When connecting my power station to my audio interface via the line out unbalanced cable, i get a very strange sound that i cant really explain, it kind of sounds like birds chirping on and off, but will put an audio example below. I also noticed with the line out, im getting a constant noise at 20khz, which i only noticed because of a frequency analyzer in my daw showing a big spike around 20khz, of course this isnt audible to anybody, but i fear its a problem that shouldnt be there, and is connected to the previously mentioned strange audible noise i was getting.
Another probelm is which the ground switch. when it is out it is kind of like cutting out sound from my amp, almost like a noise gate turned up too far. very strange, not sure whats going on there either. i dont have an audio example for this at the moment but i will record one soon.
The PS-2A is a balanced line out so use the correct cable. The main reason for doing this is inherent noise rejection provided by the shield and common mode cancellation when balanced signals are received by a differential amplifier on the input of your sound card.
The chirping noises and the 20kHz tone could easily be interference from an external source, this will go away when using a balanced cable.
Please upload mp3 files directly to the post for the ground switch issue.
Ok thank you for your reply. To clarify i was using the 1/4th inch line out jack on the ps-2a, not the XLR balanced line out. I was using a TS cable which would be an unbalanced cable ofcourse. Are both the 1/4th and XLR line outs balanced on the ps-2a? I assumed the 1/4th wasn’t balanced because the XLR specifically says “balanced” underneath it. I will try the XLR line out though.
But just as an additional reference, the amp im using is a jcm 800 with its own 1/4th inch line out jack, which ive used with my TS unbalanced cable in this same setup with my interface, and have never heard this sound, thus I was not thinking it was interference from my interface or an external source. I have also used the 1/4th line out jacks on another attenuator with no issue, although that was a passive unit.
I also bought this unit used, so I wasn’t sure if the guy sold it to me knowing there was potential problems with it, wanting to get rid of it.
will get back with audio examples of the groud switch issue tomorrow, thanks!
OK I understand better now, thanks! An additional benefit of using the XLR balanced line out is that it is isolated, so it might also help with any grounding issues.
Try that out, and if you still have problems, we can figure them out.
I tried the XLR line out and it is working normally for me, though I’d like to try and see if there is a solution still to the 1/4th inch line out if possible
Other than that below I attached the ground switch issue that i’m hearing that kind of sounds like a weird noise gate, i held out a chord so its more audible but this is happening throughout my playing
I also discovered another issue, i’m getting pops and clicks when using the high gain channel of my amp while having either Brite + Warm engaged, or Edge + Deep engaged. These sounds don’t happed on the Flat settings, or when i’m on the clean channel of my amp, so I’m assuming it is some how related to the brite warm modes etc. Would this be a tube issue, or something else? I put a sound clip of that below aswell. thanks let me know what you think of these!