Stanton SA.3 User manual

S
SA A. .3 3
PROFESSIONAL DJ MIXER
STANTON MAGNETICS, INC
[email protected] • 954.689.8833
www.stantondj.com
OWNER’S MANUAL

Thank you for making Stanton your first choice in professional DJ mixers.
Our innovative family of mixers has been developed with input from the profes-
sional DJ community. Stanton offers an affordable combination of user-friendly
mixers with functional design, rugged construction and professional quality fea-
tures which had been previously unavailable.
Stanton and your authorized Stanton dealer are dedicated to your complete sat-
isfaction by offering benchmark service and support throughout the long life of
your Stanton product.
We appreciate your patronage, and look forward to many years of making music
together.
WELCOME!

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE USE
FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS PRINTED BELOW MAY VOID WARRANTY
• Follow all security advice printed on your mixer
• When removing the unit's AC plug from the power source, grasp and pull
the plug, NEVER the cord itself!
• Avoid placing your mixer near heat sources, such as power amplifiers.
• When in use, place your mixer on a stable surface, away from vibration.
Always use care when carrying your mixer. Impact, or heavy vibration may
compromise the unit's mechanical integrity. The manufacturer is not
responsible for damage resulting from an impact, or misuse.
• When in use, place your mixer away from sources of hum or noise, such as
transformers, or electric motors.
• To prevent overheating, always provide your mixer with adequate
ventilation air space.
• Avoid stepping on your mixer's AC cord. Repeated compression of the cord
may lead to electrical shorting.
• To avoid damage due to AC voltage peaks, always disconnect your mixer
from the power source during electrical storms. If possible connect mixer to
a surge protector.
• Your mixer contains no user-serviceable parts. The manufacturer is not
responsible for any damage or personal injury resulting from unauthorized
user-servicing or modifications. In addition, the warranty will be void if any
unauthorized service by the user is detected. Always return your mixer to
an authorized Stanton dealer for servicing.

The SA.3 professional scratch
mixer has been designed specifi-
cally for scratch DJs. The SA.3 is a
clean, simple and easy to under-
stand mixer with the features that
will help you as a scratch artist.
• 2 channel scratch mixer.
• Curve adjustment and reverse switch for Crossfader and Linefaders.
• User replaceable / upgradeable faders.
• Each channel features gain control, 3 band eq, and pan.
• Headphone mute switch.
• Dual headphone outputs (1/4"/6.3mm and 1/8"/3.5mm).
• Balanced 1/4” and unbalanced RCA master outputs.
• Master mute switch.
• Rotatable 2 Position phono/line switch.
• Mic channel with gain control.
• Microphone mute switch.
• Protekt Panel.
• 2 line and 2 phono inputs.
• Master / Cue switch.
• Cue fader for cueing between programs.
SA.3 FEATURES

DESCRIPTION OF FUNCTIONS
TOP PANEL
1. Microphone level - Controls the attenuation level of the
microphone input. Use the microphone level adjustment to find
the right gain for your microphone, then use the microphone
mute button (3) to mute the input when not in use.
2. Microphone Mute LED - Indicates when microphone mute
button (3) has been engaged.
3. Microphone Mute - Mutes the microphone input.

4. Input Gains - Controls the input sensitivity level for each
channel. Use the input gain in conjunction with the LED meters
(19) to properly set the levels of your input.
5. Input Equalizers - Individual controls for high frequency,
mid-range, and low frequency equalization with 9db of boost and
25dB of kill. Note: Any changes made to EQ settings will change
the overall output level of that input.
6. Input Pan - Controls left / right output balance of each chan-
nel.
7. Cue Level - Controls the output level of the headphone amp.
8. Master / Cue Switch - Selects signal to be sent to head-
phone output. In “CUE” position, the cue pan fader (9) is used
to select which input channel is to be monitored. In “MASTER”
position the master output is sent directly to the headphones.
9. Cue pan fader - Fades the headphone output from input 1 to
input 2 when Master / Cue switch is in “Cue” mode.
10. Master Level - Controls the overall output level of the mas-
ter output.
11. Master Mute Indicator - LED indicates when Master Mute
switch (12) has been engaged.
12. Master Mute - Mutes the master output of the mixer. Use
the master mute in situations where you need to mute and
unmute the mixer without having to re-adjust your Master Level
(10) control.
13. Reverse Indicator - Bi-color (red & green) LED indicates
when fader’s direction has been reversed (green = normal, red =
reversed).
14. Reverse Button - Reverses the direction of the fade on the
corresponding fader.
15. Line fader Curve Control - Selects taper of upfader curve
between a fast cut, medium curve, and long fade.
16. Input Select - Toggle switch selects the input source
between the phono and line inputs located on the back of your
mixer.
MIXER FUNCTIONS

