It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 8:41 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 
Author Message
Post subject: Trouble with new Passport 300
Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 1:46 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:59 am
Posts: 2
I just purchased the Passport 300. I followed instructions for set up and plugged in my guitar jack into Line input and turned up the main volume control knob but no sound came from the system. I then plugged my guitar jack into my Crate practice amp and it worked fine. I then tried plugging a microphone jack into the Passport and it worked fine -- vocal sound was picked up and amplified by the system. I tried plugging my guitar jack again into the Line but again no sound came from the system. Please help! Thanks Bill :?:


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Trouble with new Passport 300
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:35 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician

Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am
Posts: 2337
brobinso91285 wrote:
I just purchased the Passport 300. I followed instructions for set up and plugged in my guitar jack into Line input and turned up the main volume control knob but no sound came from the system. I then plugged my guitar jack into my Crate practice amp and it worked fine. I then tried plugging a microphone jack into the Passport and it worked fine -- vocal sound was picked up and amplified by the system. I tried plugging my guitar jack again into the Line but again no sound came from the system. Please help! Thanks Bill :?:



Quote. I play through my Passport 500.
Go get a 1/4" female to "Y" XLR males (guitar cable to female 1/4" to "Y" XLR males)
Then plug in the two XLRs into one channel A & B

My wireless microphones do not work well with only one plug into the Passport.
Make sure to "Y" out of everything (microphones, IPods, Laptops, Guitars etc)
to two channels on the Passport.

Treat 1&2 3&4 5&6 7&8 as four different channels.

Example, I come out of my laptop through the laptop's normal headphone 1/8" plug
the cable is then "y" to two 1/4" plugs. Both 1/4" plugs go into channels 1&2.
Sounds great.

Toppscore 8)

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Trouble with new Passport 300
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:53 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:59 am
Posts: 2
I really appreciate your response but it's hard for me to follow and seems too complicated for what should be a simple matter of plugging my guitar into the Passport 300. Previously, I've used its predecessor Passport 250 for several years and never had a problem with simply plugging my guitar jack into a Line input and getting amplified sound from that earlier system. There's got to be an easier way to plug and play on the 300! :oops:


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Trouble with new Passport 300
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:09 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician

Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am
Posts: 2337
brobinso91285 wrote:
I really appreciate your response but it's hard for me to follow and seems too complicated for what should be a simple matter of plugging my guitar into the Passport 300. Previously, I've used its predecessor Passport 250 for several years and never had a problem with simply plugging my guitar jack into a Line input and getting amplified sound from that earlier system. There's got to be an easier way to plug and play on the 300! :oops:


Still simple. Plug your guitar cord into the 1&2 channels, instead of the 1 channel.
You will need to split your guitar cord to a Y cord.
Take care.

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Trouble with new Passport 300
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 2:01 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:24 am
Posts: 434
If I've misinterpreted what you've written, please forgive me. I have a 300 Pro and a 500 Pro.

You didn't mention whether your guitar was electric, or if you are using some sort of acoustic pickup on an acoustic guitar. You did say that the guitar worked with your Crate practice amp, so I'll assume it is electric, or that if it is an acoustic pickup that requires a battery, then you have the battery installed.

You said that you plugged the guitar in and turned up the "main volume control knob". You didn't say anything about the volume setting for the channel that you plugged the guitar into. If the guitar is plugged into a channel that has the LEVEL knob set to zero, then it won't matter what the VOLUME knob is set to.

The Passport is a mixer. Up to six inputs each have a LEVEL control, and the combined sound for those channels is additionally controlled by the VOLUME control. Think of the LEVEL as a "channel volume" and the VOLUME as a "master volume".

So, let's get to basics. The guitar should be plugged into a LINE port in channels 1-4, or in the L/MONO port of channels 5 or 6. When you plug anything into a channel, go straight up the column for the channel to check its settings. You don't need PHANTOM POWER for a guitar, so that can be off. You only turn that on if you have a mic that requires phantom power plugged into one of your XLR ports. Only XLR ports have the wiring needed for phantom power.

You definitely do NOT want the PAD button lit on the guitar's channel unless you discover that it's so loud you can't control it. This is something you want off for now, and you might come back and turn it on if you have a problem of the volume being uncontrollably loud.

REVERB: Start with it off. Turn it up later to taste.

