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Author Topic: Harvey is Atty=Pad??  (Read 3490 times)

vox

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Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« on: May 18, 2004, 01:38:18 AM »

A-Designs makes a product called an Atty, from what I understand it's basically a passive attenuator for line level signals.

http://www.adesignsaudio.com/atty.htm

I saw somewhere that someone suggested that it could also be used as a pad for hot mics, I was just wondering what your take on this was, is putting what I can only guess is a volume pot between a mic and a mic pre going to have an adverse affect sonically? Will it have any affect sonically (aside from padding)? What about adverse affects to phantom power or the gear supplying it ?

Thanks!
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Marik

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2004, 04:33:14 AM »

vox wrote on Tue, 18 May 2004 06:38

A-Designs makes a product called an Atty, from what I understand it's basically a passive attenuator for line level signals.

http://www.adesignsaudio.com/atty.htm

I saw somewhere that someone suggested that it could also be used as a pad for hot mics, I was just wondering what your take on this was, is putting what I can only guess is a volume pot between a mic and a mic pre going to have an adverse affect sonically? Will it have any affect sonically (aside from padding)? What about adverse affects to phantom power or the gear supplying it ?

Thanks!


There is not much specification on this unit. Is it balanced or unbalanced, and most of all, what is the in and out impedance of it? Without this information it is impossible to say if it would work.
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Mark Fouxman
Samar Audio & Microphone Design
www.samaraudiodesign.com

Bill Park

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2004, 10:13:56 AM »

vox wrote on Tue, 18 May 2004 01:38

A-Designs makes a product called an Atty, from what I understand it's basically a passive attenuator for line level signals.

...I saw somewhere that someone suggested that it could also be used as a pad for hot mics, I was just wondering what your take on this was, is putting what I can only guess is a volume pot between a mic and a mic pre going to have an adverse affect sonically? Will it have any affect sonically (aside from padding)? What about adverse affects to phantom power or the gear supplying it ?

Thanks!


I'm looking over an A Designs MP2r right now.  A few weeks ago I visited Tom Sailor, where I saw his MP2r with a custom modification allowing the user to overdrive the mic pre yet turn down the output levels so that the unit will not overload following gear.  

I asked Pete Montessi about this modification,
since it basically changed the MP2r from a clean tube mic pre into some other thing entirely. His reply was that the design concept behind the MP2r was to be clean.  He understands that others might want some other options.  Rather than modify his design, he created the ATTY as an outboard box, which can accomplish the same thing and generally be a useful 'in between' box in a number of situations.

I have also heard of the ATTY being used between the mic and the pre, but it seems to me that it would be most useful as a controller behind an over-driven mic pre or other front end. This avoids the other questions that you asked, except for the one about sonics, and though I have not tried the ATTY, I can't see how you can stuff electronics in a  signal path and not expect a sonic change.

Just my opinion...


Bill
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Three-Legged Cat

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2004, 05:49:25 PM »

Also curious about this.  Had the ATTY suggested to me on another forum, but as stated, I thought it was strictly for line-level usage, and I was looking for something in between mic and pre.  Would be great if it were usable there, too.  I've also considered some inline attenuators, but I've heard more reports of colorations (good or bad, who knows?).  For what it's worth, a few people over on gearslutz.com suggested that the ATTY was transparent.
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Jonathan Price

vox

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2004, 07:39:37 PM »

Yes I suppose I did expect that there would be some change to the sound, I was just wondering if it would be huge and radical or very subtle.

The Atty is most certainly balanced, I have no idea about the impedences though.
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vox

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2004, 05:32:24 PM »

Ok, apparently the ATTY is just 4 xlr connectors wired to a quad volume pot and a quad mute switch, it's totally passive.

Is this enough info for someone to figure out what would happen if you use it as a pad between a mic and mic-pre with phantom power thrown in to the equation. I guess the question boils down to : can you safely run phantom power through a volume pot.  Confused
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Eliott James

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2004, 12:56:18 AM »

Why do you need a pad between the mic and pre?
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vox

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2004, 02:03:24 AM »

because sometimes hot mics overload my boards pre's even with the trims all the way down.
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Shotgun

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2004, 09:10:23 AM »

vox wrote on Mon, 07 June 2004 02:03

because sometimes hot mics overload my boards pre's even with the trims all the way down.




If this is your only concern, try the 20dB pad these guys make:

http://www.blackaudio.com/inline.htm


They got several other cool goodies too.
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Warhead

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2004, 11:13:01 PM »

I don't find the ATTY to change the overall character of the sound.

War
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Warren Dent
Owner: ZenPro Audio
www.ZenProAudio.com

Labs

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Re: Harvey is Atty=Pad??
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2004, 02:18:57 PM »

Me neither. Its a great little box.

Gustav
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