PreSonus RC 500 - Manual (Page 5)

RC 500 Owner’s Manual
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2.1 Input Controls
Input Source Select. The input Source Select switch allows you to choose between
the signal sources connected to the RC 500 inputs. It patches the selected input
through the signal chain, completely bypassing the other inputs.
Power User Tip: The Instrument input is normalled through the Microphone
input and will take precedence when both inputs are in use. Because of this,
you can leave your favorite mic and line-level source connected all the time
and quickly patch in an instrument via the front panel when necessary.
Polarity Invert. Reverses the polarity of the signal.
Power User Tip: Use Polarity Invert when recording with more than one open
microphone to combat phase cancellation between microphones.
+48V. The 48 volt phantom power supplied by the XLR input on the rear panel
provides power for condenser microphones and other devices requiring continuous
power. This power is supplied at a constant level to prevent signal degradation.
WARNING: In general, phantom power is only required for condenser
microphones and can severely damage some dynamic microphones,
especially ribbon mics. Therefore, switch phantom power off when not required by
the device connected to the XLR input. Consult the documentation that came with
your microphone to verify its phantom power requirements.
80 Hz Rolloff. Your RC 500 is equipped with a High Pass Filter. The 80 Hz switch
engages this filter, causing all frequencies below 80 Hz to be attenuated by a slope of
12 dB/octave.
Power User Tip: A high-pass filter attenuates all frequencies below the 80 Hz threshold.
Use this filter, instead of the equalizer, to remove unwanted low frequencies from your
source signal. For example, the 80 Hz filter can be used to reduce the “boominess”
or “muddiness” of a vocal and to improve the overall clarity of the signal.
-20 dB Pad. The pad provides 20 dB of attenuation for the microphone preamp only.
Power User Tip: The -20 dB pad reduces the signal level coming into your RC 500,
helping to prevent clipping and distortion from high-gain sources. Padding the
input increases “headroom” and reduces the likelihood of signal overload.
Gain. Your RC500 provides a gain range from +20 dB to +70 dB for the Mic preamp
and -20 dB to +15 dB for the Line Input.