PA1X applified volume issue

[BruceG]

Hi All
I use a Yamaha Stagepas 300W mixer/PA to amplify my Korg PA1X and Korg X3 synth in a live band situation. The Stagepass provides ample volume for the X3 but I'm suffering from low volume on the PA1X on most of the sounds, particularly piano, even with all the PA1X volume settings to maximum.
I noticed that on some of the sampled voices that I got from Sharpe that the volume is plenty loud enough, so I went into the basic Sound setting on piano to see if that volume was set high enough but it was on 120 already so didn't really help. Anyone got any ideas? I don't really want to replace my amplification as the quality of sound reproduction is really good.

Thanks
Bruce

[Reuben]

Bruce,
Here's a crazy suggestion. Use the headphone jack as your output - its at a much higher level.
Well its worth a try.
Regards,
John

[BruceG]

Hi John

Thanks for your reply. It's a good suggestion. I'll get a 2 into 1 stereo jack (as my mixer only takes left and right line ins for stereo output) and give it a try. It seems strange that there is this problem. I can only assume the original sound samples were quieter on the PA1X than on my X3. You would have thought a 300W system would have been sufficient as we're not a loud band. Had you heard of this problem before, or is it me?
Regards
Bruce

[riggers]

Hi Bruce G
I had a Roland VA7 for a time and part exchanged it for a PA1X. I still use exactly the same active speakers and mixer setup as I did with the Roland. I did noticed that the output of the PA1X seems slightly lower than the VA7, though it does not give a major problem.
I tried to get the electrical output figures (ohms etc) for the PA1X so I could make sure I could match impedances etc perfectly. I have the figures for the VA7, but I could not get accurate figures for the PA1X - they are not in the specifications of the manual. Korg themselves only provided a very general figure.
If anybody has accurate output impedance figures etc, I would love to get them.
As has been said, you can wind up the volume of midi files etc and get round it, but the piano especially and some other "live" sounds seem a bit lacking in volume.
Riggers

[BruceG]

Hi Riggers

It is particularly noticeable on the piano sounds, the organ and brass seem okay. I've just got the necessary 2 into 1 stereo jack to try John's suggestion of using the headphone socket. If that doesn't work then Yamaha do a 500W version of their mixer PA system and I may have to upgrade to that.
It seems a bit silly when I've played keyboards for years in some quite loud bands through 2 Carlsbro 60W keyboard amps with plenty of volume to spare, and my current setup up is 150W per channel. The original samples must have been recorded at lower volumes for the piano.
Anyway, thanks again for your input.
Kind Regards
Bruce

[hellboy44]

Anyone endorse Reuben's advice (i.e. outputting from the headphone jack?)

I wouldn't mine trying this as I'm using a Bose PAS System (it's Mono) and if I can get a higher Output/Signal to Noise Ratio (not that it sounds bad using Mono Left output btw!!!) I'd like to try it, just to get the best possible quality (at least for my setup).

It's my understanding that Headphone Jack Preamps in general aren't very good quality.




Anyone know the specifics?????

[eamon]

Hi, I also have a Yamaha StagePass 300 for "small PA venues." I usually use one Roland KC150 (60 watts) Loads of volume with the PA1xPro & PA800.
I have the same problem with the StagePass. However there is a switch on the each channel of StagePass for MIC/LINE.

If you use the MIC configuration, the volume increases dramatically. I don't know if you require the other lines for other musicians - but it's a way out if it's your keyboard personal monitor system.

Now try using two channels 1 & 2 on the Stagepass as a test. L & R from Keyboard. Does your Right Channel become much louder than the left ? Interesting !
Regards, Eamon

[BruceG]

Hi All,

The headphone out put idea seemed to work well as the volume has definitely increased to the extent that it's now loud enough in the working band situation. My slight concern is someone else in the band mentioned that generally the headphone output is of a lower quality than line outs (hellboy mentioned this as well in a previous posting). I can't say I noticed a drop in the quality of sound although this becomes difficult to discern at higher volumes, but there was certainly no distortion. So on the face of it this seems to work.
Apologies to Eamon on not responding sooner but I've only just noticed your posting. I use the Stagepas entirely for keyboards so I'll give your suggestion a try as well although I currently use the L & R stereo outs on line 6 and I don't think putting L in channel 1 and R in channel 2 will give me stereo, I may be wrong and I'll give you some feedback shortly.
Regards
Bruce

[Reuben]

Bruce,
I've got the StagePass300 also. I havn't found a problem but I'm not playing in a very noisy situation. Where do you have your Line 6 volume level set at - is it at maximum?
You are right about not getting stereo in lines 1 to 4 - if there was a panning knob it would be achievable!
All the best.
John