What equipment are you using? What valve preamp and what amp?
'Valve preamp' could range from a £60 Behringer MIC300 to a £4k+ Avalon VT737SP. If the former, you'd probably get just as good a sound from a £100 mixer. If the latter, then it's probably wasted on live sound!
And don't forget that 'valve' does not necessarily mean 'better', especially at the budget end of the market. It's normally there to add 'character', which equated to adding some distortion to the sound. Otherwise they pretty much give the same sound as solid-state preamps do, but with a touch less fidelity. This may suit the dobro sound in some situations,in others it may not.
So knowing the equipment used would help to get a better grasp of your budget and solutions.
As MarkOne said, what may be worthwhile improvements in the signal chain at studio recording level may be completely wasted through a typical PA system.
A two in, one out balanced selector switch is easy to do for line level signals, and for dynamic (or self-powered) mic signals. Palmer and Radial both have stomp pedals that do this, and there are probably many others.
The issue is doing it with phantom powered mics when power comes from the destination preamp, because a simple switch will also switch power to the mics resulting in loud pops and bangs etc.
One way around this would be to use a dual channel phantom power supply upstream of a dynamic mic selector box, and turn off phantom from the preamp. So the two mics connect to the phantom psu, the two outputs from the pgantom psu connect to the switcher, and the switcher output feeds the preamp.
A better solution, technically, would be to use two preamps, or a dual channel mic preamp, with a line-level selector working on the outputs of the preamp.
But the cheapest solution would still be a compact mixer.
And the ideal solution would be a bespoke all-in-one system of my first suggestion. A unit which provides phantom power to two mic inputs, with electronic selection/muting of a single output. No doubt Orchid or some other custom gear designer could rustle something suitable.
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual...
Wonks wrote: ↑Thu Aug 18, 2022 11:17 am
What equipment are you using? What valve preamp and what amp?
I don't have easy access to my equipment, so some of this info is via google search and looking through pictures.
With that in mind, my pre-amp appears to be an ART (Applied Research and Technology) .... an older version of this: https://www.americanmusical.com/art-tub ... _ZEALw_wcB
My amplifier is a Peavey Ecoustic 112 that has been modified to a single cone instead of the standard coaxial cone speaker.
I have 2 microphones. One is an Apex 165 while other is an Audio-Technica Pro 35. Both are condenser mics.
I'd like to thank everyone for their assistance so far. From what I've been able to gather, and find at all the online music stores, I'm leaning towards a powered mini mixer and hope wherever I go to purchase gives me a fair trade-in on my pre.
It’s probably the most cost-effective path to take, if not quite as quick to turn one channel off and the other on as with a dedicated switch unit.
When you say ‘powered mixer’, I’m assuming you mean a mixer with phantom power rather than a mixer with a built-in power amp.
Just beware that on some small budget mixers, the phantom power provision is very limited and there isn’t enough overall current available to power more than one or two condenser mics, even if there are 4 mic inputs.
Different condenser mics take different amounts of current from the phantom circuit, so it’s hard to say whether a given mixer will support x number of phantom powered mics and it’s rate to see any mention of the maximum phantom power current available in the specs.
So I’d take all your mics along to the store when looking for a mixer, plug them all in and make sure they all work.
Was there a specific reason the co-ax speaker was changed for a single one? The HF unit was a soft-domed tweeter, not a cheaper piezo unit, so unless it was damaged, should have sounded OK. With a single 12” speaker, you’ll normally be limited to maybe 6kHz at best and will be loosing a lot of the high-end detail in the sound. The only exception I know of is the Celestion F12-X200 which does go up to 20kHz as the original Peavey unit claimed to (though even the Celestion is really a coaxial unit with a small compression driver for the high frequencies).
Though the main mic input’s phantom power circuit then has to power two mics and the mini mixer. Whilst a lot probably would, there will be some that can’t.
The combiner draws 2-4mA, leaving at most 3 or 4mA per connected mic. That's enough for many, but certainly not all. This combiner is designed for AT's Unipoint conference mics, and the ones I checked pull only 2mA.
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual...
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual...
That may be so if the source levels are similar, but the balance control will be essential for the particular application I have in mind
Two M201s feeding a preamp in order to route around a pedal board - one will have the equivalent of a trumpet, the other rustling leaves - yes, I know, it’ll still be a challenge!
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual...
Hugh Robjohns wrote: ↑Tue Aug 23, 2022 11:17 am
The balance control only has a +/-6dB range...
?
Like many balance controls, the centre position gives 6dB of attenuation of both signals in the centre position to maintain a rough overall unity gain throughout the balance control travel (assuming both input signal levels were the same). The tech info states a maximum attenuation of 33dB (but no boost), so it would seem you can't totally silence one channel.
Technical Editor, Sound On Sound...
(But generally posting my own personal views and not necessarily those of SOS, the company or the magazine!)
In my world, things get less strange when I read the manual...