LOW: Start with it set straight up (noon). Adjust later to taste.

HIGH: Start with it set straight up (noon). Adjust later to taste.

LEVEL: Start with it set about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up (pointing generally to the left, maybe up a little). You can set the LEVEL before even turning the VOLUME up from zero.

To do that, play the guitar a little, about as loud as your performance would be, toward the louder side of normal. What color is the dot just above the word LEVEL for that channel? If it is black, you have no signal. There is a problem with the guitar, or the cable, or a connection. If it is green, you have signal. If it is yellow, you have a loud signal and you should turn that LEVEL down just a smidgen, until it is green. If it is red, it is way too loud and you should turn it down until it spends the vast majority of the time being green, with occasional, brief "peak" visits to yellow.

If the LEVEL is barely higher than zero and you are already in yellow, then press the PAD button so it lights up. Now, you should be able to turn the LEVEL up louder before making the dot change from green to yellow.

Now, turn the VOLUME up until it sounds as loud as you want it to sound. Watch the colored LED stack (the L and R columns). Green is okay. Yellow is fine. Red is not so good. You'll cook the amp if you stick it in red a lot.

If you are mixing together voice and guitar or any multiple music sources and you've initially set each one up as described above, then if some channels are too loud and others too quiet, realize that you've already set everything at the top end of the range, so to get balanced sound, bring the loudest channels down to match the quiet channel that you want louder in the mix. If the quiet channel is already showing plenty of amber on its dot, you don't want to turn it up more than that. Be kind to your amp.

If your experience doesn't match this description, write back with more detail, using the actual label names for the various knobs and ports that you are using, so we understand your problem clearly. If this fixes the problem, write back and let us know that, too.

We write because we care about stuff like that.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Trouble with new Passport 300
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:10 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician

Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am
Posts: 2337
The Passport 500 is what I have.
It has six channels and I ALWAYS make them into three channels:
1&2 3&4 5&6
My typical items input are:
1) First Laptop computer out from 1/8" headphone jack "Y" to two 1/4" jacks
2) Secong Laptop computer out from 1/8" headphone jack "Y" to two 1/4" jacks
3) Wireless Microphone from 1/4" to two XLR jacks

When I got the Passport 500, initially, I took devices to only one Passport input device
and the results were terrible. I tried each device to two input Pasport inputs,
and the results are that the Passport is my "go-to" small PA system.

I do not use the reverb or PAD channels or USB ports.
I am confident I could get a guitar going, as I have six Mackie SRM 450 powered speakers.
I have run wireless microphones & laptop computers into the SRM 450 Mackies.
Similar to the Passport 500.
I have seen guitarist run both their wired mics and guitars into Mackie SRM 450s.

Therefore, I am sure you can get your guitar going into a Passport.
But, I do not know the Pro. Is it the same as the Passport?
Toppscore :)

_________________
Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Trouble with new Passport 300
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:12 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:24 am
Posts: 434
You do not seem to understand how stereo works for the Passport 500.

Channels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are mono channels. Anything that goes in to one of those channels comes out both speakers equally.

Channels 7 and 8 are stereo channels. While you can plug something in to only the "L/MONO" port and get it to come out equally from both speakers, if you plug a "left" sound source into the "L/MONO" channel and plug a "right" sound source into the "R" port, the left signal comes out the left speaker and the right signal comes out the right signal, preserving the original stereo. The same happens if you use a single 1/8" stereo cable into the appropriate port.

So, you really should plug one of your laptops into channel 7 and the other into channel 8 using 1/8" stereo patch cables, so the stereo sound that comes out of those laptops will be stereo out the speakers. Then plug your wireless mic into your choice of any channel 1-6. Just one XLR will do fine. Putting it into a second channel won't improve anything. It's okay to leave the other five channels empty.

That's how the system was designed to be used. Your more inventive method essentially "monoizes" everything, and the wireless mic connection you use would make the engineers who designed this system either gape in stunned surprise, or perhaps inspire witty response.

What you do obviously works, but it doesn't work the way you think it does and it probably doesn't do what you think it is doing. It makes all your stereo mono for the laptops, and it artificially splits the wireless mic between two mono channels for no reason. One mono channel would work just fine.

Trust me on this.

I'm not making this up.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 7 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: