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Sansamp Bass DI Ground switch question.

smackbass

smackbass

Feb 4, 2008
30
0
60
Bradford, UK
#1
I am doing some home recording using a Sansamp Bass DI and a Tascom Portastudio. When using the XLR output connected to a 1/4 input of the Portastudio (no phantom power in the chain), should the ground switch be "engaged" or "lifted" ?
Thanks
 
#2
Hey man.

The Di's output should not be going to the tascms 1/4" jack input, the jack inputs are line ins, and expect a line level signal. A bass is quite a bit lower than that, the signal from a DI is better suited to going to a mic pre amp, in your case di xlr out > tascam xlr in.

phnatom power being on or off will not effect anything on a well designed unit, except in pretty specific circumstances!

As for the ground lift, it's normally best to leave it off (ie ground NOT lifted). The ground lift should only be used in the event of unwanted noise in the signal, and even then it will only help one kind of noise!

Without going into the specifics, the process is simple -

-leave ground lift off
-if you have noise which can't be traced to anything BEFORE the DI then try pushing in the ground lift
-if the noise goes away, then cool, if not, turn the ground lift switch back off and continue looking for the source of the noise!
 
#3
I'f I'm running my sansamp via xlr to my mixer and using the mixers phantom power to run the sansamp, it's a no brainer, the sansamp only gets power with the ground lift set one way (towards the lettering above the switch), the other way (towards the side of the box), it doesn't.

Sorry for my overuse of technical jargon lol.
 
#4
jkramer5 said:
I'f I'm running my sansamp via xlr to my mixer and using the mixers phantom power to run the sansamp, it's a no brainer, the sansamp only gets power with the ground lift set one way (towards the lettering above the switch), the other way (towards the side of the box), it doesn't.

Sorry for my overuse of technical jargon lol.
Click to expand...

no probs :)

yeah, the ground is the 'return' for the phantom power voltage sent to your sansamp. In some devices lifting the ground will interrupt the phantom, breaking the circuit, in others it will still get through due to clever circuitry. So if ground lift defeats phantom then I would imagine your sans amp is the former type. I may be wrong though, worth checking the manual to see if phantom powering SHOULD be possible with ground lifted.

Either way, ground lift is generally left off. The only reason to have it on is if a problem in the signal is present and, more importantly, the ground lift switch helps this problem! It may be worth having a battery around if you are having noise issues, then you can check battery powered/ground lifted in a flash to see if it helps.

Ground lift will only help a few situations that don't often come up with well designed gear but still may save your sound. I guess designers add it because it is simple to add a switch to help with a simple problem and it stops people cutting the ground on various bits of gear, which can be very dangerous!
 

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