I want to charge up my CAD E100 mic using the phantom power on my Mackie 1604.

Does the power switch have to be turned on on the 1604 for the phantom power to work, or can I just turn on the phantom power switch?

I could check mine but I would assume there is a stepdown transformer from the main power switch for the 48v.

Ill check back tomorrow to see what ya came up with and check mine if needed

there would be no reason to design it so that phantom power worked without the main power on.  you can't use the preamp in the mackie without the main power on, so phantom power only would be useless.

so, yes, (and I have a CR1604 myself), main power must be on before phantom power can be turned on.

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mike_mccue


Phantom power only wouldn't be useless.

It would be ideal for charging the rechargeable NiMH battery on a CAD e100. 

yes, obviously the OP has a use for it so I should not have said "useless" since Dave thinks it would be helpful.  
 
regardless, I seriously doubt Mackie would want to design their phantom power for something so specific only a handful of users might find it beneficial.
 
while some consoles might have phantom power availabe without routing a step down from the main input, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a mixer in small studios which would NOT design the phantom power tapped off the mains input.  it wouldn't make economic sense.  you'd likely have to have a mixer which costs >$1k to even consider separate power.

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yes, but I would never run a ribbon mic thru the mixer without going thru a dedicated preamp designed specifically for ribbons myself.

this is becoming a pissing match and I'm not interested.

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mike_mccue


Clean phantom power is more important with Condensers where you want the bias supplies to be as stable and ripple free as possible... while also using the 48vDC to power the on board preamp. With the ribbons, you don't have to worry about a bias.

then don't use the mackie.  use a dedicated preamp.  
 

One of the benefits of having an on board rechargeable battery (a.k.a. capacitor), as some condensers do, is that you reduce ripple and sag by having a local reservoir of potential.

when did this become the discussion?  he wanted to use the mackie's phantom power to charge the e100 without having the mains on, so he's not asking about being able to use it without mains power, is he?  your statement here is only regarding why CAD would design the mic that way, which requires you to use the mic thru the preamp with the mains on.  this is irrelevant to the question.

I've never understood how a preamp can be specifically designed for ribbons.


There is the old 1930's RCA design with the 80+dB gain... but that was also used for carbon element mics too... back then Ribbons were the hi-output mics.

there are several clean preamps with 80+dB of gain which are specifically marketed toward ribbon use (grace, true systems...etc).  most which are not marketed toward ribbon use are 65+dB of gain.  it seems pretty straight forward to me.

Ahhh  

I have the 1604 VLZ Pro  

Mine might be a little different.  I would still assume that the main would have to be on.

Anyway the pros are on it with ya LOL