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Post subject: Fender Passport 500 clipping at half volume
Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:25 pm
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I am a mobile DJ and I am having a serious issue with the Passport 500. I purchased this system thinking I could pump some music out of it being that it was 500 watts. I am finding that my music (depending on the bass) is clipping at sometimes half level volume. I have a Sony Vaio and Hercules RMX mixer as my set up to plug into the Passport System. I consulted the manual to no avail. I need some tips or a location I can take it to see if it is faulty. I have used this system a total of 4 times and each time I have had the same problem. I have to play very low music with just about no bass. Any help is appreciated. :D


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Post subject: Re: Fender Passport 500 clipping at half volume
Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 8:36 am
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Hi. I love mine.
Have the same Passport 500w model.
But, this is not a party amp.
Maybe in a living room.
But, not for dancing at a wedding or club.
Just not strong enough.
If you have to crank it, you'll have problems.
It is just a backup system.
It really is not much of a mixer as it has six plus channels
to control by knobs. No left/right mixing.

But, my wireless mics work perfect and my computers
go from 1/8th" to the 1/4th" ports.
The XLR ports are perfect.
The USB & Reverb options are perfect.

I believe you have need for a much more powerful system.
Just look at the "lean & light" speakers.
The speaker cable is thin.

Remember, 500w needs amps and properly matched ohms
to drive powerful speakers. This amp does not have the goods.
And, you'll blow it trying to make it into something it is not.

Really, think of this amp as a great boombox with DJ, XLR, Mic, Tone & reverb options
Topspcore :)

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Post subject: Re: Fender Passport 500 clipping at half volume
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 2:12 pm
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The 500 has plenty of power for a room up to a typical high school gym, for acoustic music and for a lot of rock and roll, but if you want butt-kicking bass, you should add a powered sub-woofer.

Keep in mind that it takes a lot of watts to push a big, bass speaker in and out. It takes a lot more watts than it does to play higher pitches at volume.

If you get an external, "active" or "powered" sub-woofer, the 500 will pass the bass notes on to the SUB OUT port and apply all of its 500 watts to the mid-range and high notes. You'll notice that the output from the speakers will be louder and clearer with the sub-woofer connected than with it unplugged.

My personal experience is with a 400 watt subwoofer. It significantly improves the sound for house music. Night and day.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Passport 500 clipping at half volume
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:26 am
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ContraCaller wrote:
The 500 has plenty of power for a room up to a typical high school gym, for acoustic music and for a lot of rock and roll, but if you want butt-kicking bass, you should add a powered sub-woofer.
Keep in mind that it takes a lot of watts to push a big, bass speaker in and out. It takes a lot more watts than it does to play higher pitches at volume.
If you get an external, "active" or "powered" sub-woofer, the 500 will pass the bass notes on to the SUB OUT port and apply all of its 500 watts to the mid-range and high notes. You'll notice that the output from the speakers will be louder and clearer with the sub-woofer connected than with it unplugged.
My personal experience is with a 400 watt subwoofer. It significantly improves the sound for house music. Night and day.



Hold on. You claim your Passport with each cabinet holding an eight inch speak
can be useful for a High School Basketball Gym????

I have used mine at over 100 gigs.
I would not trust it to manage the volume needed in front of a crowded dance floor
as the dancers away from the speakes always want more volume.

In fact. I try not to use mine at gigs with dancing.
Out door microphones and background music = Passport 500 is perfect.
Indoor Greeting & Dinner hours = Passport is perfect.
Announcements & Speeches = Passport is perfect.
But in a Medium to Large dance or noisy loud gig = Passport 500 will get complaints.
In a room with lots of carpeting, drapes, covered chairs and tableclothed covered tables,
the Passport 500's output gets absorbed = Passport 500 will get complaints.

I cannot imagine doing a school dance at a gym with a Passport 500.
I own five other PA Systems that do the job.

To me, the Passport is perfect for certain situations if you know ahead of time room logistics
and the PA system's needs. The Passport 500 is light, self-contained and easy to set-up.
But, otherwise, I cannot ever go wrong with a more powerful system.
Toppscore.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Passport 500 clipping at half volume
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:32 am
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Unless there is something wrong with the Passport 500,
clipping at "5" on your controls is not good.
Also, each channel has volume and tone controls
and there is a master volume control on top.
If you turn the channel controls to 10 and the top to 5, you'll get clipping.

To me, the Passport 500 is perfect for outdoor background and small indoor gigs.
If I/you use it for dancing, the Passport typically will not have the power
to drive the eight inch speaker. Remember, those speakers only use cables
with RCA thickness, even though the cable end w/1/4" thickness.

I think of the Passport 500 as a huge boombox.
I would never manage an event with the Passport 500, unless
it was a very small room and the dance floor was not overly crowded.
Toppscore

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Post subject: Re: Fender Passport 500 clipping at half volume
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 6:56 pm
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Clipping is a function of the combination of the signal level entering the mixer, and the volume level set for the channel. If you are DJing, then you have a sound source. That sound source has a volume control. Cranking it all the way up at the source can result in clipping within the sound source itself, if the equipment is not well engineered. This can happen before the signal ever gets down the wire to the Passport.

I have this problem with one DJ with a computer that has a sub-optimal sound card. When he keeps his volume in the middle of the range, I can bring the volume up enough and keep the sound clear. When he cranks up his volume at the source, my system plays mud, because it is accurately magnifying the mud it is receiving.

