Harp Commander Line-out

["Jay M. Thompson" <JMThomps@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As a satisfied customer of a Harp Commander I thought I'd email 
Ron Holmes to see if he would like to weigh in on this issue directly to the list. 
Here's his  reply:

Hi Jay,
Thanks for the offer to add my $0.02 worth. As a rule I don't post to harp
sites but this is an issue worth explaining. Thanks for your help. Ron

 There is much confusion about what "line level" is. The standard has
changed over the years and now it is " -10 dBu " for most semi-pro and some
pro gear. This is 2-1/2 times higher than "instrument out" on my Harp
Commander (which is -18 dBu or about 100 millivolts average audio signal).
This means a good average level, line level, is about 1/4 of a volt average
audio signal (-10 dBu). This is what most PA mixers and digital recorders
are looking for as a good general signal level.

20 years ago the standard "line level" was 0 dBu ( 0.775 volt average audio)
and +4 dBu ( 1.23 volts average audio) for recording mixers and tape
recorders. Now, the Japanese and Chinese manufactured equipment (nearly
everything) can be from - 18 dBu to 0 dBu. Minus (-) 10dBu is what most call
"line level" now. Yamaha, Mackie, etc use about that level for "line In"
voltage. They get pretty careless with the numbers now. I calibrated the
Harp Commander so with a good level out on HC (about 12 O'Clock) the level
out on instrument for the amp feed and line out level for PA feed were good
at same setting of knob.

Some players had PA mixers that had little headroom or actually overloaded
on "-10 dBu" so I changed their calibration so "line" was right for their
equipment. I am always happy to do that free of charge if a HC owner needs
to tweak on PA/recorder feed. I simply change voltage level without
disturbing "instrument out" level. If my box had been bigger I would have
put 2 controls on HC to separately adjust instrument and line levels
independently of each other. I can make "line level" anything that is needed
and sounds good for the harp player. That is the bottom line. I will
calibrate the HC for 1/4 volt audio for a good instrument feed level and
will alter if a player finds he needs a hotter or cooler line out. Ron
Holmes/Ron's Tweak Shop