Hello all. My friend and I recently got a PAS. We have practiced with it two times so far. WE have the PAS with a Mackie FX12 mixer. At our last practice we plugged the vocal mics - two shure beta 58's and then the instrument mic - shure beta 57 - into the mixer. We panned all mics hard left and plugged into channel one on the PAS. I ran my guitar through a LR Baggs para di accoustic and into channel two. My friend ran his guitar into channel three. This seemed to work and we thought it sounded good. I am not however, satisfied with the sound from the BETA 57. This mic is used for dobro and banjo. But it just seems so flat sounding to me, especially with the dobro. My question is about the presets. I had channel one set for the BETA 58's. From reading other posts here it seems the the presets can have a significant effect on sound. I realize that there is likely a variety of ways to set up. I would appreciate any suggestions on this issue. Lastly, I would have to say we really enjoy the PAS and I am sure with more practice it will sound even better.

Greetings

How's the weather in Fire Lake? (Is this where you're from?).

Thanks for having faith in our system. You should be able to get what you want from it, but like any new instrument, it takes some getting used to.

Here's a general comment on the presets: They were all developed to make CLOSE VOCALS (as in eat-the-mic) sound more natural through our system. When you back way off, say 6 inches or more, all bets are off. The same goes for even close miking of musical instruments. Actually, close miking of a Dobro might be fine in the flat setting, maybe turn up the HF on the remote for some sparkle. In the studio, a B57 sounds pretty useful 4-6 inches away from a guitar. Stay away from the sound hole if the sound gets too dark. Too much signal from the sound hole will also encourage low-mid feedback. As a hunch, try preset 35, assuming you recently purchased and these are v2 presets. This is probably the most radical one in the catalog, but will give you an idea of the extremes. It's for a very midrange-heavy electric guitar (PRS) to be played direct. Also, try all the presets on a spare evening alone. Lots of tone variations here. Forget the titles and just listen.

Also, on the mics for singing, try presets 01-04 as an alternative to the ones we recommended for your mics.

No one really knows the sound you want but you, when you hear it. So experiment with the presets and turn the knobs. Write back and let us know your results. Lots of players like you will benefit from your results.

quote:

Originally posted by firelakekid:
... plugged the vocal mics - two shure beta 58's and then the instrument mic - shure beta 57 - into the mixer. We panned all mics hard left and plugged into channel one on the PAS. I ran my guitar through a LR Baggs para di accoustic and into channel two. My friend ran his guitar into channel three. ... not however, satisfied with the sound from the BETA 57. This mic is used for dobro and banjo. ... I had channel one set for the BETA 58's.

Along with Cliff's suggestions about trying all the presets, you might also try putting the guitars into channels 3 & 4 -- especially if you were fine with your guitar in channel 2 with it's preset flat (00).

Then you can plug the Beta 57 directly into channel 2, trying different presets for that (instrument) mic separately from the presets for the vocal mics (which are left going into channel 1).