So, start out with everything set to "noon" or "5" or "knob pointing up" or whatever you want to call it. Levels are not labeled on the Passport.

If the source is a computer, set the volume level to 5 out of ten starting there, too. EVERYTHING starts best in the middle of its volume range. You'll get the cleanest signal this way.

Now, look at the color of the dot at the top of the channel on the Passport you are playing through. Black means no signal. Green means signal (but doesn't really tell you much about how loud). Yellow means that it's getting almost loud enough to clip. Red means it is clipping.

Bring up the volume on the channel and the source while making sure that the volume level merely visits yellow, but mostly lives in green. This will be the loudest, clean sound you can get. Now, adjust the Master Volume (labeled "VOLUME" on the Passport) until you have the volume you need.

If you want thumpy bass and this isn't loud enough for you, you need an external powered subwoofer. There's a 1/4" output labeled "SUB" just for that purpose. If you plug in a cable to this port, the Passport speakers get louder and crisper, though they stop trying to play bass notes.

Power is measured in watts. Bass notes need a lot of watts. The amp has a limited number of watts, and uses up most of them to play the bass notes, unless you plug in a sub-woofer, at which point, the Passport figures the subwoofer is playing bass, so it doesn't have to, and it redistributes its power to the higher notes.

When I'm playing for a "techno-contra" dance, which is as close as I get to playing what you probably play if you DJ, I use a Passport 500 and a Passport 300 and a 400 watt powered subwoofer. The results are great.

I put up a straight wall of speakers, so the treble distribution is great. Usually, when you walk around a room with a PA system, the EQ changes as you move around because the sound of the tweeters is affected a lot by both the angle they are aimed at you and the distance you are from them. With four speakers, the one you are walking nearer to straight with takes over for the loss of the one you are walking off-axis from. The sound is crisp, clean and consistent. The speakers are above face level so other people's heads don't get in your way of the tweeters.

My subwoofer weighs about 65 pounds, which makes it the heaviest piece of sound equipment I deal with. I don't want one that's heavier. It has to be a few feet from the back wall, or the noise vented out the back muddies up the sound with surface effect coming off that back wall. I don't put it in a corner because this magnifies the effect. Mostly, I put it as much out of everybody's way that I can, and aim it vaguely at the dancers.

This does a fine job of dances, which in my case are always on wooden floors, because contra dance on carpet sucks unforgivably. These dancers insist on wooden floors.

So, if you are only using a 500 with no subwoofer, playing in a carpeted room with curtains and you think the 500 doesn't give you enough volume, well, maybe you are right. Get a powered sub-woofer. I'd expect to need that, if the music features heavy bass.

When I amp a live band with no bass player, I don't bother hauling out the sub-woofer. Either the 500 or 300 alone can usually handle this for most settings. I usually decide which to use based on how many inputs the band needs. The 300 has remarkably clear sound; sometimes I even prefer it to the 500, if I don't need the extra inputs. But most of the time, I need the 500.

And if I'm playing in a room with horrible acoustics (lots of feedback and acoustic echo), then I bring both amps and use four speakers turned to low volume levels. I make sure the speakers are aimed at the diagonally opposite corner to avoid playing straight at a back wall, enhancing any tendency to echo and feed back.

With more speakers, dancers are always near one, so it doesn't have to be loud. An acoustically live room is like a whistle. Turning up the volume is like blowing harder. It sets off the room.

So, many speakers, low volume really saves the day in a live 8. Curtains and carpets do not make a hall live. They make the hall dead.

I didn't say the 500 was a powerful amp for a dead hall.

Oh, and when I'm using both amps, I use a 1/8" stereo patch cable to connect the stereo out from the 500 into one of the stereo input channels on the 300.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Passport 500 clipping at half volume
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:38 pm
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I can't imagine the 500 not being loud enough for a gym sized room, even with carpet and drapes. I just bought a 300 and played it in a gym size room at church. Admittedly, the room had no carpet or drapes and only 60 people, and it was connected to a netbook with an external creative soundblaster soundcard (which admittedly does give it a small volume boost) but the most I could turn the volume up without blasting everyone's eardrums was slightly more than a quarter of a turn. I have a live gig coming up in December during which I am going to playing sax with backing tracks in the same room. There will probably be about 100 to 125 people there. Prior to the dance, I had pondered whether I would need a powered subwoofer for the gig, but after I heard what that small pa could do with the speakers it had, I said there was no real need for a subwoofer for that gig. Maybe I am wrong, this is all new to me LOL.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Passport 500 clipping at half volume
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 12:16 pm
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I use my passport in a bar for open mics and have my electric, acoustic and bass guitars plugged into it, as well as 2-3 mics. I have a 100 watt home theatre subwoofer (which sounds great with my electric upright bass) to handle the lows. I run the input channels at 50% sensitivity (straight up), tweaking a bit here and there to equalize the different singers and instruments. The master is typically at the 3/4 mark.

An important thing to consider, as I think I read about someone saying the dancers at the back complain about the volume being low, is that you need the speakers up on stands, preferably just above the heads of everyone dancing...

As Contra has mentioned, he uses a much bigger subwoofer. I will eventually get one as well, but for what I'm doing, the one I have is sufficient.

I've had many musicians compliment this set-up after playing and singing through it, and I usually get compliments from audience members saying how well the vocals can be heard (not a commonly heard compliment at most open mics).


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