Carvin S400D User Manual

Congratulations on your purchase of the StageMate™. We’ve included all the great
features of a full PA system into the compact portable size of the StageMate™. Then
we added BATTERY POWER to make the StageMate™ work anywhere. Plus, with the
“D” option model you get 256 24-BIT Digital Effects from chorus to reverb to echoes.

The StageMate™ is well suited for set-up anywhere. Use it at events like parties, picnics,
club meetings, weddings, church gatherings, company functions, auctions, parades,
county fairs, aerobics clubs, soccer, baseball, football, camping & beach events for qual­ity announcements & music.

RECEIVING INSPECTION—read before getting started

INSPECT YOUR UNIT FOR ANY DAMAGE which may have occurred during shipping.
If any damage is found, please notify the shipping company and CARVIN immediately.

SAVE THE CARTON & ALL PACKING MATERIALS. In the event you have to re-ship your
unit, always use the original carton and packing material. This will provide the best pos­sible protection during shipment. CARVIN and the shipping company are not liable for
any damage caused by improper packing.

SAVE YOUR INVOICE. It will be required for warranty service if needed in the future.

SHIPMENT SHORTAGE. If you find items missing, they may have been shipped sep­arately. Please allow several days for the rest of your order to arrive before inquiring.

RECORD THE SERIAL NUMBER on the enclosed warranty card or below on this manual
for your records. Keep your portion of the card and return the portion with your name
and comments to us.

SERVICE: In the USA, please call 800-854-2235 for a RMA # (return authorization

number). Write this number on the box and enclose a description of the problem. Prepay
to Carvin 12340 World Trade Drive, SD, CA 92128.

Outside the USA, contact your dealer or go to http://www

.carvinworld.com for your
nearest service center. Include a written description of the problem with serial number
and date of purchase.

STAGEMATE™ SPECIFICATIONS:

Frequency Response: Mic or Line Inputs: 20Hz-20KHz ±2dB

Total Harmonic Distortion: Less than 1%

Output Power: 60 Watts RMS @ 8ohms

100 Watts RMS @ 4ohms (with 8 ohm extension speaker)

Channel 1: 3 band active

LOW: 80Hz ±15dB
MID: 750Hz ±15dB
HI: 10KHz ±15dB

Channel 2-4: 2 band active,

LOW: 80Hz ±15dB
HI: 10kHz ±15dB

Effects loop send & return: 1/4” Phone Jack

Tape / CD inputs: Dual RCA jacks

Cabinet Freq Resp: 85 -16.5k Hz

Power Requirements: 150VA @ 120VAC, 12VDC @ 8 amps

Size & Weight: 12.75Wx11.5Dx18.5H, 34lbs.

76-00400 C 0705

For your records, you may wish to record the following information.

Serial No._____________________ Invoice Date_______________

CONNECTING AND USING AC POWER

• Connect the StageMate™ to a standard AC power outlet.

• Use only a grounded (3 prong) power outlet to prevent a shock hazard. This also gives
the quietest grounding.

OPERATING IN BATTERY MODE

• The StageMate™ charges its battery using AC power. If the Battery Status LED indicates
a low or dead battery, plug the StageMate™ into AC power and turn the power switch
“ON”. Usual charging time is approximately 8 hours (with dual batteries 16 hours).

CONNECTING INPUTS TO YOUR STAGEMATE™

• Channel 1 is designed for acoustic and electric guitars using a 1/4” phone shielded cable.

• Channels 2 through 4 are microphone & instrument inputs. Plug a microphone into the
balanced XLR MIC input using an XLR shielded microphone cable and a 1/4” shielded
cable from your instruments. Both can be used at the same time.

TURNING ON YOUR STAGEMATE™

• Adjust all channel level controls to their off position (full counter clockwise).

• Adjust all “EQ” tone controls to their center detent position.

• Adjust all channel EFF controls to their off position.

• Turn the StageMate™ on by the power switch and watch for the power LED to come on.

• Plug in your instruments and microphones into the appropriate channels, and adjust the
level controls to the desired playing volumes. (For detail on the individual channel tone
controls and battery charging, see the appropriate sections in this manual.)