17. Power Indicator - Blue LED indicates when power has been
switched on.
18. Line Fader - The linefader controls the level of each chan-
nel to the master outputs.
19. Level Meter - LED meter indicates level of each channel.
The left LED meter is for channel 1. The right LED meter is for
channel 2. Use the Input Gain (4) to adjust the signal to 0dB
(yellow LED). The red LED on the meter indicates when the sig-
nal is close to clipping and distorting the output of the mixer.
20. Headphone Mute - Mutes the headphone output. This fea-
ture is very useful for quick cueing during mixing and scratch-
ing.
21. Headphone Mute Indicator - Indicates when Headphone
Mute (20) has been engaged.
22. Crossfader Reverse Indicator - Indicates when crossfader
reverse has been engaged.
23. Crossfader - The crossfader fades between channel 1 and
channel 2. The taper (curve) of the crossfader is determined by
the crossfader curve control (23). The direction of the curve is
determined by the crossfader reverse control (24).
MIXER FUNCTIONS
FRONT PANEL
FRONT PANEL
24. Crossfader Reverse - The crossfader reverse changes the
direction of the fade on the crossfader (23).

FRONT PANEL
25. Crossfader Curve - Controls the taper (fade) shape of the
crossfader (23). The crossfader curve control continually adjusts
the curve from a sharp cut to a long fade.
26. Headphone Outputs - 1/4” and 1/8” connector jacks for
headphones.
BACK PANEL
BACK PANEL
Power - Power switch to turn the mixer “ON” or “OFF”.
AC IN: This is the input connection for the included power
supply.
Master - Connects to an amplifier, EQ, crossover, or other
outboard signal processing. Connect balance connections
to the TRS 1/4” connectors. Connect un-balanced connec-
tions to the RCA connectors.
Line - Line inputs are used to connect line level sources
such as CD players, Mini Discs, DATs, samplers, etc.
Ground - Connects to turntable ground cable to eliminate
electrical hum. Ground cables are usually supplied with
turntables.
Phono - Connects to left and right RCA cables from
turntable.
Mic - 1/4” TRS connector for use with microphones.

REMOVING FACEPLATE
CLEANING FADERS
2
2 2
2
3 3
3
1. Unplug the power
supply from the back
of the mixer. Verify
that the mixer is pow-
ered off.
2. Remove the 4
screws on the face-
plate. Place the 4
screws somewhere
safe where they will
not be lost.
3. Remove the 3 fader
knobs from the line
faders and crossfader.
4. The faceplate can
now be removed from
the top of the mixer.
1. Make sure the mixer
is powered off. Remove
the faceplate of the
mixer by following the
directions above.
2. Remove the fader from the mixer
by unscrewing the two outer screws
on the fader plate. Do not remove
the two inside screws on the fader
plate; this will remove the fader
from the fader plate.
3. Once fader has been removed
from mixer, spray a small amount of
contact cleaner into the fader and
move the fader back and forth to
disperse the cleaner.
(BACKPANEL VIEW)

ROTATING THE TRANSFORM SWITCHES
The input selector (transform) switches on the Stanton SA.3
mixer can be rotated to 8 different positions. Follow the steps
below to rotate the transform switch to the position you like.
1. Make sure the mixer is powered off. Remove the faceplate of
the mixer.
2. Remove the two outer screws
from the transform switch as indi-
cated in diagram. Do not remove
the two inner screws. Removing
the two inner screws will detach
the switch from the plate.
3. Rotate the switch to the posi-
tion you like. Replace the two
outer screws to secure the switch
in place.
Replacing the transform switch
1. Follow steps 1 and 2 above.
Remove switch from mixer and
detach connector from switch.
2. Attach connector for transform
switch to replacement switch and replace two outer screws to
secure the switch in place.
REPLACING THE CROSSFADER
The SA.3 is compatible with the CFSA.3, Focus Faders V1/V2
and with Penny and Giles crossfaders. The SA.3 has two differ-
ent circuits which need to be switched when changing between
the faders. To switch the crossfader circuit, follow the instruc-
tions below:
1. Follow steps 1 & 2 from the fader cleaning instructions.
2. Remove the fader assembly and discon-
nect the cable coming from the mixer.
3. The crossfader select switch is located
inside the mixer, on the left side of the
fader slot. In order to use the CFSA.3, FF1
and Penny & Giles faders, make sure the
switch is pressed DOWN. To use the CFF2,
make sure the switch is in the UP position.