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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Hi Guys & Gals,
I need your help to solve an annoying problem.
Quite often when I play at church I like to unplug my guitar to save battery life. I am usually running a 1/4" instrument cable into a direct box. If the sound tech fails to mute my channel there is that annoying pop when I unplug.
While this is useful to wake those in the congregation who might be dozing off, it bothers me.
Is there a straght through box with either a button or switch so I can mute my channel on my own?
I know I could probably look thru the stores and internet for something but, frankly I value your knowledge and expertise in this area rather than some smart alex sales person at the local GC.
Advice, though not always taken, would be appreciated.
Thanks |
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December 2003
Posts: 13996
Location: Upper Left USA | Many of the DI (Direct Input) boxes have a ground/lift switch.
There are the Instrument Cables with the Ground/Lift Switch as well.
I just buy the large pack of batteries at Home Depot! |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | PlanetWaves makes an intrument cable with a litle push-button circuit breaker built into the body of the plug . . . |
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August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | PlanetWaves makes good gear; those cords are really nice. As for batteries, I've had the same 9 volt in my retrofitted 1111-4 Balladeer since the Fishman was installed 3 years ago. It's an Energizer alkaline (they really DO just keep going and going and going...). If I think of it I unplug it-- but I usually don't think of it. It's just one of their regular silver and black 9 volts. I think the stock number is 6LR61 or something like that. It's dated 2008. It's almost kind of eerie in a way. My Ibanez AEF18TVS, on the other hand, kills batteries sitting in its case. I need to change them every two weeks. I've taken to removing the battery altogether when I'm not playing it. I'm wondering if there's a short in the switchjack? |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Mike, does your DI have gain pads? My Behringer does, I just reach down and push in the pad buttons and it effectively mutes it. |
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March 2006
Posts: 1634
Location: Chehalis, Washington | The Behringers do, but if your system tends to run too high on the gain, you may already have them muted.
Try this: I do know that an inline pedal tuner like the Boss TU2 "stomp" style has an automatic kill switch in it. If you need to change batteries, engage the tuner, pull the battery, then when you're ready kill the tuner. No plugs, wires, or other switches.
Come to think of it, I think that there is a passive "kill" switch that you can get. Maybe check with some people who do more with pro audio. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | another posibility is to use an A/B box with A going to the sound system and B going to a tuner or just left open |
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May 2005
Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | A volume pedal between the guitar and DI. |
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July 2005
Posts: 3410
Location: GA USA | That's kinda what I do, 1A, When playing acoustic, I use my Digitech RP200 as a volume pedal only, with effects on bypass. |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | I've done that too, Cap'n, but I have too much else to do on Sunday morning than mess with another pedal...
Andrew, mine is a Behringer Ultra-G, it has 2 -20Db pads.
All of these are good ideas, Here\'s the Planet Waves cable, haven't found an in-line switch yet. |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Hi,
I've seen the Planet waves cable and thoght it was a little pricey. I've never used a volume pedel and was unaware that they coulb be used as a mute.
Another option I've thought about would be to build my own box with an in/out plugs with an in line switch.
That planet Waves cable does look good.
Still open to more ideas.
You guy are knowledgeable and always willing to help. Thanks again. |
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November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Out of curiosity, if this is an Ovation, why not run a balanced cable directly into the PA and run with phantom power?
Jeff |
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March 2006
Posts: 1634
Location: Chehalis, Washington | We use both the Ultra-G and Ultra-D models (we have about six of them). I'm not terribly fond of them - I do know that there are other DI boxes that offer more options, but you pay more to start with. |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by Omaha:
Out of curiosity, if this is an Ovation, why not run a balanced cable directly into the PA and run with phantom power? Not all Ovations have XLR.
All the guitars I usually play at church do have XLR, and I run on phantom. But I still understand Andrew's problem. And disconnecting an unmuted channel running on phantom can be even noisier, and there are fewer options for pedals and such with XLR.
