VT Bass Deluxe DI mute

[Wes Whitmore]

Not everyone needs this, but I have been using my VT Bass Deluxe as a preamp straight into our IEM and FOH recently (no cab), and felt I could really use a better DI mute function. I wanted to be able to unplug a bass, without the possibility of hum or a pop going through the PA. Before this, I had to make sure that the mixer was muted before I made any connection changes, but now, I can hard mute it and turn on/off the deluxe, unplug basses, and tune my bass without burning up a preset like I have been doing. The mutes is dead silent when turning on/off and when off (9V power), and just barely an audible click when the switch is thrown while running on phantom power.

I went to Ace hardware and purchased a $6 SPST toggle switch. I knew I wanted it on the end, and I wanted to know just by looking down if I was muted or not. I didn't want any LEDs as status indicator, and I wanted a big switch that I could grab easily, or flip it with my foot. This switch was prewired with the 2 wires, and all the connections were contained.

To mute a balanced MIC signal like a DI, all you have to do is touch pins 2 and 3 together. You don't cut the 3 wires that go out to the XLR connector, instead, you just short 2 and 3 together at any time and it mutes. All I did was connect the switch to pins 2 and 3 of the XLR. Since the audio information is send down 2 and 3 simultaneously, but out of phase to reject noise, it cancels out everything when they are shorted.

I found a spot on the end panel that would house the switch. After that, I traced around the switch a little, then completed the outline of the switch, found a spot that was about the center of the switch, and drilled a hole big enough for the switch to pass through. After I drilled it, I removed any rough edges of aluminum, then mounted the switch. I soldered on the two wires to pin 2 and 3 of the XLR jack. When I was finished, I put it all back together. Super easy project.
I'm sure this voids your warranty...with that out of the way, I wanted to share some pictures of my XLR DI mute.












DI Unmuted


DI Muted


Thanks,
Wes

[madurolover]

wow great engineering job!

[cableguy]

Nice! I know JimmyM had talked about using one preset with everything turned down as his mute. I don't know how well that worked. I use my TU-2 as mine. How does your VT work with you IEM's?

[Eric Moesle]

Respectfully, I think you really over-thought the problem and missed the obvious. Six presets, and all you had to do was program one of them with the volume all the way down to operate as a quick foot-switched mute.

You violated your warranty, lessened its resale value, can't mute with your foot, and you can't simultaneously mute both the XLR and the 1/4" outputs.

Is there any adverse effect with touching pins 2 and 3 together to get the mute when phantom power is connected?

[JimmyM]

Cool mod Wes. I don't really dig burning up presets either. It works but I need all 3 for my electric bass channel, so I can only tune muted with my upright in channel 2. To tune the electric silently, I have to bend down and turn the volume all the way up and back.

[Wes Whitmore]

The VT deluxe works great with the IEMs. IEMs only was the reason I decided to get rid of a monitor rig.

This isn't a tuner mute, its a DI mute. This was built for the DI only, and it doesn't mute the line going out to the amp. You could mute the line out as well if you used a different kind of switch.

I wanted a mute at the end of the circuit because a tuner mute and preset mute didn't fix my issue.

Mike putman will do this mod for $50 and give you a stomp switch that looks like the original. There is plenty of room up on top to fit it, but I wanted it on the end by the xlr. I can also just get another end piece if it doesn't work out. I wanted a visual status indicator more than anything, since I only turn this on and off once a night. I can mute it with my foot, and I have to reach over to plug in my bass anyhow, so I will unmute it on my way up. Mike could probably add an LED to his switch and it would look stock, be footswitchable, increase the value like the rest of his mods, and mute di and line. Call him up. I just didn't require it.

Muting by shorting pins 1 and 2 is how dynamic mic on/off switches work, and how cough drop boxes work. The nicer ones have some simple added filtering to allow condenser mics to bleed off the phantom power without popping, but this doesn't need it.

Wes

[anderbass]

Originally Posted by Wes Whitmore

you just short 2 and 3 together at any time and it mutes

How about if the sound man accidentally had the phantom power engaged on your channel, would there be any possibility of damaging the mixer when you muted?

[Wes Whitmore]

Nope. It works with phantom, which partially comes from pin 1 (ground), which I didn't do anything to. The rest passes through pin 2 and 3, so I get a very small click when I mute when phantom power is on, sometimes. If it was loud, I would have just built this filter, but I dont think I will need to.

http://www.crownaudio.com/mic_web/popless.htm

Wes

[JSK5String]

Very nice mod and very well done. I'm not nearly as handy as you with electronic stuff, so I just put my TU2 in front of mine. I stick to building my own speaker cab to get myself in trouble...