CARVIN ENGINEERING DATA OPERATING MANUAL

S400 & S400D StageMate™ Battery PA

THREE BAND

CHANNEL TONE

CONTROLS

MID LOW

LEVEL

EFFECTS 1

SEND

TAPE /CD

CHANNEL 1

RIGHT

LEFT

HI

EFF

INST

ACOUSTIC

INTERNAL

POWER

AMP

MASTER LEVEL

INTERNAL

DIGITAL

EFFECTS

MASTER

EFF

LIMITER

INTERNAL

SPEAKERS

HEADPHONE

OUTPUT

PAD

LINE OUT

RETURN

EXT
SPK

CHANNEL TONE

CONTROLS

PAD

LOW

MIC
PRE

LEVEL

CHANNELS 2 ­4

line pad
(-11dB)

HI

EFF

MIC

LINE

EFFECTS

LEVEL

EFFECTS

FOOTSWITCH

StageMate™ Block Diagram

• 100 Watts

• Battery Powered

• AC Powered

S400
S400D (with sound effects)

Note: Unit must be charged before use.
If unit is intermittent,recharge for 8 hours.

810 8Ω 200W extension speaker
FS22 Remote footswitch for effects

SS20 Speaker Stand

CM50

Professional mic

MS12 Mic Stand
C25 25’ 12V auto power cable
CV400 S400 vinyl cover
B400

To double your battery time, install a
second B400 (use as replacement)

OPTIONS:

B400

Replacement battery

FS22

Footswitch for effects

C25

25’ 12V auto cable

OPTIONS:

1. CHANNEL CONTROL FUNCTIONS

LEVEL CONTROL

To start, turn the CHANNEL LEVEL control to 3 and the MASTER LEVEL to 3. As you require
more or less volume, turn the master up and down along with the channel level. If you need
more gain (sensitivity), you can turn the master and channel levels up to 10 together. However,
the channel should not be set at 10 and the master at 3 or distortion could result within the
pre-stages of your S400. Because all instrument and mics have different output levels, achiev­ing full power from your S400 could happen at 5 or 10 on the levels controls.

EFFECTS SEND CONTROL

The EFF control on each channel is the “send” to add sound effects (built-in on the S400D
model). Normally you will set this control at 5 and the master EFF LEVEL at 5. Adjust accord­ingly to what sounds best. You should never have to run the channel send and the master
effects to 10. Do not set the channel effects at 10 & the master effects at 3 or distortion could
result within the effect processing circuits. These levels should be set about equal.

TONE CONTROLS - HI & LOW ( PLUS MID ON CH 1)

Tone controls are used to shape your sound. To start, set all tone controls to their center
0 position where no tone corrections are made. Generally for microphones you’ll want to
set the HI and LO controls to 3 o’clock (+6 db). This will add more depth and crispness
to your voice. You will want to do this for your instruments too. Channel 1 provides a MID
control for your guitar. Along with adding +6 db to the HI and LO controls, set the MID
control at 9 o’clock (-6db). This takes out the unwanted 750Hz mids which have a ten­dency to dull the sound of your guitar.

CHANNEL 1 ACOUSTIC SWITCH

The ACOUSTIC SWITCH is a high frequency boost set at 11K Hz for adding shimmering

highs for an acoustic instrument. Push this switch in when using acoustic instruments.

2. CHANNEL INPUT CONNECTORS

CHANNELS 2-4 MIC INPUTS

The MIC XLR connectors are designed for professional low impedance microphones. The
instrument jacks 2-3 may also be used at the same time providing the mic doesn’t have
an ON/OFF switch set to OFF. If a mic with an ON/OFF switch is used, such as Carvin’s
CM50, simply leave the switch in the ON position.

CHANNEL 1 INSTRUMENT JACK

The INST. 1 jack is designed for instruments such as an acoustic or electric guitar.

CHANNELS 2-4 INSTRUMENT JACK

The INST. jacks 2-4 are designed for instruments or line level inputs such as a drum machine,
tape deck, bass guitar, keyboard, an unbalanced mic, etc.. The sensitivity of these jacks
are lower than CH 1 so LEVELS 2-4 will have to be turned higher in some cases.

