HELP! PA system is being weird!

[Firepudding]

My pa system is emitting a sound close to that of walkie-talkies.
If the gain is set at unity then the sound is fine, its just too quiet. we crank up the gain and it sounds like walkie-talkies. We're using a Mackie MkII mixer, ive never had this issue before. I can't tell you much else about the gear but its all pretty low grade crap in a school. all the connections are tight and correct. HEEEELP!

 

[feedbackdj]

My pa system is emitting a sound close to that of walkie-talkies.
If the gain is set at unity then the sound is fine, its just too quiet. we crank up the gain and it sounds like walkie-talkies. We're using a Mackie MkII mixer, ive never had this issue before. I can't tell you much else about the gear but its all pretty low grade crap in a school. all the connections are tight and correct. HEEEELP!

I had a Mackie that picked up a local radio station through the XLR inputs. My suggestion would be to try one input at a time to see if you can isolate the noise in one channel. I wasn't so lucky...

 

[bishopthomas]

The gain of what? I'm assuming you're plugging in a microphone, right? Troubleshooting 101: start at the source and eliminate variables until you have found the problem. Change microphones. Change cables. Different channels. Multiple outputs? Walkie talkies make lots of noises; is it static? Beeping? Someone talking?

 

[DuckJordan]

Remember the acronym s.m.a.s.
Source
Mixer
Amplifier
Speaker

It really helps with troubleshooting when you follow that line.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[SHARYNF]

at what point in the signal chain are you turning up the gain? what speakers are you using, is it possible that all you sound is coming only via the horns/high end speakers? so that a woofer is blown, or for some reason the low end of your signal is turned down?

Sharyn

 

[TassieBogan]

Had a problem like that once, it turned out that what was meant to be 2 sends of wedges were linked together. On 2 amp sends. Bad news for sure.

Food for thought anyhow.

It may be obvious, but check you haven't plugged a mic into a line input or vice versa.

 

[museav]

My pa system is emitting a sound close to that of walkie-talkies.
If the gain is set at unity then the sound is fine, its just too quiet. we crank up the gain and it sounds like walkie-talkies.

As already noted, what gain are you referencing? And how are you establishing unity gain?

We're using a Mackie MkII mixer, ive never had this issue before.

So what may be different this time?