7
8.8 HEADPHONE OUTPUT
This is a 1/8” mini style stereo headphone jack for monitoring
signals via your headphones, IEMs, earbuds etc.. This output
level is the same as the amp out, so the top panel amp out
level control is used to adjust headphone volume as well.
This output remains active when Felix 2 is muted, so you can
plug in your IEM’s and practice privately during long, boring
soundchecks. This can also be very useful for hearing a very
detailed and isolated representation of how your EQ settings or
variable phase adjustments are working.
8.9 100-240VAC POWER INPUT
Felix 2 is powered by a Class II Universal AC power supply. This
means that no matter where your musical wanderings take
you, you can plug Felix 2 in to the wall and it will work. And it
also means one less wall wart you’ll own in your life. All units
are shipped with a standard AC cable suitable for the country
where it is going. This is a standard, off-the-shelf IEC power
cable, so in the event you misplace the one that came with your
Felix 2, you can just borrow one from the sound-person or the
bass player and go.
9 Operation
9.1 WHERE TO PUT YOUR PREAMP?
Anywhere! It will look very pretty when you first pull it out of
his box, but trust us, it’s built to stand up to just about any kind
of stage abuse you might encounter. All the pots have metal
shafts and are securely mounted to the top panel. All the 1/4”
jacks have heavy duty metal bushings. The top panel is 1/4”
extruded aluminum, and the bottom chassis is appropriately
beefy. As you may have surmised by now, the main inspiration
for this product was to have studio-grade audio hardware,
properly ruggedized to live on the stage floor or mounted to a
pedal board.
Also, we have included mounting holes on the underside for
a mic stand mounting flange, Atlas Sound AD-11B (which
can be found at most larger music gear retailers). This allows
Felix 2 to be mounted directly to the top of a mic stand. This
mount requires three 6-32 X 3/8” pan head phillips stainless
steel screws, which are not included but can be found at any
hardware store.
NOTE: the rubber feet can be unscrewed from the bottom
panel if needed for using Velcro® to attach the FELiX to a
pedal board.
9.2 USING THE XLR MIC INPUT CH1
Before connecting a microphone, make sure the CH1 gain knob
is turned all the way down, the side panel 48V phantom power
switch is off (pushed out) and the CH1 MIC/LINE switch is
pushed in. Then connect your microphone and if 48V is needed,
activate it with the side panel 48V switch. Always remember to
turn 48V power ON
after
connecting your microphone and OFF
before
disconnecting your microphone.
Use the top panel CH1 signal / clip indicator to properly set the
mic level. The LED will light green with signal present, then will
begin to flash red when the channel is 12dB before clipping.
Occasional red flashes are ok, but if the LED is mostly red, well
then, you better turn it down. There are 2 gain range settings
for this input:
low (+17dB to +62dB) and high (+22dB to
+63dB)
It is set to
low
at the factory and can be adjusted via
internal jumper J32 (see page 12). In general, use the low gain
range for instruments or condenser mics and high range for
dynamic or ribbon mics.
9.3 INSTRUMENT / LINE INPUTS
These are the inputs you will use for connecting your
instrument(s) to Felix 2. There is a wide array of different pickup
types in the world: active electronics in an electric bass, passive
bridge plate transducers, contact mics, soundhole magnetics,
etc... We wanted to make sure Felix 2 brought out the best in
all of them and accordingly, there are some useful features that
can help make that happen.
Because we designed Felix 2 to play well with a wide array
of mics and pickups on a wide array of instruments, the gain
control sweep required is more than this single potentiometer
can provide. Accordingly, an internal jumper is provided to
select between two different gain ranges on the CH1 line input.
This range is set to the LOW setting at the factory, which means
the jumper is NOT connected and which closely matches the
gains of CH1 and CH2.
If you are using a source that requires more gain (e.g. a low
output pickup on a delicate acoustic instrument), you may
need to set this jumper to the ‘HI’ position, which shifts the gain
range up by 18dB. The CH1 microphone XLR mic input is not
affected by this setting.
Adjusting this gain setting jumper is easy to do and we
specifically designed the chassis to make it easy to access
internal jumpers. Please refer to the jumper diagram and access
procedure on page 12. Aren’t you glad you’re reading this
manual? We are, too.
WARNING: Make sure to disconnect the power mains
before removing the Felix 2 top panel to make jumper
adjustments.
Using a Dual Source Instrument with a Single TRS Cable
The CH2 input can accommodate two different signals from
a dual source pickup system on a single TRS 1/4” cable. The
connector is a standard TRS 1/4” jack and is wired:
•
Tip signal to CH2 input
•
Ring signal normaled to CH1 input
•
Sleeve to ground
This feature makes using a dual source pickup system very
convenient. Assuming your instrument is properly wired with
