how many of you use a attenuator with the AD-20?

[setboy]

how about it guys do you use attenuators of any kind with the AD-20?


Raphael

[pfife]

almost all the time.  only when I am taping acoustic music is when I don't have to.

[spyder9]

Me too!  But only when I'm using shotguns.  I don't use any for using minis.  Not needed.  See rig below.

[keepongoin]

I never have... acoustic music or electric music... have not needed to.

[pfife]

I never have... acoustic music or electric music... have not needed to.

Do you run a battery box in front of the ad-20?  I sure do wish I didn't have to use one.

[musicsherlock]

I'm thinking about heading towards attenuators.  Just got my JB3 so I'll need to test run it without attenuators first.

[pfife]

don't use them if you don't need em.   When I look at my waveforms, you can see where they all look chopped off because of the attenuator- looks grim.

I am just completely confused as to why some people need them, and some don't.

To those of you that are not using them- if you go bb->ad-20 -> recorder, are your levels still hot as all hell?

[zhianosatch]

when i had mine, yes.

[hexyjones]

What are these Battery Boxes? It sounds like something that is producing a Line level rather than a Mic Level...? Thus the hot levels...

[pfife]

What are these Battery Boxes? It sounds like something that is producing a Line level rather than a Mic Level...? Thus the hot levels...

I think you are correct, but I also think that my mics would not work without them.  I always think of it like phantom power, but not as much power.  I know that when I plugged my mics into a mic input on my old MD, it sounded like total shit, and I needed a battery box, and use the line in.

So, you think if I just dropped the battery box and went mics -> ad-20 -> NJB3, the additional 17db of gain would be good enough?  I'll have to test that.

[musicsherlock]

When I use my stealth set-up (CSB>BB>AD-2->MD) I have no problems with the levels at all. Yet, I have more experience with that set up.

I only used my AKG's once with the AD-20 (and the levels were quite hot!) and have yet to use the JB3 so I'll have to run some tests first.  Has anyone used the -10dB option on the AKG 480's? This is itself an attenuator, would you expect to see similar "deadend" waveforms as pfife describes?

[hexyjones]

When I use my stealth set-up (CSB>BB>AD-2->MD) I have no problems with the levels at all. Yet, I have more experience with that set up.

I only used my AKG's once with the AD-20 (and the levels were quite hot!) and have yet to use the JB3 so I'll have to run some tests first.  Has anyone used the -10dB option on the AKG 480's? This is itself an attenuator, would you expect to see similar "deadend" waveforms as pfife describes?

Right- but your battery box may be different...perhaps passing the signal at mic level...

[hexyjones]

What are these Battery Boxes? It sounds like something that is producing a Line level rather than a Mic Level...? Thus the hot levels...

I think you are correct, but I also think that my mics would not work without them.  I always think of it like phantom power, but not as much power.  I know that when I plugged my mics into a mic input on my old MD, it sounded like total shit, and I needed a battery box, and use the line in.

So, you think if I just dropped the battery box and went mics -> ad-20 -> NJB3, the additional 17db of gain would be good enough?  I'll have to test that.

I think a lot of these "battery box" things were made to overcome the shitty mic pres built into most portables. The battery box - not only powered your mics - but also passed the signal at line level...so you wouldn't have to use the "mic in." Line level is way too hot for a mic preamp...

And you are correct...you need the battery box to power the mics...they wont work at all without it...you just need a battery box that outputs at mic level...not line.

[jk labs]

don't use them if you don't need em.   When I look at my waveforms, you can see where they all look chopped off because of the attenuator- looks grim.

I am just completely confused as to why some people need them, and some don't.

To those of you that are not using them- if you go bb->ad-20 -> recorder, are your levels still hot as all hell?

Levels:
It boils down to the sensitivity of the mics themselves and the implementation of the battery box.
When you design the batterybox you make a decision as to the level it is to output (not valid for all
batteryboxes. It depends on the mics). 

[dklein]

...and I think we're coming to the conclusion that the SP battery box seems to generate higher output than others.  We have a happy CSB user with an SP battery box yet I can tell you that with the Core Sound battery box the CSBs are not coming anywhere near line level (generally 20-30 dB short).

Now I'm curious what the r/c values are in the SP box since there's no gain yet it's swinging such high output.