Sometimes I want to switch guitars, or I need to leave early, or... whatever. I look at whoever's running sound, and he's talking to someone or dozing. POP. Suddenly everyone's looking at me. Not the effect I was hoping for.
Andrew, there comes a point with DI features when you might as well be looking at a small quality amp with DI out. Quite often I use my Marshall AS50R as a monitor, and run the DI to the board. |
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November 2005
Posts: 4832
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | For our local folk club PA we bought half a dozen guitar cords with a switch built in to the 1/4" plug. It automatically disconects when you pull the plug (Planet Waves brand name isn't ringing a bell, but...?) which is really handy when you're dealing with 17 - 20 players a night...most with no stagecraft at all.
I can't remember the price being at all prohibitive though. $3-$5 more than a regular cord. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | This may be a dumb question, but isn't the battery activated by insertion of the 1/4 inch plug, and not whether or not the lead is hot? I only ask this because I used to leave the cables plugged in (with all power off, of course)when not in use and the batteries went dead in short order. Then I started unplugging the leads when not in use and the battery life increased tenfold. I presumed it had something to do with plug insertion. Operation of a Digitech RP series pedal works exactly this way with the input cable. |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | BB,
Yes, the battery is activitated by insertion.
I also like the planet waves cable. It's the simplest solution for me. |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Plugging in turns it on. I would imagine if there is no load (other end unplugged) it would drain the battery slower. But it will still drain it faster than not being turned on at all. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | O.k., so if plug insertion activates a drain on the battery, then it would seem to follow that any solution that simply disconnects the hot lead but leaves the plug inserted (as previously suggested in this thread) might not be an acceptable solution. The plug must be removed during extended non-playing time (like overnight, a week, etc). But for a few hours during a gig, I would just leave it pluged in. |
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Joined:
September 2004
Posts: 777
Location: East Wenatchee, WA | I have contemplated all this too, but have just taken to leaving it plugged in. Will probably regret it one Sunday, but so far I have about 4 months on my Adamas battery and it is still going strong. I do church on Wednesday and Sunday and it stays plugged in the entire time.
Although sometimes the pastor needs to tune his guitar, so I simply stomp my RP100 into tuner mode (which kills the output to the PA head) and unplug and hand him the cord. That works okay, but when we finally grow enough to get a serious board, I will go to Phantom power. |
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February 2004
Posts: 548
Location: Up North | GGG.
I use the Planet Waves Chord and it works great, you just hit the little black button and you can either switch out a battery or switch guitars.
I love mine. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Temp's idea of the A/B switch is a good one (I was actually thinking of that myself, then I read his post) . . .
I've got this little blue Boss A/B switch (model AB-2)that I use to to feed my 6 or 12 into the signal chain. It's a good digital "switching" circuit, so there's no annoying "pop" that can come from a mechanical switch. I think it was @ $39. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | The A/B box trick works fine, but as Cliff says, you need a good one. Cheap A/B's can be pretty clunky. I picked up a Morley A/B/Y switch at a Guitar Centre sale for $20, which is about 1/4 of the list price. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15678
Location: SoCal | I agree with Waskel --- my experience has shown me that "plugging in" turns me on as well. |
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Joined:
March 2006
Posts: 1634
Location: Chehalis, Washington | Originally posted by Waskel:
Andrew, there comes a point with DI features when you might as well be looking at a small quality amp with DI out. Quite often I use my Marshall AS50R as a monitor, and run the DI to the board. [/QB] I've played around with this a bit with my Valvestate, which is really more of an electric amp, and it works pretty well. The trouble I run into is that it wreaks havoc with the acoustics in the room, and I still have to run through the DI out, which adds another step in the process.
Mike(Woody) has used his Acoustasonic Jr that way, and it works really well. Come to think of it, you could always just turn the amp off when you want to change a battery, then switch it back on when you're done. |
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Help with an annoying problem.
