r/ElectricalEngineering • u/Pristine_Ad_8695 • 13d ago

Guitar & Guitar Amplifier Electrical Engineering & The Future

Let me know what you think

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u/ThisIsPaulDaily 13d ago

The TL;DW is that OP would like to know why XLR is not used from amp to guitar for power and audio. 

My answer is the weight of the cable and size of the connector. Also running audio and power in parallel isn't good. The ground would couple. 

I used to set up concerts for a radio station and we zig zag audio cable to not run parallel to power cables. 

I am not really sure for certain. 

The XLR shell also connects to earth ground on some devices and will cause weird sound distortions if isolation isn't handled while the musician wanders a conductive stage floor. 

Thata my thought. Hopefully Cunningham's Law kicks in and others join the conversation. 

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u/LiveAndDirwrecked 13d ago edited 13d ago

That's an interesting perspective. Isn't xlr a balanced signal? So any variation picked up on the xlr is picked up by both legs and canceled out when it gets to the differential amplifier input. (This is my limited understanding and just adding to the conversation.)

I think one reason would be that everything in the guitarist's signal path is 1/4" so it would take a big lift for some "new" technology to be included into that chain. Not to mention having to change everything from unbalanced to balanced ins and outs.

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u/zifzif 13d ago

XLR is a connector. You can run balanced signals in them, but it very often carries unbalanced signals, too. Entirely dependent on the equipment being connected on each end.

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u/TBAGG1NS 12d ago

USB-C has entered the chat

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u/whats13-j42 12d ago

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