Where in the world am I today?: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
I consider myself reasonably tech-savey when it comes to things like computers and the sound system I use when I perform. I’m quite capable of pulling my computer apart to replace the hard drive should I need/want to and am fairly adept at keeping my gear functioning properly and like I wrote about on Tuesday, I try and stay on top of the regular TLC of my props and equipment, but sometime, inspire of my best efforts something goes sideways… This is one such story…
Back during the PNE while I was debuting The Hot Dog Show I was using my regular mic set-up which consists of an old Sennheiser G1 100 series body pack and receiver coupled with a Countryman Isomax Headset microphone… For just about 10 years the system had worked flawlessly with only minor repairs needed to the system. Well day 15 of a 17 day run something finally crapped out. I suspected that it was the connector where the microphone plugs into the body pack and had techs at the Fair make an attempt at fixing it, but to no avail… I limped through the last two days of the PNE by borrowing microphones from two other performers when they weren’t doing shows and managed to make it through the run with out having to dive into the confusion of sorting out exactly what went wrong…
After thing wrapped up a the PNE I took a closer look at everything and noticed that the shielding on the 10 year old cable on the mic itself was starting to crake, so I contacted Countryman to see if I could get the connector and cabling fixed. Sent the mic in for repairs then headed off for some cruise ship work. I also decided that I should perhaps order a second Isomax Mic to have as a back-up, so I contacted B & H in New York and ordered up a duplicate microphone. Eventually got both the new microphone and the one I’d sent in for repairs plugged them both into the system but the problems still persisted. I wasn’t upset about spending the money on the microphones, because it was time to have the insurance policy of a back up in place, but having hoped that this was going to solve the problem it was frustrating to have the problems persist… Doh!
Right… It must be the connection in the body pack… Grrrr… So… I took the whole system in to my favorite local pro audio shop, ProShow, to see if they could diagnose the problem properly. Turns out that there was a circuit board level issue that needed attention, the problem was/is that because the unit is several generations old, Sennheiser is dragging it’s feet about whether they’ll be able to service a product that has long since been discontinued.
OK… So perhaps it’s time to look at replacing the wireless components of my system as well and get a newer version of the system that had served me so well. So I order up the latest G3 version of the ew100 series from Sennheiser and took delivery of it earlier in the week… It’s very nice but even an entirely new wireless set-up didn’t entirely solve my my mic related problems… When I plugged the Countryman microphones into the system one worked and the other created this incredibly white noise… Turns out the G3 wireless set up from Sennheiser requires a slightly different wiring configuration when the cable connects to the plug that gets inserted into the body pack… One of the two Countryman microphones had been set up correctly, the other hadn’t grrrrrrr…
The next issue came from the fact that the receiver for the new G3 system is significantly bigger I’d say about 25 – 30% longer front to back than my original G1 receiver… Though this doesn’t effect the functionality of the unit, it does mean that I’ll need to get a new carrying case made for the new system which is a another frustration.
But wait there’s more… The AC adaptor that plugs into the back of the receiver looks more or less identical to the standard connector that was used on the G1 series, but it’s not. It appears to be just a hair bigger. This becomes an issue because of the way I plug the system in when I’m using my Anchor Audio Liberty System… The Anchor runs off of batteries and has a power out connection on the back of the amp from which I’ve traditionally powered the receiver for my microphone. When I set things up the way I normally would, I discovered that though the little cable that runs between the power out and and the back of the receiver still fit, it was loose which caused the power to the receiver to cut in and out… To craft another mini cable for the amp I’ll need to order another power supply from Sennheiser and create a new plug as well.
After several failed attempts, I decided to try the new body pack with the old receiver as Sennheiser had indicated to me that the new body packs were backward compatible. So I set the old receiver up the way it normally connects to the amp, hooked up the Countryman microphone that is wired properly to the new body pack and fired the system up and Presto… Things seemed to work. This is the configuration I’ll use for a show I’ve got this weekend, so I’ve got a functional system for my purposes, but will likely go back to my guys at ProShow early next week to have a really good look at everything and determine what the best course of action is really going to be…
It’s never easy is it…
