Stage Box

[PeteeB]

Hello everyone.
My name is Peter I’m a newbie.
I am looking for some help, I have a CQ18T which I run our 6 piece band though.
To save leads running everywhere I purchase a custome made Stage box with 8 inputs and 4 returns
The inputs are male extra to match the mixer and the returns are TRS for our fold backs.
At rehearsal we just used 5 vocal inputs all plug into the stage box after about an hour each microphone failed. Not all at once but over the next 15 minutes.
On testing all inputs and outputs I found that there were no connectivity issues with the fan of connections or the box inputs.
The place where I had it made mentioned that it could be and issue with the mixer as all connections passed testing.
I’m hoping someone else has had a similar issue.
I’m not confident to use the stage box in a live situation until this is sorted. As you can appreciate a 6 piece band with 5 vocalist and 5 instruments, 3 fold backs a sub woofer and front of house there are lead’s everywhere
Hope for a solution
Regards
Peter

[Chienmort]

A stage box should be passive. Does the mixer work OK with the mics connected directly?

[PeteeB]

Hi thanks for quick reply,
Yes the stage box is passive, and yes all the mics where plugged straight into the mixer after it failed and worked fine.

[Brian]

In that case, your problem lies 100% within the stage box itself. You need to check the quality of the solder connections on every connector in the stage box. It sure sounds like the quality of that box isn’t very good.

[PeteeB]

Thanks Brian,
I believe exactly what you are saying, the “Manufacturer” is saying what happened is not possible as you are also saying it’s and extension of each individual lead.
I will be taking this up further and request some “restitution”
Regards
Peter

[SQuser]

To be honest, I can’t imagine that it’s your passive stage box.
During your rehearsal, you probably hardly moved the box or the connections.
Nevertheless, after an hour (!), all the inputs you were using failed one after the other.
If I understand correctly, you checked the box afterwards or had it checked.
Everything was probably moved during that time, but no problem was found.
So I’d be much more inclined to believe that it was an electronic problem.
Once in my life I’ve experienced the phantom power in a mixer slowly disappearing.
All the condenser microphones stopped working – also one after the other.
This may not be the case for you, but in my opinion, a tested (!) pure cable extensions shouldn’t be able to cause this kind of error.

[Anonymous]

Strange indeed. Do you recall if signal was still coming in right after the “fail” ?

[Dor Seidel Thom]

do you use autogain?

[PeteeB]

No auto gain is not used

[PeteeB]

In answer to the above,
Mic’s are all Shure SM58’s
Auto gain is not used
Unit tested ok without errors.
What electronic failure could cause this issue? Yet the mixer has performed perfectly in all other instances as recent as Saturday night 🤷🏼‍♂️
I do have an analogue mixer which doesn’t have as many inputs so would use for vocals only that I may try and see it the same occurs
Otherwise I’m at a loss.
I do have rehearsal tonight so I will test it again
Regards
Peter

[h2k]

1 comment and 1 question:
Comment: I have used an 8×4 passive stage box (aka “snake”) with two different CQ18Ts with no problem. The mics are a mix of dynamic (Shure SM58 Beta), Sennheiser e609, direct boxes, and a couple of condenser mics. The length is 25ft.
Question: What is the length of the cable in your stage box?
Thanks.

[Hugh]

I was somewhat confused by the term “stage box” that is usually reserved for DX168, DX32, 48X16, etc, etc. Packaged cables are generally called snakes and the 24 & 16 input variety may have a metal box for input & distribution connections. I currently use daily an 8×4 20 ft long and still have a 25 year old 16×8, 50ft. (with box) that is seldom ever needed & a 24×8 50ft that I sold last year. 25 years ago I was working in an analog world where these snakes were required, however the digital audio revolution offered expansion stage boxes that have virtually eliminated the need for large input long snakes.

Unfortunately the CQ line will not accommodate any ancillary expansion stage box I/Os.
Hugh

[Mike C]

Post a picture of the internal wiring of the snake / stage box you have.

[Brian]

Two things…. Hugh is correct. The ideal terminology to use to describe this “box” is an analog snake. The fact that it has (or doesn’t have) a “box” at one end really doesn’t matter.

Second, in an earlier post when I advised that the OP check every connection “in the stage box”, I really meant every connection at both ends. There might be a physical metal box at one end and a simple “fan” of wires at the other, but every solder joint on every connector (certainly the ones that are not working) needs to be checked. Long story short, if you aren’t passing signal through an analog snake it is because one or more of the wires does not have connectivity from end to end. The connections may be wired incorrectly (swapping wires accidentally), the wires may not be connected properly (the most common failure is a broken/frayed wire right at the connector/solder joint), the solder joints themselves may be poorly done and causing issues, or the connector itself is broken/faulty. That’s really about the only ways an analog snake can fail.

[SQuser]

At least here in Germany, the boxes have been called “Stagebox” for as long as I can remember.
The cable to the stage box was/is the “Multicore” and a multicore with plugs on it was/is a “Snake”.
Obviously different countries – different names.
Incidentally, A&H itself does not refer to its digital stage boxes as “stage box” at all, but as “Expander” (see pic). ))

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Author]

Posts