PA-related question

[Jon Silberman]

I have an Awai PocketBand. It's output is into a 1/8" female jack intended for headphones.

I have a Radio Shack 1/8" to 1/4" connector that I've used in the past to run the PocketBand directly into my SWR CA Blonde (an acoustic guitar amp). That worked great!

But tomorrow, for the 1st time, I plan to to run the PocketBand directly into my PA.

Should I run it into the PA's High Z (this is the 1/4" input intended for mics; each mic channel has both one of these and an XLR input), Line level 1/4" input, or Super High Z (intended for guitars) 1/4" input, and why?

Thanks! :)

[John Phillips]

Try the line-level first. If you get enough volume from it and a good tone, that's the one to use since it has the lowest gain and will be less likely to distort.

If not, try the guitar input next - it's more sensitive and you should definitely be able to get enough gain when driven from a headphone outlet.

In the unlikely case that neither of those two give enough volume, try the mic socket - but this will be the most sensitive and you'll probably get a lot of distortion.

As long as you're careful with the output level of the PocketBand (especially on the mic input), you can't damage anything, so let your ears be the judge...

[Jon Silberman]

Thanks, John.

(I knew you would know the answer. :) )

[PerryR]

Originally posted by Jon Silberman
I have an Awai PocketBand.

Should I run it into the PA's High Z

As part of the "and why", the Awai would be a low Z output.

[Jon Silberman]

First off, my apologies. It's made by Kawai, not an Awai.

I ended up running it into the Super Hi-Z input. I tried it in all 3. It just didn't have any balls in the Line input, I had to crank the volume on the PA way higher than I should have. So I then tried both of the other inputs. Sounded best to my ear in the Super High-Z one, so that's what I went with.

Go figure! :)