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Post subject: Fender passport for an acoustic duo
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:42 am
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Hobbyist
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Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:33 am
Posts: 4
Hello
I'm looking for advice on the passport series
I play solo and in a duo sometimes
2 x acoustic guitars
2x vocal mics

I have a universal audio solo 510 pre amp which I could use too
I'm not sure on wheather to get the
Passport 150 pro or the 300??
I will be playing bars, beer-gardens, cafe's and restaraunts

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I CANNOT SLEEP!
Cheers in advance
Jay


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Post subject: Re: Fender passport for an acoustic duo
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 9:02 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:24 am
Posts: 434
First of all, either of these will work for you. Both are good systems.

The 150 will exactly fit your needs. Two XLR inputs for your mics, two 1/4"TS inputs for your guitars. The volume level is about right for what you describe as your needs for acoustic music in those settings, since it sounds like you want a volume level that OFFERS sound without PUSHING it on people.

Want to plug in an iPod to play during breaks between sets? Well, you'll have to unplug one of the guitars and readjust the volume on that channel. Want to play outdoors or in a larger room and be heard well? Hmm. Maybe it's enough, or maybe you'd like more watts. Want to offer another mic to a guest singer or someone doing announcements? Two people will have to share a mic, or you'll have to pass one back and forth for announcements.

The 300 gives you four XLR inputs (you can use 1/4"TS on the same four channels), plus two channels for 1/4"TS (or 1/8"TRS stereo). So, you can hook up your two mics and two guitars and you have two channels left over. Need a third mic? No problem. Need to hook up an iPod? No problem. Need more volume for a larger space? You have it.

So, the question is, are you buying a system for your current needs, or do you want a little room for possible future growth? For myself, I'd get the 150 if I expected to use ONE mic and ONE guitar, but I wanted some expansion room in case I needed a second mic or second instrument, or an iPod for breaks between sets, and if I specifically never intended to work in a larger space, needing more amplification.

Maybe your preamp will give you all the expansion potential you need. If you are pretty confident that 150 watts will give you the volume you need (and it probably will), then this should take care of it, and the 150 will make you happy. I tried looking up the 510, but everything I found described a model 610, and I can't be sure the features will be the same.

So, I have not made your decision for you, but maybe I've given you some specifics to consider that might help you make the decision. My thought is that the extra money for the 300 mostly buys you future options, and both systems are built well enough to last enough years that future options are worth considering.


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Post subject: Re: Fender passport for an acoustic duo
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 1:25 am
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Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:33 am
Posts: 4
great!!

thanks for your advice buddy,
You are right my pre is the 610 solo and thats great that it will give me a bit extra width!
Im wondering if i need a pre for my acc guitar, or a DI ?
im leaning toward the 300
only because i may use a stomp box in my set, and it would be handy to have the channels there for other accompaniment. better get saving!
cheers
aussie j


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Post subject: Re: Fender passport for an acoustic duo
Posted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:17 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:24 am
Posts: 434
As for your guitar, it depends on what kind of signal strength the guitar's pickup delivers. Most piezoelectric pickups already have a preamp built in to bring the signal up to line level. That's why they require a battery.

Meanwhile, at some point somebody gave me an odd pickup that slips into and fits in the sound hole of an acoustic guitar -- It seems to be a magnetic coil pickup, like for an electric guitar, and it doesn't have adjustable poles to bring the magnets closer to or farther from the strings. I do not get enough volume out of it to be useful at all. It thought it would be a good way to amp acoustic guitars without modifying them, but it is useless. Perhaps with a pre-amp I could use it.

Passports have a relatively limited volume range for their inputs -- which is excellently chosen for most sound sources. Dynamic mics plugged into XLR ports are right at the sweet spot. Same for line level inputs plugged into the 1/4" TS ports. If you have line level sound sources that connect via XLR, the Pad button brings the volume level down appropriately and again, everything is sweet.

I had some experience with a weird piece of hardware that according to the manual, intentionally had a signal strength at the margin between line level and mic level. Their idea was that you could then use it with an amp either expecting line level or mic level and adjust volume accordingly. They were proud of themselves for this idea.

Meanwhile, the effect with the Passport was that it was too loud with the Pad off and too quiet with the Pad on -- I had to work with the Pad off and have the volume level dramatically low, which left me with highly sensitive controls. It was hard to get exactly the volume level I wanted. But this was an exceptional (short-sightedly designed) piece of hardware.

The main reasons for a DI box are: If you want to run long cable distances to the amp, an XLR cable is better (because of shielding, typically referred to as a "balanced" signal) than 1/4" TS (often called "unbalanced"). There's also the option of 1/4" TRS ("balanced"), which has the shielding, but not all sound equipment with 1/4" jacks support this, so it's not as reliable. Odds are, the guitar's output is unbalanced.

As an example, on the Passport 300 and 500, all the 1/4" sound inputs can be balanced or unbalanced, but the line-level output for the subwoofer is unbalanced. So even in a single sound system, part of it can handle balanced 1/4" signals, and part can't. If you want balanced, use XLR.

A DI box can also split your signal so you can run one cord to the sound system and the other to a monitor. If you don't run distance and you don't have a separate monitor for the guitar, you don't need a DI box.


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