Coonecting Axe to Power Amp (Balanced vs. Unbalanced)?

[Blueser]

I was running my Axe Ultra into my QSC power amp with unbalanced cables, and replaced them today with a pair of Mogami Gold Reference balanced XLR cables (XLR on both ends), and I can swear that it sounds more aggressive. Does this sound strange? I actually like better with unbalanced cables!

Is there any benefit to running balance vs. unbalanced? I always thought, when given the choice, you would go with balanced connections, as they are lower noise, etc.? If there is no real benefit to me, I am thinking of going back to the unbalanced cables!

I may also try to take down the levels of my amp sims to compensate, but I wanted to check here before I do anything else.

Confused!!!

Please help.

B

 

[joegold]

I was running my Axe Ultra into my QSC power amp with unbalanced cables, and replaced them today with a pair of Mogami Gold Reference balanced XLR cables (XLR on both ends), and I can swear that it sounds more aggressive. Does this sound strange? I actually like better with unbalanced cables!

Is there any benefit to running balance vs. unbalanced? I always thought, when given the choice, you would go with balanced connections, as they are lower noise, etc.? If there is no real benefit to me, I am thinking of going back to the unbalanced cables!

I may also try to take down the levels of my amp sims to compensate, but I wanted to check here before I do anything else.

Confused!!!

Please help.

B

A balanced XLR connection to a power amp will be about 6dB louder than an unbalanced connection.

 

[Blueser]

I was running my Axe Ultra into my QSC power amp with unbalanced cables, and replaced them today with a pair of Mogami Gold Reference balanced XLR cables (XLR on both ends), and I can swear that it sounds more aggressive. Does this sound strange? I actually like better with unbalanced cables!

Is there any benefit to running balance vs. unbalanced? I always thought, when given the choice, you would go with balanced connections, as they are lower noise, etc.? If there is no real benefit to me, I am thinking of going back to the unbalanced cables!

I may also try to take down the levels of my amp sims to compensate, but I wanted to check here before I do anything else.

Confused!!!

Please help.

B

A balanced XLR connection to a power amp will be about 6dB louder than an unbalanced connection.

Ahh....Got it. By louder, I assume hotter, which would attribute to the more aggressive tone. Correct?

So if I go in and adjust the level of the amp sims, I should be able to compensate for it with no other ill effect? Are there any real benefits to running balanced vs. unbalanced?

 

[joegold]

I was running my Axe Ultra into my QSC power amp with unbalanced cables, and replaced them today with a pair of Mogami Gold Reference balanced XLR cables (XLR on both ends), and I can swear that it sounds more aggressive. Does this sound strange? I actually like better with unbalanced cables!

Is there any benefit to running balance vs. unbalanced? I always thought, when given the choice, you would go with balanced connections, as they are lower noise, etc.? If there is no real benefit to me, I am thinking of going back to the unbalanced cables!

I may also try to take down the levels of my amp sims to compensate, but I wanted to check here before I do anything else.

Confused!!!

Please help.

B

A balanced XLR connection to a power amp will be about 6dB louder than an unbalanced connection.

Ahh....Got it. By louder, I assume hotter, which would attribute to the more aggressive tone. Correct?

So if I go in and adjust the level of the amp sims, I should be able to compensate for it with no other ill effect? Are there any real benefits to running balanced vs. unbalanced?

Yes hotter signal = louder sound from amp.
Doesn't necessarily = more aggressive though.

Other advantage of balanced connections vs unbalanced is that you can run long cables with little or no signal degradation.

 

[javajunkie]

A balanced XLR connection to a power amp will be about 6dB louder than an unbalanced connection.

Ahh....Got it. By louder, I assume hotter, which would attribute to the more aggressive tone. Correct?

So if I go in and adjust the level of the amp sims, I should be able to compensate for it with no other ill effect? Are there any real benefits to running balanced vs. unbalanced?

Yes hotter signal = louder sound from amp.
Doesn't necessarily = more aggressive though.

Other advantage of balanced connections vs unbalanced is that you can run long cables with little or no signal degradation.

Also it is less subject to noise and the ground lift switch only works w/ the balanced outs

 

[Blueser]

So I guess the consensus is that I should be running through the balanced connections. I tinkered with the volume levels tonight, and that seemed to get everything back in the sweetspot.

Thanks everyone. This forum is a great resource for info, and I really appreciate the help getting me off the ground.

Regards,
B