The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #51906   Message #1186990
Posted By: Big Al Whittle
16-May-04 - 09:16 PM
Thread Name: Fender Passport 150: opinions wanted
Subject: RE: Fender Passport 150: opinions wanted
I have both systems the 250 and the 150. Boy do I envy those low prices you yanks pay.

The 150 I have used more or less evry day for about a year doing gigs in old peoples homes. It is reliable and compact and has power in abundance for really small venues. i guess you could do gigs in small pubs if you had pure noise sound source DI-ing a synth or something similar - finicky sound sources like acoustic guitars would find it. The levels you would want with a noisy audence would soon have it distorting.

The monitoring is plain weird if you need a powered monitor - you take line out of the aux send and control it with rev/aux pot on your mic input line. It also has a crap feature called the VIP control which makes the music dip in volume if you have it turned up - absolute madness! You think where the hell has the music gone if you have it turned up by mistake.

I have less experience with the 250 - a comparatively recent purchase.

I put a yamaha cpx 8 guitar and two other yamaha guitars through a yamaha acoustic guitar unit through a marshall 100 watt and out through the 1/4 inch jack sockets an from thence into the passport - smooth creamy sound - but punchy enough - even in noisy places. The fender mics supplied are okay but a bit lively. A beyer makes it less likely to pick up hums and whistles. I don't use the xlr sockets which are louder but as I say you are often in confined spaces with all the gear on top of each other so you have cut down on all possible sources of distortion.

Yeh go for it a nice system - but its like any equipment - you have use it and be prepared to persevere for it to yield up its secrets - I'm still just learning.
all the best
al