Topic: KM140 > MV-100 settings for QOTSA?

[Sebastian]

Hi!

Seems like I'll be recording Queens of the Stone Age in about two weeks (August 30) with a borrowed rig, namely KM140s > Beyer MV-100 > SBM-1 > M1.
Since I've never used that rig, it would be nice if someone could tell me which settings on the MV-100 will probably work best for this kind of music.

Pictures of the venue are available here:
www.theaterhaus.com/easync/easync_page.php?id=1,8,15&page=veranstaltungsort.htm

Thanks in advance for *any* advice.
-Sebastian

[Nick Graham]

I'd run the MV100 as low as possible, and crank the SBM1.

I've never ran the Beyer, but I have ran several other pres and SBM1 behind the Neumanns, and always preferred the sound with pre set low and the SBM1 wide open.

[Tim]

you'll probably have to run the 10db pad on the neumann's to succesfully run it with the beyer

20db on the beyer and the sbm1 as wide open as possible

[Sebastian]

Thanks for the fast replies! They're much appreciated.

[leegeddy]

you'll probably have to run the 10db pad on the neumann's to succesfully run it with the beyer

20db on the beyer and the sbm1 as wide open as possible

i agree totally. run the 10db pad on the km100 bodies, 20db gain (minimum allowed) on the mv100 and adjust on the sbm.

i ran km140>mv100>sbm last night at a fairly loud outdoor show and i had the sbm dials on or about 3. there, the levels on my dat were peaking at 0db.

i'm definitely going to mod my mv-100 for a much lower gain since the minimum 20db is still too high for loud shows.

marc

[bluegrass_brad]

you'll probably have to run the 10db pad on the neumann's to succesfully run it with the beyer

20db on the beyer and the sbm1 as wide open as possible

i agree totally. run the 10db pad on the km100 bodies, 20db gain (minimum allowed) on the mv100 and adjust on the sbm.

i ran km140>mv100>sbm last night at a fairly loud outdoor show and i had the sbm dials on or about 3. there, the levels on my dat were peaking at 0db.

i'm definitely going to mod my mv-100 for a much lower gain since the minimum 20db is still too high for loud shows.

marc

When I owned an MV100 I was also considering this.  i found a webpage where a guy had replaced the 20/40/60 db switch to  variable gain knob's which went from 0 to 60db.  I wish I still had the link.  He layed it out similarly to the SXM2.

[leegeddy]

you'll probably have to run the 10db pad on the neumann's to succesfully run it with the beyer

20db on the beyer and the sbm1 as wide open as possible

i agree totally. run the 10db pad on the km100 bodies, 20db gain (minimum allowed) on the mv100 and adjust on the sbm.

i ran km140>mv100>sbm last night at a fairly loud outdoor show and i had the sbm dials on or about 3. there, the levels on my dat were peaking at 0db.

i'm definitely going to mod my mv-100 for a much lower gain since the minimum 20db is still too high for loud shows.

marc

When I owned an MV100 I was also considering this.  i found a webpage where a guy had replaced the 20/40/60 db switch to  variable gain knob's which went from 0 to 60db.  I wish I still had the link.  He layed it out similarly to the SXM2.

i think it's a neccessity for loud shows to have lower gain (especially running hot mics).

i have the full schematic of the mv-100 and modding the gain structure is not too difficult (besides from working with surface mount resistors).  i do want to install a variable gain knob so i can fine tune left/right gain.

marc

[Teen Age Riot]

Welcome on board, Sebastian! +T to get you started.
Go, team Germany!

[JAH]

you'll probably have to run the 10db pad on the neumann's to succesfully run it with the beyer

20db on the beyer and the sbm1 as wide open as possible

i agree totally. run the 10db pad on the km100 bodies, 20db gain (minimum allowed) on the mv100 and adjust on the sbm.

i ran km140>mv100>sbm last night at a fairly loud outdoor show and i had the sbm dials on or about 3. there, the levels on my dat were peaking at 0db.

i'm definitely going to mod my mv-100 for a much lower gain since the minimum 20db is still too high for loud shows.

marc

That must have been a hot show indeed....Last time I ran my sbm was at the 9:30 club w/ the 148 in front of it and the levels were good with the sbm around 5.

you'll probably have to run the 10db pad on the neumann's to succesfully run it with the beyer

20db on the beyer and the sbm1 as wide open as possible

To be safe run the pad on the bodies as suggested above.  If it wasn't needed, then you will just have to run the sbm a little hotter which is good.

