Mackie 402-VLZ3 Owner's Manual - Page 13

Owner's Manual 1. POWER SWITCH Press the top of this rocker switch inwards to turn on the mixer. The power LED [23] on the top surface of the mixer will glow with happiness. Press the bottom of this switch to put the mixer into standby mode. It will not function, but the circuits are still live. To remove power, either turn off the mains supply, or unplug the power cord from the Never plug s­ ingle-ended (unbalanced) micro­phones or ­instruments into the mic input jacks if the ­phantom power is on. Do not plug instrument outputs into the mic input jacks with phantom power on, ­unless you know for certain it is safe to do so. Do not use phantom power with ribbon microphones. mixer and the mains supply. As a general guide, turn on your mixer 4. LINE INPUTS (Ch.1-2) first, before the power amplifier or powered speakers, and turn it off last. This will reduce the possibilities of any turn-on, or turn-off thumps in your speakers. These inputs share circuitry (but not phantom power) with the mic preamps, and can be driven by balanced or unbalanced sources at ­almost any level. You can use 2. POWER CONNECTION these inputs for ­virtually any audio signal you'll come across. This is where you plug in the connector from the AC adapter supplied with your mixer. Only use the AC adapter that came with your mixer, or a factory-authorized power supply. To connect balanced lines to these inputs, use a 1⁄4" Tip-Ring-Sleeve (TRS) plug. To connect unbalanced lines to these ­inputs, use a 1⁄4" mono (TS) phone plug or standard ­instrument cable. These two line inputs are a good place to connect older instruments that need 3. MIC INPUTS (Ch.1-2) more gain. You can correct weak levels by adjusting the channel's gain control [7]. We use phantom-powered, balanced ­microphone inputs just like the big studio mega-consoles, for ­exactly the same reason: This kind of circuit is­e­ xcellent at rejecting hum and noise. You can plug in almost any kind of mic that has a standard ­XLR male mic connector. Professional ribbon, dynamic, and condenser mics will all sound excellent through these inputs. The 402-VLZ3's mic inputs will handle any kind of mic level you can toss at them, without overloading. 5. LOW CUT (Ch.1-2) Each low-cut switch, often referred to as a high-pass filter (all depends on how you look at it), cuts bass frequencies below 100 Hz at a rate of 18 dB per octave. We recommend that you use low-cut on ­every microphone application except kick drum, bass guitar, or bassy synth patches. These aside, there isn't much down there that you want to hear, and filtering it out makes the low stuff you do want much more PHANTOM POWER crisp and tasty. Not only that, but low-cut can help reduce the possibility of feedback Most modern professional condenser mics in live situations, and it helps to conserve are equipped for phantom power, which lets amplifier power. the mixer send low-current DC voltage to the mic's electronics through the same wires that carry audio. (Semi-pro condenser mics often have batteries to accomplish the same thing.) "Phantom" owes its name to an ability to be "unseen" by dynamic mics (Shure SM57/SM58, for instance), which don't need ­external power and aren't affected by it anyway. Another way to consider low-cut's function is that it actually adds flexibility during live performances. With the ­addition of low-cut, you can safely use low equalization on vocals. Many times, bass shelving EQ can really benefit voices. Trouble is, adding low EQ also boosts stage rumble, mic handling clunks and breath pops. Applying low-cut The phantom power for both channels 1 ­removes all those problems, so you can add and 2 is turned on and off together using the low EQ without losing a woofer. phantom [20] switch. Owner's Manual 13