Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5

[morst]

In my opinion this is nonsense.


It works fine in low power mode, just as it's been engineered to.


Volts are volts. Current is current.

Using a USB-A battery is a very bad idea.

Follow the SD instructions and use an approved USB-C battery.

Why do you say it's a bad idea?

I've run mine with just 2 mics powered by a small USB battery (USB-A > USB-C), in stealth situations. No issues at all. Actually more reliable than the approved battery.

I'm not going to use that battery all the time, but it works. I find the USB-C > USB-C connection on the battery to be less reliable when it's in a pocket, and I only stealth with 2 mics.

In my opinion, it's a bad idea because a usb-c device, designed to run on usb-c batteries, will have a much higher likelihood of failure when run off of a usb-a battery. Why risk it?

I'd advise use of a right angle usb-c cable on the battery side. That way you can use a rubber band or gaf tape as a backup there if you still have issues.

Alternatively, I use this when the big anker is too big: https://www.ebay.com/itm/HyperGear-USB-C-QC-2-0-Power-Bank-High-Capacity-12000mAh-Portable-Battery-and/282902414767?epid=1792348047&hash=item41de4c45af:g:KwUAAOSw6T9auuBy

For OTS, I leave the smaller hypergear in the bag as a backup or to charge my phone. It runs the mixpre6 6 channels for at least 5 hours.

[jcable77]

Anybody run talentcells with the hawkswoods sd-1 hirose adapter? Hawkswoods site says 10-20v input is good. That was my plan initially when i bought the mp, as i have a bunch of them. Any glitches if anybody has any experience? Seems like a great solid way to go imo.

[rippleish20]

Anybody run talentcells with the hawkswoods sd-1 hirose adapter? Hawkswoods site says 10-20v input is good. That was my plan initially when i bought the mp, as i have a bunch of them. Any glitches if anybody has any experience? Seems like a great solid way to go imo.

I have a hawkwoods fake battery sled with 12v adapter (they sold these initially but dropped them in favor of the SD-1 etc) and talentcells work fine. I also have a 10-T and it works with telentcells. The issue I have had with Telentcells is that the 12v port is slightly wider than other batteries I have and both of the hirose to 12v barrel cables I have fit loosely into the talentcell. I actuallu modded one of my my telentcells with a locking 12v connector...

[dallman]

In my opinion this is nonsense.


It works fine in low power mode, just as it's been engineered to.


Volts are volts. Current is current.

I do not disagree, as you are correct, but some of the disagreement may be because we have 2 different situations that people are referring to or thinking about when they talk of their experience or approach to powering the deck:

If you are running 2 channels, the deck is fine with a USB A battery. Safety mode is safe and fine if the deck is run on 2 channels and that is how it was designed.

I think most people purchase the MixPre 6 with the idea of running multiple channels, and in that situation it is best to use a USB C output battery as it has greater output that the deck requires. So some of the advice given on running the higher output batteries, especially for new users is based on this assumption which may or not be correct. Now too, because there are now plenty of inexpensive and more portable USB C battery options, it makes sense, but may not be for everybody, or surely is not required if you plan to only run 2 channels.

[morst]

I had a bad experience with my MixPre6 today. After soundcheck, I returned to my machine in advance of showtime, and the SD gave me a card error. I removed and reinserted the card, then it said BAD CARD.


This is the SD 32 GB card. YEAH, the one with the Sound Devices branding, which is the ONLY recommended card for this unit. I have a spare, but I used a Sandisk today and it seemed to go fine.


But I'm not pleased.

[Chuck]

I had a bad experience with my MixPre6 today. After soundcheck, I returned to my machine in advance of showtime, and the SD gave me a card error. I removed and reinserted the card, then it said BAD CARD.


This is the SD 32 GB card. YEAH, the one with the Sound Devices branding, which is the ONLY recommended card for this unit. I have a spare, but I used a Sandisk today and it seemed to go fine.


But I'm not pleased.

Whoa... that's not good.

[morst]

Whoa... that's not good.

I concur. I was able to retrieve the soundcheck track from the "bad card" and my mac OS Disk Utility didn't detect a problem with the card itself.


