Roland AC-33: problem with XLR connection

I've had the AC-33 for about 6 months now (but have only played around with it a bit). I just bought a basic dynamic mic to use with it and can't seem to get the XLR mic input to work. The cable that came with the Shure mic didn't work so I bought another cable- same result. They just don't seem to be making the connection. If I wiggle the plug I can get a few cracks of static noise.

I have an old Radio Shack mic with a 1/4 mono phone plug and it works fine. The XLR jack could have been defective from day one I suppose.

I see cables available that go from XLR to TRS (and instructions on line on how to wire a TRS plug to a XLR cable) which would retain the balanced signal (I think). This audio stuff is all new to me so it may be a case of a little info from the Internet being a dangerous thing.

Here's where I get lost..... Does the impedance(?) or what the amp receives somehow change with the TRS? The AC-33 manual indicates for the mic/line channel the input level is "-50 dBu XLR and -20 dBu LINE". Why is there this difference and what does it mean?

And finally to my real question.... If I connect the mic with a XLR to TRS cable, will it work as well as XLR to XLR? I'm only running 15 feet of cable or so.

Thanks in advance
Jim

I use a Monster Cable S-100 XLR Microphone Cable Regular 15 Foot with my Shure 58S and it works great on my Roland AC-33. Make sure your mic/line channel volume is all the way up. There is a small zone it has be be in you will see a little painted area on the right of the volume knob. You can control volume on your master volume, but put the mic volume up. Hope that helps.

See if you can try another mic, just in case. Does the 33 have a phantom power switch? My AC-90 was always acting up with a mic, but I used to switch phantom power on and off to "reset" it and it would come back full-power. The AC line is pretty notorious for having junk XLR plugs. My advice: GET IT FIXED NOW. If you're under warranty (should still be), make Roland fix it. My AC-90 died outside of warranty and Roland doesn't sell replacement parts. As the repair guy said, "You've got an expensive piece of junk." I was crazy bummed. They sound good, but now I'm out $700 and my main gigging amp.

I've used numerous dynamic microphones with XLR connectors and I've never had a problem with any of them on my AC-33. One quick thing to note is that the volume of the microphone channel needs to be turned WAY up high to work with dynamic microphones. If you have a close look at the volume dial on the microphone channel you will see a line making at the top of the range which is where the microphone level should be set.

Failing that have it looked at under warranty.

Anthony

Thanks for the input.

I do have the volume on that channel all the way up to the "mic" zone and can get a crappy mic with phono plug to work fine. I'll cross-check with a friends amp and mic to make sure it's not the mic or two bad cables. Roland warranty on these is 1 year parts, 90 days labour and any repair would be most/all labour so think I'll just go with a XLR to TRS jumper if the jack proves defective.