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ProFXv3 Professional Effects Mixer with USB
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48V Phantom Power, Power LED, Main Meters and Rude Solo!
37. Power LED
This LED will illuminate green when the mixer is
turned on, as a reminder of how on it really is. If it is
not on, then it is off, and the mixer becomes a rather
nice weight for keeping your morning newspaper from
blowing away in the wind.
If it does not turn on, make sure the power cord is
correctly inserted at both ends, the local AC mains
supply is active, and the power switch is on.
38. Main Meters
These peak meters are made up of two columns
of twelve LEDs, with three colors to indicate different
ranges of signal level, traffic light style. They range
from –30 at the bottom, to 0 in the middle, to OL at
the top.
When a channel is soloed [ProFX12v3, ProFX16v3,
ProFX22v3, ProFX30v3], the right meter shows
no reading, and the left meter shows the level
of that channel’s signal level, pre-fader.
You can get a good mix with peaks flashing anywhere
between –20 and +10 dB on the meters. Most amplifiers
clip at about +10 dBu, and some recorders aren’t so
forgiving either. For best real-world results, try to keep
your peaks between “0” and “+6.” Remember, audio
meters are just tools to help assure you that your levels
are “in the ballpark.” You don’t have to stare at them
(unless you want to).
The meters on the ProFX6v3 are slightly
different. It has only eight LEDs and they
range from –24 to OL. Here you can get
a good mix with peaks flashing anywhere
between –12 and +8 dB on the meters.
39. Rude Solo LED
[ProFX12v3, ProFX16v3,
ProFX22v3, ProFX30v3]
This large LED flashes red when one or more solo
switches are engaged. This acts as a reminder that
what you hear in the control room and headphones
is the soloed channel(s). If you forget that you are
in solo mode, you can easily be tricked into thinking
that something is wrong with your mixer. Hence,
the rude solo light. Please forgive its rudeness,
it is only trying to help, and wants to be your friend.
Because there are no solo switches
on the ProFX6v3 and ProFX10v3,
there are no Rude Solo LEDs, either.
36. 48V Phantom Power Switch
Most modern professional condenser mics require
48V phantom power, which lets the mixer send
low-current DC voltage to the mic’s electronics through
the same wires that carry audio. (Semi-pro condenser
mics often have batteries to accomplish the same
thing.) “Phantom” owes its name to an ability
to be “unseen” by dynamic mics (Shure SM57/SM58,
for instance), which don’t need external power
and aren’t affected by it anyway.
Press this switch in if your microphone requires
phantom power. (Always check the position
of this switch before connecting microphones.)
The accompanying LED will illuminate red to indicate
that phantom power is active. This is a global switch
that affects all mic channels’ XLR jacks at once.
Never plug single-ended (unbalanced)
micro phones, or ribbon mics into
the mic input jacks if phantom power
is on. Do not plug instrument outputs
into the mic XLR input jacks with phantom power
on unless you know for certain it is safe to do so.
Be sure the main mix fader is turned down when
connecting microphones to the mic inputs when
phantom power is turned on to prevent pops from
getting through to the speakers.
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