I will note that the error occurred right as I pressed the REC button. I let my machine name the files with sequential numbers, and the soundcheck was MixPre-17, #18 does not exist, and then the Sandisk card contains files starting with #19.


No other issues with the deck all night. I will say it was in the hot sun, approx 100 degrees F.


Also, note that if you ever are patching out of a digital mixing console, do NOT leave a towel blocking the fan for the board. The computer in the board will shut down due to heat! (this happened between soundcheck and the set, right before I returned to the card issue)

[jcable77]

Anybody run talentcells with the hawkswoods sd-1 hirose adapter? Hawkswoods site says 10-20v input is good. That was my plan initially when i bought the mp, as i have a bunch of them. Any glitches if anybody has any experience? Seems like a great solid way to go imo.

I have a hawkwoods fake battery sled with 12v adapter (they sold these initially but dropped them in favor of the SD-1 etc) and talentcells work fine. I also have a 10-T and it works with telentcells. The issue I have had with Telentcells is that the 12v port is slightly wider than other batteries I have and both of the hirose to 12v barrel cables I have fit loosely into the talentcell. I actuallu modded one of my my telentcells with a locking 12v connector...

Nice. Good news. I already have the hirose cable Ted made me for my sd302 so I know it fits well in my talentcell ports. Maiden voyage last night went well I think. Used the usb c>c with that juice power battery.
https://archive.org/details/KungFu2018-08-31

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

I had my first issue with my MP6 last night. Minor, but figured I'd share just in case anyone else has the same issue.

I set up my rig for Phish last night. Probably an hour between when I turned everything on and it was time to hit record. When I did the Record button wouldn't respond. Tried a few times and then power cycled the MP6. After that it worked fine for the rest of the night (I did start it extra early for Set 2 just in case it did it again).

[jbell]

What firmware??

I had my first issue with my MP6 last night. Minor, but figured I'd share just in case anyone else has the same issue.

I set up my rig for Phish last night. Probably an hour between when I turned everything on and it was time to hit record. When I did the Record button wouldn't respond. Tried a few times and then power cycled the MP6. After that it worked fine for the rest of the night (I did start it extra early for Set 2 just in case it did it again).

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

What firmware??

I had my first issue with my MP6 last night. Minor, but figured I'd share just in case anyone else has the same issue.

I set up my rig for Phish last night. Probably an hour between when I turned everything on and it was time to hit record. When I did the Record button wouldn't respond. Tried a few times and then power cycled the MP6. After that it worked fine for the rest of the night (I did start it extra early for Set 2 just in case it did it again).

Current. 2.21

[relefunt]

I had a bad experience with my MixPre6 today. After soundcheck, I returned to my machine in advance of showtime, and the SD gave me a card error. I removed and reinserted the card, then it said BAD CARD.


This is the SD 32 GB card. YEAH, the one with the Sound Devices branding, which is the ONLY recommended card for this unit. I have a spare, but I used a Sandisk today and it seemed to go fine.


But I'm not pleased.

Thanks for letting us know about this.

I hope you will contact Sound Devices customer Service and let us know what happens after that. If I were in charge of SD, I would not be happy about something with the name of my company on it failing. I would definitely want my people testing out this particular card to find out (if possible) what happened. They say on their website that they extensively test these cards and it only makes sense that they would.

[junkyardt]

yikes...i didn't go with the SD branded card mainly because they only offer 32gb and i wanted more than that in case i would ever record all 6 channels at 24/96 several nights in a row, to not feel like i had to immediately transfer every night. went with a 64gb sandisk extreme pro sdxc and it hasn't given me any issues. the card malfunction plus the unresponsive record button mentioned above are definitely a little concerning.

[morst]

I hope you will contact Sound Devices customer Service and let us know what happens after that.

Yes, I am planning to, after the end of the holiday weekend. Just got home from the road trip.


I figure they'll want to look at the card. Maybe even the deck, WTF???

[spyder9]

I've been using Tekkeon MP3300's with my MP6 with great success.  I use the MX-Powersled Hirose adapter to get the job done.