Drum Machine Impedance?

JezWynd

Just scored an old Roland CR-68 Drum machine. 70's tech, big child play buttons. Heart of Glass.



I have the TR-66, which I'll probably move on, but this one has a better Variation selection.



I have a query though. Which impedance should I use, low or high? Is it just a difference in volume at issue? I'm playing it into a Vox Pathfinder 15R at present if that's an issue. Thanks for any assistance.

PolarityMan

You know its probably lighter to just shove a drummer in your boot.

JezWynd

Nice thought but I can't punch a drummer's buttons.

Any definitive word on impedance?

Snap

nice bit of kit mate! NEver used a CR68, only the CR78

JezWynd

Thanks @Snap, it is a surprisingly flexible unit. The Variations on the fills make it a lot more interesting than the more basic TR-66. I think I'm right in saying that the CR-78 is a programmable version of the 68. It's a sound that's on a lot of seventies/eighties stuff.

Re. the impedance, I just found some text from the manual -

OUTPUT JACK

Select between "H, L" in accordance 
to the input sensitivity of the amplifier 
or instrument you want to connect 
to. to obtain the appropriate volume 
and tone quality. 

Which seems to indicate that it's a 'use what sounds best' scenario. As long as I'm not at risk of damaging the equipment at either end it should be fine.

Snap

you should match it to the input impedance of whatever you are connecting to tbh. You should be able to see the impedance rating on the connecting socket, its usually printed on the back next to the socket.

GavRichList

Oh, envious!! 

Rocker

That looks ace.  I have seen a lot less well finished 'boxes' on very high end Hi-Fi racks.  Enjoy.

ecc83

We never "match" impedances for audio (no! Not even speakers. The 16 Ohm tap on an amp does NOT mean it has an internal, source impedance of 16 Ohms, usually somewhat more) .

The universal rule is that source impedance (aka Z) is around one tenth of the load Z. Thus, mics are around 150-200 Ohms and mic pre inputs 1500 to 2200 Ohms.

That old drum box I would bet just has an output of a certain level and the "high" "low" is just an internal resistor. They REALLY mean level I would say. Normally go for the lowest source Z you can to beat HF cable loss if that gives you enough level to beat noise.

Dave.

JezWynd

ecc83 said:

Normally go for the lowest source Z you can to beat HF cable loss if that gives you enough level to beat noise.

Dave.

Thanks Dave. I take that to mean that the low output would be best. I think you're right that they really mean level, it certainly works that way when using either.

koneguitarist

What's also worth doing is playing it direct into an OD pedal. When I had my guitar shop years ago, a customer showed me that by plugging a TR626 in there, sounded so much better in the mix. He bought an Arion Metal Master for it, surprised me but it worked. 

JezWynd

koneguitarist said:

What's also worth doing is playing it direct into an OD pedal. When I had my guitar shop years ago, a customer showed me that by plugging a TR626 in there, sounded so much better in the mix. He bought an Arion Metal Master for it, surprised me but it worked. 

I'll give that a try,I'm presuming it's drum output to pedal in (as it doesn't have an input). I can imagine it might work well, chorus or Pog2 would be interesting. At present I feed it to a delay unit to double up the beats etc. but modulating or distorting the base sounds could be interesting. Thanks.