Seventh Circle Audio

by **Squier** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 2:39 pm

Hey guys, I just finished a complete 8 channel preamp consisting of 3 A12's 3 N72's and 2 C84's and I just tested it out on my drumset. As I was setting the gain levels I noticed that every single channel was already pretty hot even at the lowest gain settings. Is this normal?

by **Randyman...** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:37 pm

Par for the course over here. These SCA pre's are capable of some serious clean gain, and the output section is also capable of some pretty serious levels w/o distortion. This is can be an issue if driving a "Pro-Sumer" ADC unit that might equate -15dBu (or so) as "0dBfs".

For tight mics on drums, if the SCA's "1" gain setting doesn't allow enough headroom at the AD converter, I'll either use a pad on the mic input (generally allows more "color" from the preamp's gain section) or at the Preamp Output to get the levels down a bit more (and if you want to saturate the output transformer a bit). Peaking at -12dBfs (or lower) at the ADC is a good target to shoot for IMO.

:cool:

by **Squier** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 6:13 pm

I'm using a Black Lion Audio modified Digidesign 96 as the interface. I noticed you can switch the inputs between +4 dbv and -12 dbv. They were originally set at +4 so I turned them down to -12 and there is absolutely no difference. Not really sure what's happening here. Is it supposed to be like this when close micing drums?? Seems like something's wrong here.

by **tpryan** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:38 pm

Set the converter to run at +4 levels. If there really is no difference between the switch settings, talk to Black Lion.

by **Squier** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:41 pm

Why would I set it at +4 when I need the volume lower?

by **tpryan** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:44 pm

The +4 setting allows higher input levels before clipping. Read your manual for details.

by **Squier** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:51 pm

Should I set the input and output levels BOTH at +4?

Seventh Circle Audio

High gain?

High gain?

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