Looking at mixers right now, and the Allen and Heath ZED-10 that is my current front runner has 4 mic channels, and below the first 2 XLR inputs the 1/4" input is labeled "line" and the last 2 the 1/4" are labeled guitar 1 and guitar 2 with Hi-Z underneath each.
What is the difference in signal that each of these 3 inputs is made for? Obviously the XLR is a different connector, but there seems to be a lot of obfuscation around these concepts in my mind. And I thought I was just beginning to understand hi impedance and ultrahigh impedance.
I found this reference I think cleared it up a little for me, but not entirely:
"Some common levels you'll see:
+4 dBu is "professional" line level, common in modern pro recording gear, and it is about 1.25 V.
0 dBv is an average line level, typical output from rackmount guitar/bass preamps.
-10 dBv is "consumer" line level, common with older and cheaper recording gear.
-20 dBu is roughly in the neighborhood of a typical instrument's output.
-30 dBu is again in the neighborhood of a typical microphone or DI box's output.
However, instruments and microphones can have a very wide range of output levels in reality, so it is most practical to think of instrument-level and mic-level in/outputs as just "a lot lower than line level", rather than calculating specific dB amounts."
General picture shaping up in my head... but where do the ultra high impedance piezo pickups and Hi-Z fit in? Isn't Z impedance, so... high impedance? Isn't that line?.
Are active pickups and electric guitar pickups both in the -20 dBu range?
Where does the Schertler Dyn-M fit in this? In the technical specs it says "sensitivity (on instrument) ca.-30dBu." So that is why everyone says to treat it like a mic?
Condensor mics? Where do they fall?
THANKS in advance (again)! This site rocks...
Dan G.
P.S. thanks to "foldedpath" for starting this inquiry for me - a "quick tip" raised some questions in my mind