# possible to have XLR in/out?



## almondcity (Mar 15, 2021)

Forgive my ignorance here, but is it possible to replace the 1/4" unbalanced jacks with XLR jacks somehow?  What I'd like to be able to do is take my balanced line level XLR output from a mic preamp and run it into a box to EQ or add some dirt (for example I am particularly intrigued by the JHS Colour Box; seems like Son of Ben PCB would be a similar style of effect).

Please excuse me if I am barking up the wrong tree.  Thanks


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## bhcarpenter (Mar 15, 2021)

I went on a search for something like this last year 🙂. It’s possible, but you will need some additional electronics to convert from balanced to unbalanced and back again. Depending on the tolerance of your effects, you may also need to convert impedance and level to what they’d expect. 

If you’re open to having the conversion be external, here are some commercial boxes that do this already:
- Eventide Mixing Link
- Radial Voco-Loco
- there were a few more that I can’t remember the name of

It’s possible that you may be able to rig something up by running a good passive DI backwards as well. You’d likely need a separate preamp afterwards to boost the level back up. 

I’ve used the Eventide one run reverb and delay after a mic’d guitar cabinet. It’s great. I’m sure the others are great too, but I don’t have direct experience with them.


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## almondcity (Mar 15, 2021)

Yeah I am familiar with the Voco Loco.  I haven't gotten one since I think it has its own mic preamp in there and I'd rather use an independent one.

Wondering if all I'd need to do is get a pair of these (or rather one of these and a similar reverse one): https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...xlr-to-hi-z-1-4-inch-inline-impedance-matcher


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## Untro (Mar 15, 2021)

Im curious about this too. As a (former, damn covid) live engineer, people would always bring in their Boss guitar pedals and look at me with an impotent, blank stare, holding the mic cable and the pedal up, asking me 'do you uh, have the thing to make this work'? Yes I do, but instead how about I dial in your 'perfect delay sound' here on my board. Because when using a guitar pedal, by the time the signal gets to the board it sounds like shit no matter what, and people are shocked because it 'sounded fine at practice!' Yeah, that was before we had 110dB coming out of four massive speakers, this is what it sounds like bud. 

Cynicism aside, I recommend every vocalist looking for that control to get the DBA Echo Master. Whatever this thing does, it's freakin perfect for the application and mounts directly on a mic stand. Pretty damn clever, I'd like to build an analog so I can help my vocalist friends level up their game.


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## almondcity (Mar 15, 2021)

That's a cool device.  The fact that this exists must mean it's possible to get XLR stuff going on in fairly small footprints.


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## Tremster (Mar 15, 2021)

https://diy.thcustom.com/shop/balanced-line-driver-v1-0/
?


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## almondcity (Mar 15, 2021)

Wow I have not come across this site before.

So it seems like I could just add this board after any effect I want and have it come out XLR.  How would my power work if I did that?  Do I need two power supplies or can I rig it to run on the same power as the first effect?


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## Tremster (Mar 16, 2021)

almondcity said:


> Wow I have not come across this site before.
> 
> So it seems like I could just add this board after any effect I want and have it come out XLR.  How would my power work if I did that?  Do I need two power supplies or can I rig it to run on the same power as the first effect?


That will work. You can just put it in the enclosure with the pedal circuit and run both from the same power jack.

I have no idea about an XLR _input_ though. Sorry.


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## almondcity (Mar 16, 2021)

Yeah I'm going to try this input transformer: https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/accessories/a85f

After further thought, what is the difference between the Balanced Line Driver circuit, and just running the output into a passive DI box to my interface?


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## maxl0rd (Mar 17, 2021)

You really don't need anything but a cable to get the signal into the pedal. Wire a female XLR on one end and a quarter inch TR plug on the other. Connect xlr pin 2 (hot) to tip and pin 1 to ground. You're under no obligation to use the balanced leg just because it's there. 

Keep the gain on the mic pre low to avoid clipping the pedal.


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## almondcity (Mar 17, 2021)

it seems like the way to do this _*properly*_ is not inside of the pedal lol

get a reamp box going in and a di box going out and that's pretty much it


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## knucklehead (Mar 17, 2021)

I rabbit holed this . . . .

For a time I came out of my bass with a balanced signal - a humbucking pickup can be wired to produce a balanced signal. Tricky part from there is you need a balanced signal path or it doesn't mean all that much. Negates pedals nearly entirely.

It was REALLY cool to go from my bass to a snake with only a cable, though - freaked A LOT of FoH guys out with that.


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