian Skalinder]

Surely if I ask enough newbie question, I will run out at some point.  Anyway, right now I run my mics into a SP battery box with bass roll-off and a 9V battery.  This is my pre-amp right?  So when I get my UA-5 will I still need to run through this?  I know it has phantom power but its 48v right?

Keep asking, that's how people learn, and it's one of the primary reasons this forum exists.  

Without knowing specifically which battery box and mics you have, I believe the answer is:  your SP battery box provides 9v of phantom power to your mics but is not a preamp (and obviously not an ADC).

The UA5 provides 48v phantom power and a preamp and an ADC.  I believe you will fry your SP mics if you feed them 48v of phantom power from the UA5.

FWIW, between your mics and your digital storage medium, you need three things:

[1]  power for the mics
[2]  gain
[3]  analog to digital conversion

Your SP battery box is providing [1].  Other standalone phantom power devices fulfilling this function include:  Denecke PS-2, AKG B18, Stewart BPS-1.  But these all provide 48v phantom power instead of 9v like your SP box.

Typically, [1] and [2] are packaged together in outboard preamps:  Lunatec V2, Sonosax SX-M2, Sound Devices MP2, etc.

Sometimes, [2] and [3] are packaged together:  Denecke AD-20.

And sometimes, [1], [2], and [3] are packaged together:  Lunatec V3, Apogee Minime, Apogee AD1K, Edirol UA5.

[nickgregory]

Surely if I ask enough newbie question, I will run out at some point.  Anyway, right now I run my mics into a SP battery box with bass roll-off and a 9V battery.  This is my pre-amp right?  So when I get my UA-5 will I still need to run through this?  I know it has phantom power but its 48v right?

Keep asking, that's how people learn, and it's one of the primary reasons this forum exists.  

Without knowing specifically which battery box and mics you have, I believe the answer is:  your SP battery box provides 9v of phantom power to your mics but is not a preamp (and obviously not an ADC).

The UA5 provides 48v phantom power and a preamp and an ADC.  I believe you will fry your SP mics if you feed them 48v of phantom power from the UA5.

FWIW, between your mics and your digital storage medium, you need three things:

[1]  power for the mics
[2]  gain
[3]  analog to digital conversion

Your SP battery box is providing [1].  Other standalone phantom power devices fulfilling this function include:  Denecke PS-2, AKG B18, Stewart BPS-1.  But these all provide 48v phantom power instead of 9v like your SP box.

Typically, [1] and [2] are packaged together in outboard preamps:  Lunatec V2, Sonosax SX-M2, Sound Devices MP2, etc.

Sometimes, [2] and [3] are packaged together:  Denecke AD-20.

And sometimes, [1], [2], and [3] are packaged together:  Lunatec V3, Apogee Minime, Apogee AD1K, Edirol UA5.

Brian is right...I have heard stories of folks taking their AT element based SP mic's, feeding them 48V, and hearing them crackle...not a good sound.  I believe that Sound Pro's has wired them so that they can't accept anything above what they would get from the SP Batt Box.  However, if you were to use the AT mic's based on the same capsule's, their spec's would accept 48V...just the way they are wired.

But with this being said, you should be able to shut off the phantom power option of the UA-5, and you will get pre-amp and A/D conversion done that will sound better than feeding the batt box directly to your DAT.

Nick

[blu666z]

The battery box I have: http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?category=search&item=SP-SPSB-7&type=store

You are correct that it is not a pre-amp.  In another thread, I figured out I would need to get an 1/8" Female Stereo to Dual XLR to go from my battery box to my UA-5.  So will it be possible to me to use it as a pre-amp and A/D but NOT for phantom power?  I guess I should wait until I have my UA-5 in hand and can look at it myself before I ask all these questions but the anticipation kills me.  

+T for the help and not making me feel stupid!

-Kevin

[blu666z]

But with this being said, you should be able to shut off the phantom power option of the UA-5, and you will get pre-amp and A/D conversion done that will sound better than feeding the batt box directly to your DAT.

Nick

Looks like we were posting at the same time.  Thanks to you also.  +T

-Kevin

[blu666z]

Just talked to Jim @ Oade.  There is a switch on the front to turn off the phantom power.  Easy enough.

-Kevin

[greenone]

In another thread, I figured out I would need to get an 1/8" Female Stereo to Dual XLR to go from my battery box to my UA-5.

From looking at the UA-5, there's also RCA's in the back that you can use, but you can't adjust each channel individually - there's just one pot for both. Not sure if you'd wanna use that, but in a pinch, if you don't have that 1/8" to dual XLR, it's a temporary solution...

--Dave

[blu666z]

From looking at the UA-5, there's also RCA's in the back that you can use, but you can't adjust each channel individually - there's just one pot for both. Not sure if you'd wanna use that, but in a pinch, if you don't have that 1/8" to dual XLR, it's a temporary solution...

--Dave

I remember something about the digi-mod disabling something in the back....not sure if it was the RCAs or not.

-Kevin

[ducati]

Analog ins work on the modded UA5, analog outs do not.

[blu666z]

Analog ins work on the modded UA5, analog outs do not.

Cool.

-Kevin

[Brian Skalinder]

Analog ins work on the modded UA5, analog outs do not.

I don't think this is strictly true.

I believe the Oade UA5 digi mod disables the ability to playback USB > UA5 > analog outs.  But I think if the the incoming signal is analog, the analog outs still work.

The digi-modded UA5's RCA inputs on the back panel are definitely fully functional - some folks have gone mic-in and RCA-in on the back panel for mixing AUD/SBD.

And I think still others have gone mic-in, analog out to test just the UA5 pre with an external ADC.  Been a while since I've had my UA5 to play around with (my bro's got it), so I'm not 100% sure.

Can someone with a modded UA5 confirm?

[ducati]

I can't confirm, but I can deny...   The analog outs don't work at all.  Ever.  No analog out, no matter if you go digi in, or analog in..!

Analog ins work fine, I have recorded LPs > Laptop this way...  So yes, they will still work when using the UA5 as a quasi-mixer.

[blu666z]

You have to delay in there somewhere if your doing a 'live' matrix right?

-Kevin

[blu666z]

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?category=250&item=SP-XLRM-MINI-2&type=store

This is the cable I am gonna need.  I know I have seen you all talk a lot about high quality cables.  Does this one look decent?  Emailed Oade and they don't have exactly what I need.  All they have is a male to dual XLRs.

-Kevin

[ducati]

I had one when I used my AD-20, and it worked A-OK!  It might not be the most highend cable, but it seemed to work just fine.