Heil PR35 overload problem?

john lutz

john lutz

Freshman
Jan 17, 2011
101
0
16
near Grand Rapids michigan
I see there are a few folks here that like the PR35. I tried one last night and had a lot of problems with low and low mid distortion. Used on a male vocalist with a lot of mid and low output naturally and he stays right on his mic.

Other than the intermittent distortion the mic worked well. Great GBF and tone - very detailed, overall a big improvement on this guys voice - except - what is up with the overloading?

I had the wind screen on to help him stay at least a half inch back off the mic but still he could crap it out. The channel stayed in the green and EQ cuts just hid the problem. Same in fronts and mons. Pretty sure it's the mic. I thought PR35 was supposed to be imune to overload.

Anyone with more use of these have voices that do this?
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

john lutz said:
I see there are a few folks here that like the PR35. I tried one last night and had a lot of problems with low and low mid distortion. Used on a male vocalist with a lot of mid and low output naturally and he stays right on his mic.
Click to expand...

New mic or used?

Other than the intermittent distortion the mic worked well. Great GBF and tone - very detailed, overall a big improvement on this guys voice - except - what is up with the overloading?
Click to expand...

Intermittent? Was the distortion really intermittent or did it correspond directly to a specific set of conditions?

I had the wind screen on to help him stay at least a half inch back off the mic but still he could crap it out. The channel stayed in the green and EQ cuts just hid the problem. Same in fronts and mons. Pretty sure it's the mic. I thought PR35 was supposed to be immune to overload.

Anyone with more use of these have voices that do this?
Click to expand...

Channel stayed in the green? Do you mean on the channel meter or when you'd solo it to see the input level? The channel can be green but the pre-amp clip.
What exactly were you metering, the channel or the input gain?
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

A wired PR35 and not an RC35?

A I believe the current production RC35 has a lower output than the originals, because they were causing transmitter distortion.

Chris
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

I think I've had the same problem. Male vocalist for a blues band. Good candidate for an SM58. I didn't know what was going on at first.
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

john lutz said:
I see there are a few folks here that like the PR35. I tried one last night and had a lot of problems with low and low mid distortion. Used on a male vocalist with a lot of mid and low output naturally and he stays right on his mic.
Click to expand...

Were you using compression?
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

Dick Rees said:
New mic or used?



Intermittent? Was the distortion really intermittent or did it correspond directly to a specific set of conditions?



Channel stayed in the green? Do you mean on the channel meter or when you'd solo it to see the input level? The channel can be green but the pre-amp clip.
What exactly were you metering, the channel or the input gain?
Click to expand...


Brand new mic.

Ah yes, the distortion corresponded to the singer hitting certain notes - strong mid / low mid tones with lips on mic.

Soloing the channel - looking at input gain - lots of headroom. Didn't have a set of cans to listen to it closely but checked the signal chain from input to power amp - nothing close to clipping anywhere.

Tried the PR35 again tonight for only one song. Even had roll off switch engaged plus padded the input just to see. No good.

Swapped out to PL44. Adjusted gain and sound was clean. Not as pretty, but clean.
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

John,
I've seen one or two PR-35s react in this manner since the mic was conceived. To be honest, and without pointing fingers, this problem can be caused by a ruptured or damaged diaphragm, which in turn is usually caused by dropping or exposure to some huge SPL.

Your best bet is to call the Heil help line this week. They'll turn the mic around for you pretty quickly and you'll be back in business.
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

Bob Leonard said:
John,
I've seen one or two PR-35s react in this manner since the mic was conceived. To be honest, and without pointing fingers, this problem can be caused by a ruptured or damaged diaphragm, which in turn is usually caused by dropping or exposure to some huge SPL.

Your best bet is to call the Heil help line this week. They'll turn the mic around for you pretty quickly and you'll be back in business.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob for the info. No explosions or dropping. Mic is pristine brand spanking new. Packing was factory perfect - not so much as a fingerprint. Although mine did not come with the cool purple ring, just 2 blacks and a silver. :-(

Tried it out for the first time at a gig and went from "wow this is nice" to "am I hearing that" to WTF. I'm thinking just a bad outa box thing. I did email Heil right away - mainly posted here to rule out some error on my part.
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

Bob Leonard said:
John,
I've seen one or two PR-35s react in this manner since the mic was conceived. To be honest, and without pointing fingers, this problem can be caused by a ruptured or damaged diaphragm, which in turn is usually caused by dropping or exposure to some huge SPL.

Your best bet is to call the Heil help line this week. They'll turn the mic around for you pretty quickly and you'll be back in business.
Click to expand...

Reading your post again got me wondering about what kind of huge SPL event would be needed to ruin a diaphram?
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

john lutz said:
Reading your post again got me wondering about what kind of huge SPL event would be needed to ruin a diaphram?
Click to expand...

well, being that these are the same mics used for recording guns and cannons in some well known movies I would think somewhere around 160-175db. I talked to Bob about this a couple of years back and the best he could do is tell me the 140db rating is much lower than the mics actual sound handling capability.
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

Bob, I have been a very happy user of both the PR35 and RC35, but some of your statements have got me a little concerned. Has there been a failure rate due to "dropping or exposure to some huge SPL" that exceeds the failure rate of, say, an SM58?
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

Mic goes back to Heil In the morning. Fast response from Heil and vendor.

(I think I may have found the problem though. Looks like a malformed diaphram to me. Material is nice and smooth 'til it gets to the top of pic - then it's all crinkled/warped.)
 

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Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

john lutz said:
Mic goes back to Heil In the morning. Fast response from Heil and vendor.

(I think I may have found the problem though. Looks like a malformed diaphram to me. Material is nice and smooth 'til it gets to the top of pic - then it's all crinkled/warped.)
Click to expand...
Yep, that would make the mic act like a kazoo.

Finally heard a (working) PR35 a week ago, sounded good, no overload problems.
The better sounding lead vocalist sounded better on the PR35 than the background vocalists on my Beta 58s ;^).
 
Re: Heil PR35 overload problem?

Chuck Simon said:
Bob, I have been a very happy user of both the PR35 and RC35, but some of your statements have got me a little concerned. Has there been a failure rate due to "dropping or exposure to some huge SPL" that exceeds the failure rate of, say, an SM58?
Click to expand...

Chuck,
No problems with SPL and Heil mics. Just the opposite I would say. The entire line handles huge SPL, abuse, torture, drops, etc.. I wouldn't worry at all, but keep in mind there's always someone around who can break a ball bearing with a rubber hammer.
 
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