Raven Labs PMB-II User manual

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Raven Labs PMB-II Owner's Manual
Raven Labs PMB-II Owner's Manual
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Professional Master Blender from Raven Labs rovides the
rofessional musician the ultimate device in blending together two
se arate signal sources. It can be used with an acoustic guitar or
bass having a iezo icku and soundhole micro hone, a stereo
instrument, two se arate instruments or keyboards, or instrument,
drum machine, ta e deck, etc. Of course, it also makes a great
ream for any single instrument.
Great care has been taken in the selection of com onents and
im edances to insure crystal clarity, wide frequency res onse, low
noise and minimum distortion. As well, it is acked with useful
features. The PMB-II can be owered with two nine-volt batteries, or
a wall mounted A/C ada ter (sold se arately).
Front Panel Features
INPUT JACKS
Three individual in ut jacks labeled INST (Instrument), STEREO, and
AUX/MIC (Auxiliary/Micro hone) are rovided. Each in ut is
equi ed with an RF tra to hel eliminate radio station
interference.
The INSTRUMENT in ut is ideal for iezo icku s and all devices
needing a high in ut im edance. The in ut im edance is 10 Meg
ohms. If you are not blending two signals, we recommend using this
in ut regardless of the ty e of icku . The AUXILIARY/MICROPHONE
in ut has an in ut im edance of 820K Ohms, and is suited for
micro hones, magnetic icku s, keyboards, drum machines, etc. It
also has " hantom ower" if needed. The STEREO in ut jack can
receive a dual signal, such as a icku and soundhole micro hone.
The TIP of the stereo jack is sent to the Instrument channel. The
RING is goes to the Aux/Mic channel. When the Stereo in ut is used,
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it disables the Instrument and Aux/Mic in uts. Therefore, they
cannot be used in conjunction with the Stereo function.
PHASE SWITCH
A Phase switch is rovided for each channel to hel eliminate
feedback and other hasing roblems. In the OUT osition, the in ut
and out uts are normal (in hase). Pushing the switch IN reverses
the hase. If you are ex eriencing early feedback with an acoustic
instrument, try using the Phase switch to alleviate the situation. As
well, remember that your osition on stage can influence when
feedback can occur. Always start out with the Phase switch in the
normal (out) osition.
PHANTOM POWER SWITCH
Pushing this switch in rovides nine-volts DC to the Aux/Mic in ut
jack or to the Ring of the Stereo jack. This voltage is slightly higher
when using the o tional A/C ada ter. Activate this function ONLY
when you are using a soundhole mic or other device needing 9 volt
" hantom ower". Engaging the Phantom Power Switch with nothing
lugged into the Aux/Mic or Stereo in ut jack, will effectively reduce
battery life. ALWAYS check the osition of this switch BEFORE
turning on the Master Blender. If you need hantom ower, ush the
switch in after your connections are com lete.
GAIN CONTROLS
Each channel is su lied with an individual Gain Control. It affects
the level going to your tone controls, and all out ut jacks. Once you
have set your Gain to a desired level, use the Master Volume for
"live" adjustments. This will avoid changing the level at the XLR
direct out.
Start with the Gain control at about the 10 o'clock osition. Then
adjust your tone contols to their desired settings. Adjust the Volume
to a comfortable listening level. Boost the Gain until you hear some
distortion or "cli ing" u on striking a loud note or chord (de ending
on the out ut level of your instrument, this may not occur). Now,
lower the Gain control just below where the distortion disa ears.
Use the MasterVolume to set your overall volume. This allows you
the maximum signal to noise ratio the Master Blender has to offer.
Remember that boosting any one of the tone controls can affect the
o timum osition of the Gain Control.
TONE CONTROLS
Individual Bass, Midrange, and Treble controls are rovided for each
channel. The "flat" osition, or where the controls have no effect, is
when the ointer is straight u (12 o'clock). Turning the control
clockwise from the flat osition boosts the tone control, counter
clockwise cuts the tone control. Cut or boost is a maximum of 12 dB.
The Bass is centered around 80 Hz, midrange is set at 800 Hz, and
the Treble boosts at 3 KHz. The bandwidth of each control is
different, and set to be
musically leasing.
EFFECTS CONTROL
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The Effects control blends the signal coming from your effects device
with the sound of your instrument. The Effects Loo is a side chain
design. Along with the Effects blend, this hel s to maintain a truer or
more accurate signal. If your effect has a blend control, turn it all
the way u . See the Effects Loo section for more information.
If you don't hear a signal coming from your effects, or any other
device you may have lugged into the effects return jack, check the
osition of the Effects control.
VOLUME CONTROL
The Volume Control adjusts the level at the Line Out (To Am ) jack
only. It DOES NOT affect the level at the XLR, Effects Send, Tuner,
or Channel Patch jacks. If the level is too "hot" or loud at these
oints, turn down the Gain control. You can then readjust the level
at the Line out with the Volume.
POWER SWITCH
Pressing in the Power switch turns on your Master Blender as
indicated by the green LED lighting. Always be sure that your unit is
turned off when not in use to avoid draining the batteries.
