Schoeps CMC6 - Hiss - lower gain

[Tim M]

Bought a used CMC6 from bleep's rental department recently. They cut me a decent deal so I won't mention who. I bought another CMC6 and when in comparison I realized it had a higher gain range and virtually no noise floor compared to the one I bought from bleep. I changed out capsules, mixer, and cables so I know those are out and that it is specifically the preamp. It has also changed gain structure suddenly a few times. I was sitting in an interview and it jumped more than 10 db very suddenly.

 

Just seeing if anyone has experienced this and what options you sought out to fix it. Would rather not send it to Germany.

 

 

[Chris Durfy]

I'd send the bleep back to bleep.

[Glen Trew]

Bought a used CMC6 from bleep's rental department recently. They cut me a decent deal so I won't mention who. I bought another CMC6 and when in comparison I realized it had a higher gain range and virtually no noise floor compared to the one I bought from bleep. I changed out capsules, mixer, and cables so I know those are out and that it is specifically the preamp. It has also changed gain structure suddenly a few times. I was sitting in an interview and it jumped more than 10 db very suddenly.

 

Just seeing if anyone has experienced this and what options you sought out to fix it. Would rather not send it to Germany.

I'd try cleaning between the circular contacts with two or three folded layers of newspaper dampened with alcohol.

 

gt

[Ray Collins]

Also clean the threads, its the ground return. They attract dust as there is 70 volts up at the capsule.

[Tim M]

I'd try cleaning between the circular contacts with two or three folded layers of newspaper dampened with alcohol.

 

gt

Thanks guys, yes the thorough cleaning did clear up the hiss from what I can tell, but the preamp is still reading at almost exactly 5db less than the other one. Not sure what that may be. They are both at 30db trim on my Nomad, and sometimes I feel like I still need a little more gain than that even. Settings for each channel are identical, with no compressors on or anything else. Thx.

[Eric Toline]

Is one preamp the high output version?

 

Eric

[jason porter]

Blue Dot? Good call, Eric.

Is one preamp the high output version?

Eric

[Tim M]

Blue Dot? Good call, Eric.

 

Hmm no blue dot anywhere...is there anyway of knowing otherwise by S/N?

[Eric Toline]

Hmm no blue dot anywhere...is there anyway of knowing otherwise by S/N?

The "blue dot" version of Schoeps preamps add 5db of gain. So it seems one of the preamps is a "blue Dot" version. I don't think Schoeps ever put a blue dot on those units. You might want to contact http://www.ReddingAudio.com in Connecticut for more info. They are the Schoeps distributor for the U.S.

 

Eric

[soundslikejustin]

Either that or you have a 5dB discrepancy between your nomad pres, which has been documented previously.

[Tim M]

Either that or you have a 5dB discrepancy between your nomad pres, which has been documented previously.

WOW thanks man, this was actually the case, now I know which pres I can use  to gain match when I do a stereo deal. Thank you everyone for their help! I will look into that.