Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

[Dick Rees]

I run into "big band" vocalists who have gone to the trouble of finding old RCA ribbons to use. Can they use something like this:

ART SplitCom Pro 2 Way Mic Splitter / Combiner | Musician's Friend

Using only the ISO side for their input it looks like it should protect the mic from phantom voltage.

TIA

Dick Rees

 

[Jason Lavoie]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

it should do the trick, but it still leaves the option open to connect it wrong and defeat the isolation.
is this for you? or for them to take on the road with them?

Jason

 

[Dick Rees]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

It's for the owner/user of the mic. You could just disable the direct side........

 

[Tim Weaver]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

ISOBLOX


This would be easier and more foolproof....

 

[Andrew Broughton]

You'll still need the ground connection.

 

[John Roberts]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

ISOBLOX


This would be easier and more foolproof....

Yes but I though ribbon mics were low Z so a 600 ohm transformer may be noisy.

Perhaps roll a custom set of DC blocking caps into a barrel connector housing.

JR

 

[Riley Casey]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

Sescom single mic splitter transformers in a DI box size package show up on EBay with some regularity.

 

[brian maddox]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

Sescom IL-19? i don't know enough to know if that would work or not. just throwing it out there. i've just used them to solve hum issues in line level situations, so it might be a stupid suggestion. kinda hard to hook up wrong though...

 

[Scott Helmke]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

Kill two birds with one stone - inexpensive (but still pretty OK? don't have any suggestions off the top of my head) mic preamp near the microphone. Passive DI on the preamp output.

 

[Charles Harrigan]

There is a device called the cloud lifter that is a phantom powered pre. It is low noise and designed specificly for ribbons.

Sent from my DROID2 Global 2

 

[Geoff Doane]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

There is a device called the cloud lifter that is a phantom powered pre. It is low noise and designed specificly for ribbons.

That sounds like a good solution. Another similar approach would be a 150:600 Ω step up transformer for 6 dB of free gain. A common split winding transformer can be wired to do that. I'd be reluctant to trust my money channel to a $35 ART box.

BTW, phantom power should not be an issue for ribbon mics, unless cables are wired wrong, or you're patching on a TRS patch bay.

GTD

 

[Dana Sampson]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

+1 for the CloudLifter. It's very transparent, won't pass phantom power, and gives low output ribbons a great boost!!

There is a device called the cloud lifter that is a phantom powered pre. It is low noise and designed specificly for ribbons.

Sent from my DROID2 Global 2

 

[Brian Frost]

Re: Protecting vintage ribbons from phantom power

+1 for the CloudLifter. It's very transparent, won't pass phantom power, and gives low output ribbons a great boost!!

It's more of an old wives tale that phantom kills ribbons, unless the xlr is wired wrong, which is possible when on the road in a live situation. With that in mind a cloudlifter or the cheaper fethead would work perfect and give the foh guy a better signal to work with.