IMPORTANT: Since there are turn on and turn off transients, turn
the Master Blender on BEFORE atching to other equ ment and off
LAST.
MUTE SWITCH
There may be instances when you want to "mute" the signal going
to the XLR or Line out jacks, such as when tuning u or changing
instruments, etc. Pushing the Mute switch in sto s the signal going
to the XLR and Line out jacks as indicated by the red LED lighting.
Push the switch again to return to normal as indicated by the green
Power LED lighting. It does not affect the Tuner, Effects Send, or
Channel Patch jacks.
Rear Panel Features
LINE OUT JACK (To Am )
Present at the line out is the blended signal of all in uts that are in
use. The level at this jack is adjusted by both the Gain and Volume
controls.Use this jack to send a signal to an am lifier or any iece of
equi ment desired.
Always use a high quality shielded cable when using any of the in ut
and out ut jacks on your Master Blender.
TUNER SEND JACK
To tune u silently between songs without disturbing your band
mates or sound engineer, hook u a tuner to this jack and ush the
Mute button. Since the Tuner Send is on a side chain, it does not
load down your instrument. Therefore, it is more desirable than
lugging your instrument directly into a tuner and then going to your
ream or am .
EFFECTS LOOP (SEND AND RECEIVE JACKS)
To use the Master Effects loo , lug a shielded cable from the SEND
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jack to the INPUT of your effects, and a second atch cord from the
OUTPUT of your effects to the RETURN jack. Use the Effects blend
control on the front anel to adjust the amount of effects with the
sound of your instrument. If the Effects control is in the full counter-
clockwise osition, your effects device will NOT be heard. Turning
the Effects control clockwise introduces more of the effect into the
overall sound.
You may also use the Return jack to mix in other external signals
such as a mono ta e source, drum machine, etc.
CHANNEL PATCH JACKS
These jacks can be used as individual channel effects loo s, to send
the individual Instrument and Aux/Mic channel signals out to a
stereo am , or to receive a stereo signal that can be mixed in with
the Master Blender.
To use as an INDIVIDUAL CHANNEL EFFECTS LOOP, a stereo cord is
needed. The "ti " of the Channel Patch jack is the send, and the
"ring" of the Channel atch jack is the return or "receive". The
Effects blend control on the front anel DOES NOT affect this
function. Use the level on your effects device for the desired amount
of coloration.
To send the SEPARATE CHANNEL SIGNALS to a stereo am or mixer,
etc, use a normal mono shielded 1/4" lug for each channel.
Connect the Channel Patch jack(s) to the in ut of the unit desired.
The level at these jacks is controlled by the Gain control ONLY. The
signal going to the Line and XLR outs will NOT be interru ted, and
function as normal. This allows for a variety of choices when laying
live or recording! Shorting the ring of the Channel Patch jack to
ground does not harm or affect erformance.
To MIX IN A STEREO SIGNAL you will need a stereo lug with the
"ring" and "sleeve" wired ONLY. Do NOT ground or wire anything to
the "ti " of the stereo lug inserted into the Channel Patch jacks to
use this feature.
To atch from a stereo source, remove the mono lug on the end of
the atch cord inserted into the Master Blender and re lace with a
1/4" stereo lug. Wire the "hot" wire of the mono cord to the "ring"
and the shield to the "sleeve". Again, leave the "ti " blank. Since
the master Effects control on the front anel does not function (it's a
mono control), the level must be set by the external device.
XLR DIRECT OUT
The XLR is a true electronically balanced out ut and can be used to
send a signal to a ta e deck or mixer for recording and live
situations. Wiring of the XLR is American Standard: 1 = ground, 2 =
hot, 3 = neutral. The level at the XLR is affected by the Gain control
only. To "kill" the signal at the XLR, sim ly use the Mute switch on
the front anel.
The GROUND LIFT switch directly below the XLR connector either
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grounds (GND) in 1, or removes ground (LIFT). This is useful for
eliminating ground loo s or humm roblems.
A/C ADAPTER IN/OUT JACKS
If you have a Raven A/C ada ter, insert the out ut lug into the A/C
ada ter "IN" jack. The Master Blender will automatically switch from
battery to A/C o eration. DO NOT use any other A/C ada ter as the
Master Blender works on a unique +/- 9 volt su ly.
All future Raven roducts will have A/C ada ter ca abilities and can
be owered using only ONE ada ter. To ower another Raven
roduct with the same ada ter, run a mini-stereo (3.5mm) cord
from the OUT jack on the unit the ada ter is in, to the A/C ada ter
IN of the second unit. These can be "daisy chained" for u to 4
Raven units having IN/OUT ada ter jacks!
NINE VOLT BATTERY HOLDER
Insert 2 nine volt batteries into the external com artments for
battery o eration. Be sure and ush the drawers back in until they
"click" into lace. Observe battery olarity as marked inside the
drawers (+ left, - right). Battery life should exceed 50 hours under
normal use, rovided the unit is turned off after each erformance.
© 1998-2004 Raven Labs
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