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Post subject: Pro 500 lacks power
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:37 pm
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My band, two acoustic guitars and an acoustic bass guitar (one acoustic goes through the PA, along with 3 voices) did a gig at a small club the other night. The place was only half full, so not may people. But I was really maxing out the volume!!!! It just seems like there's not a lot of power to this thing. The manager of the place actually asked us to turn the volume UP!!!!! When I think of 500 watts, I certainly think there should be plenty of power in reserve for such a small room. I'm playing thru a blues junior that could tear the place down. What am I missing here? Is there a way to connect an external power amp to get more out of the pa? We're happy with the quality of the sound, but very disappointed at the limited volume. Please help.....

Ed


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Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:11 pm
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Sorry to hear about that.

Did you plug the guitar into the line inputs? Did you plug in the microphones into the microphone (XLR) inputs? Was it that the acoustic guitar wasn't loud enough or that everything wasn't loud enough?

I wonder if you thought the system wasn't loud enough because you adjusted the microphone volumes due to the guitar signal not being loud enough. If that's the case you will need to get a DI box, passive should be ok, and plug your guitar into the DI box and then the output of the DI box into the XLR input of the Passport system. The 1/4" jacks are line inputs not instrument inputs.

I don't know how big the club was that you played in but the 500 Pro should be plenty loud enough for smaller gigs.

Hope this helps!

Ken

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Ken Porter
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Research & Development
Fender Musical Instruments Corp.
www.fender.com

Proud to be a Fender band member since 1997
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Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:58 am
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Ken thanks for getting back....I was wrong in saying we plugged an acoustic into the PA, it was a strat. Mics were plugged into the XLR inputs, and we were using Beyer Dynamic mics, which are far superior to the Shure SM58s as far as response and feedback prevention. I had bought one in my band and everyone ended up buying it because my mic was overpowering them. No, the problem seems to be raw power from the Passport. I don't know how the power is rated, but the room was small and the PA just didn't seem to have enough 'push' to it. Is it possible to connect an external power amp to it? Would a subwoofer add anything to the overall volume of the system?

Ed


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Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:20 am
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Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:39 pm
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Hi Ed,

In regards to plugging in a Strat directly into the Passport, the Passport will not have enough gain for a low level high impedance guitar. The 1/4" jacks are line level input jacks and should be used with with other devices that have a line level output, i.e a guitar or bass pre-amp.

What were your channel levels set to on the Passport for the mics? The fact that you said you plugged in a Strat into the Passport makes me think that the channel levels for the mics were set pretty low to have a balanced overall mix, which then tells me that the master volume couldn't provide enough gain because of this. The reason I am assuming this is simply because we are using the 500 Pro for company functions with several hundred people in large areas including outside next to a freeway. The Passport 500 Pro has no problem cutting through. I and several other Fender employees are using it for band rehearsals and small gigs without a problem. That's why I am assuming that the issue was the one I mentioned above. As I said the 500 Pro should be plenty loud. Please let me know what your channel settings were set to in regards to the Beyer Dynamic mics.

To answer your other question, in theory you could connect a power amp to the pre-out/power amp in, but a) that would defeat the purpose of a portable PA and b) you should be very careful by not plugging in the external power amp output into the power amp of the 500 Pro.

Ken

_________________
_______________________________________
Ken Porter
Director, Audio Electronics R&D
Research & Development
Fender Musical Instruments Corp.
www.fender.com

Proud to be a Fender band member since 1997
_______________________________________


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