gl2 external mic jack problem
 

I have a 5 month old gl2, a beachtek dxa-6, a sennheiser u100 wireless mic and an audio technica pro 24 condensor mic with a stereo mini plug. The setup is currently being used to videotape 2-person interviews. For the first few months right after I purchased the camera (and for interviews taking place in quiet rooms without much background noise), I was plugging the pro 24 into the external mic input on the camera, and it picked up both people nearly perfectly. In the past couple of weeks, I have been videotaping the interviews in middle schools where obviously the background noise is much louder so I used the dxa-6 with my wireless in one channel and my pro 24 (with an XLR adapter) in the other channel. Last week I tried to use the pro 24 by itself again, plugged directly into the camera mic input. I got no sound. I still have no sound. When I plug the dxa-6 into the camera mic input and run the pro 24 through there, it works fine. But I switch out the dxa-6 and plug the pro 24 back into the camera mic input and get nothing. I checked the battery in the mic and had someone else double check the placement of the battery in the mic in case it was user error; it's fine. It's not the stereo mini plug on the pro 24 because it works running through the dxa-6. Could it be a problem with the camera mic input jack? It seems odd that the dxa-6 works fine plugged into it, but the pro 24 doesn't. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Liz

I haven't seen this mic, but could it be that the on/off switch is unobtrusive and advertantly got switched off? It seems plausible that the on/off switch would turn off the battery power, but the mic would still accept phantom power from the BeachTek and work.

Actually, after further investigation, you're on the right track. It appears to be a problem with the battery connection inside the mic. The mic uses a 1.5V button cell. Using a battery tester, I checked the power; the battery is fine. Next, I ran the mic through the camera using the dxa-6 and tried it with phantom power on and phantom power off. The mic works with phantom power, but you are right...when there is no phantom power, the mic is dead. As far as the On/Off switch goes, the mic doesn't work at all, either with internal power or with phantom power, when it is switched to off but works fine when switched to on. The only explanation I can think of is a bad battery connection within the mic. I'm going to send the mic back to the company for repairs.

Thanks for your help.

Liz