I received word from the first event that a mic is needed for announcements, as well as mine. My choices seem to be to use my Yamaha MGO6X with two mics, or simply run the second one from my Bose jack without effects, using my in-line volume control. The mixer seems to be the best option, after all, in this situation. It is still easier than bringing a gun to a knife fight with the PA4X.

Bernie, when I was working and someone needed a mic for announcements, I merely plugged my old Samson Q7 directly into the Bose mic input, no effects. Worked like a charm.

Good luck,

Gary

Yeah, on the whole, announcement mics should have no effects at all, even compression (or it will tend to feed back more than an uncompressed mic).

The only problem putting an announcement mic direct into a sub and stick PA is being able to quickly adjust the gain or turn it off if it starts to squeal. It’s not often easy to bend down and adjust on the sub if it’s behind you or anywhere out of reach. I would recommend the little mixer just for the announcement mic (if you normally run your vocal mic into your keyboard). Plus, you can get away with a cheaper mic (can’t tell you how often I’ve seen an announcement mic dropped or banged about!) if you have an EQ on the mixer.

As you can see in my setup video on You Tube, my L1 Compact was positioned within easy reach of my stool. If you failed to turn down the volume on the announcement mic, even the Samson Q7, which was very resistant to feedback, there seemed to be a looping problem when you resumed playing and singing through the keyboard. It only took me a few seconds to figure this out.

Good luck,

Gary

I am glad to hear it, as I have never used the direct input. As far a volume control is concerned, as I mentioned, I have a volume attenuator that works well, and fits onto the mic before the cable.

http://www.blowsmeaway.com/xlr.html

Genos has a built in mixer…most arrangers do…right?

I probably missed something as I didn’t read the entire thread.

😊

Yes, all arrangers have built in mixers of sorts, but I was wondering about total headroom with, and without an external mixer. The consensus is to increase the volume on my Bose, then adjust with keyboard controls.

Bernie, the keyboard provides sufficient output to power your Bose L1 Compact without distortion. I rarely turned my PSR-S050 master volume above the 1-O'clock position, and rarely turned the L1 Compact above the 12-O'clock position for venues with 80 to 100 ppl in the room, even those with high ceilings and lots of sound absorbing material on the walls. Unfortunately, I no longer travel to your part of the world, or I would be able to demonstrate this in person for you. Eddie Shoemaker lives in Stuart, which is all the way on the other coast from you, but I'm sure he could help you set everything up as well.

I think you are worrying about a problem that really does not exist.

Good luck,

Gary

You might want to check your manual for what is the “unity gain“ setting of the PA inputs. Basically, what this does is set your PA up so that it isn’t attenuating your input signal, nor is it boosting it which may introduce some additional noise.

Now try adjusting the volume with the keyboard’s outputs and see if that gives you sufficient volume for the venue. This should, in theory, give you the best signal to noise ratio for your system overall. There is nothing to gain by putting a super hot signal in and turning it down, but there is plenty to lose by putting a too quiet signal in, and then boosting it with additional amplification. Essentially, you are shooting for the PA to work at its optimal level, which is usually the unity gain point.

Generally, most arrangers do not introduce additional noise unless it is in the last 10% of the volume knobs travel. I’d generally tend to not try to push the keyboard past the 75% to 80% volume points. But at unity gain in most PAs other than really, really small ones, this is MORE than sufficient for most gigs.

Thank you for the additional information. My questions were very well answered. My last post was in response to Guitpic 1 question. I am good to go.