CHANNEL 4 L-R TAPE/CD RCA JACKS

The L-R TAPE / CD jacks are for connecting a tape deck or CD player to the StageMate™.
The jack is configured to combine the L and R inputs from your player. Adjust the level
with the Channel 4 LEVEL control. Some CD or tape players may have high output levels
and the Channel 4 LEVEL control must be kept very low. The XLR MIC input and RCA TAPE/CD
inputs may also be used simultaneously providing the mic doesn’t have an ON/OFF switch
set to OFF. If a mic with an ON/OFF switch is used, such as Carvin’s CM50, leave the switch
in the ON position.

3. MASTER FEATURES

MASTER LEVEL CONTROL

The MASTER LEVEL control adjusts the over all volume of the StageMate™, including the
Tape/CD, EFFects level and channels. Use this control to make overall adjustments. The
MASTER LEVEL should not be set much lower than the highest channel LEVEL.

EFFECTS LEVEL CONTROL

(EFFECTS RETURN LEVEL)

The EFF LEVEL control is the return volume for the effects loop and the internal DSP proces­sor on the S400D model. To use your external effects processor, use the SEND and RETURN
jacks. To ensure that the effects processor is not being overdriven by the channel SEND
controls, the EFF LEVEL MASTER control should be not much lower than any of the chan­nel EFF send levels. A normal setting for both the send and the master return effects should
be about 5.

EFFECT SELECT AND PARAMETER CONTROLS (S400D model)

The 24-BIT processor provides a host of great sounding effects including FLANGE,
REVERB, ECHO, & CHORUS. Turn up the LEVEL control to 5 as a starting position. Turn
the LEVEL higher if more effect signal is desired. The adjacent PK LED will flash if the EFF
LEVEL is set too high. To avoid distortion, lower the EFF LEVEL. Use the SELECT and the
ADJUST controls to get the desired effect (more details are below). Note: An audible noise

will be heard while adjusting the effects.

EFFECT PARAMETERS

Each of the four effects has a variable parameter that can be easily adjusted. Each “SELECT” &
“PARAMETER” is described below.
A) ECHO: SELECT the amount of the regeneration (repeating). Now select the ADJUST con­trol for the shortest or longest delay time between the original signal and the echo.

B) REVERB: SELECT the amount of presence (high frequencies) in the reverb. Now turn the
ADJUST control to provide the minimum or maximum decay.

C) CHORUS: SELECT the amount of reverb with your chorus. Now turn the ADJUST control

to increase the depth.

D) FLANGE: SELECT the amount of speed with your flange (phasing effect). Now turn the
ADJUST control to increase the depth.

4. MASTER INPUT/OUTPUT CONNECTORS

EFFECTS FOOTSWITCH JACK

The EFFECTS FOOTSWITCH jack uses a normal 1/4” plug footswitch to turn off the effects
loop remotely. Use the Reverb/Effects switch on th optional Carvin FS22 footswitch.

EXTERNAL SPEAKER JACK

For additional coverage and output, connect the Carvin 810 speaker or any quality 8

ohm speaker system. NOTE: A 4 ohm extension speaker is not recommended or lower
battery time and distortion will result. Also, the added extension speaker will result
in lower battery time due to higher power demands delivered by the StageMate™. We
recommend installing the optional second “B400” battery to double your battery time.

HEADPHONE/LINE OUT JACK

This jack is a dual mono output for headphones or to feed the StageMate™ audio to an
external sound system. Use headphones with a STEREO 1/4” plug. Connecting headphones
or a cable does not mute the internal speaker. Use the MASTER LEVEL to adjust the volume
of this output.

EFFECTS SEND JACK

To use your outboard effects processor, connect this jack into the “input” of your effects

processor. The EFF level on each channel sends the signal to the processor from jack.

EFFECTS RETURN JACK

Connect the RET jack into the “output” of your external effects processor.

STAGEMATE™ REAR PANEL CONTROLS

1

3

2

4

5