[Todd R]

Yep, as everyone is already saying, I'd definitely run the -10db pad on the 140s.  Pretty much a necessity I found with the MV100, though I only had km184s at the time, so I had to go with -10db attenuator cables.  The MV100 can take a pretty hot mic signal on the input side, but it can brickwall fairly easily on the output side.  With a minimum of 20db gain and with loud PA recording, I found I was brickwalling on the output pretty often with the 184s.  Solved the problem when using -10db attenuator cables, so I would definitely recommend engaging the pads on the 140s.

I decided to get rid of the attenuator cables and just mod my MV100.  So I changed out the gain setting resistors in mine so that it had something like a choice of 12db-19db-27db of gain (forget which exactly at this point).

Marc -- I would definitely recommend changing the gain on yours.  With the gain change and with changing out the AD SSM2017 preamp chips for the Burr-Brown replacements, that would be a really nice stealth preamp.  Sorry, I'm not of much use with the specifics, I did my mod 4 years ago and I really don't remember.  I'm sure with the schematics it should be easy enough.  I never had them, but as I recall, it seemed like the 2017's in the MV100 didn't use three completely separate resistors for the 3 gain choices, but rather did something like resistor1 for gain setting 1, resistor1 in parallel with resistor2 for gain setting 2, and resistor1 in parallel with resistor2 in parallel with resistor3 for gain setting 3.  It made it a bit of a pain to choose resistors for getting exactly the gain settings I wanted.  It was easy enough though to remove the surface mount resistors and replace them on the existing circuit board pads with regular (thru hole) metal resistors.

[Sebastian]

Again, thanks to everyone on this thread for helping me with finding the right settings for the Neumanns and the Beyer.

Here are my two most recent QOTSA masters for you to download as a thank you. They are both from the same show. One is a good AUD, the other one a not very well mixed FM:
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=47431 (AUD, OKM-IIr > SBM1 > M1)
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=55141 (Analog FM)

[leegeddy]

Yep, as everyone is already saying, I'd definitely run the -10db pad on the 140s.  Pretty much a necessity I found with the MV100, though I only had km184s at the time, so I had to go with -10db attenuator cables.  The MV100 can take a pretty hot mic signal on the input side, but it can brickwall fairly easily on the output side.  With a minimum of 20db gain and with loud PA recording, I found I was brickwalling on the output pretty often with the 184s.  Solved the problem when using -10db attenuator cables, so I would definitely recommend engaging the pads on the 140s.

I decided to get rid of the attenuator cables and just mod my MV100.  So I changed out the gain setting resistors in mine so that it had something like a choice of 12db-19db-27db of gain (forget which exactly at this point).

Marc -- I would definitely recommend changing the gain on yours.  With the gain change and with changing out the AD SSM2017 preamp chips for the Burr-Brown replacements, that would be a really nice stealth preamp.  Sorry, I'm not of much use with the specifics, I did my mod 4 years ago and I really don't remember.  I'm sure with the schematics it should be easy enough.  I never had them, but as I recall, it seemed like the 2017's in the MV100 didn't use three completely separate resistors for the 3 gain choices, but rather did something like resistor1 for gain setting 1, resistor1 in parallel with resistor2 for gain setting 2, and resistor1 in parallel with resistor2 in parallel with resistor3 for gain setting 3.  It made it a bit of a pain to choose resistors for getting exactly the gain settings I wanted.  It was easy enough though to remove the surface mount resistors and replace them on the existing circuit board pads with regular (thru hole) metal resistors.

todd;

i'm definitely going to mod the gain stage. i need the lowest gain possible so i don't have to run the 10db pad on the km100 bodies, and still manage to obtain good levels to feed the sbm1.

you're right on about the 3 gain settings being governed by 3 resistors. i never run the 40db gain so, basically i'll just mod the 1st gain stage to something like 5dB > 20dB via a gain pot for "trim" like gain. that would give me plenty of room to run the neumanns or the at853 mics.

marc

[marc0789]

you'll probably have to run the 10db pad on the neumann's to succesfully run it with the beyer

20db on the beyer and the sbm1 as wide open as possible

yep. if you don't hit the pads for qotsa, the beyer is gonna clip for sure. Hell, I just barely avoided clips at red rocks, and that was with the low output dpas from 100' or whatever.