David..IMHO, I'm not sure it matters diddly squat anyway you do it.
However, the 1/4" guitar type connections would be the simplest and most adaptable and universal.
In the context of a gig, any subtleties achieved by using an XLR connection/lead would be lost in the overall sound output.
In a recording studio situation you'd probably end up playing into a studio mic..or back through the desk via an XLR..but how often you gonna be doing recording work.?
My band experience is we play into a keyboard amp at gigs via a 1/4" inbuilt mic connection.
Often that's enough amplification...we sometimes DI through to the main desk from the amp using XLR connectors.
If you intend to use phantom power (condenser mics) and/or DI with eventual phase switching i'd say XLR. I use two external condenser mics velcro taped to the treble and bass end accordion, so i can switch easily to another accordion using the same mics. Got that from Meloderon ... and i know more players doing that. Sound is a lot better and not so honky as from internal dynamic mics. - nout
I'd say continue with what works and mic up the new accordion with 1/4 heavy duty jack. Universally available cables and if you need to use an XLR or need a long cable feed use a direct box and a mic cord. Plus if you ever want to go wireless, 1/4 is readily available.
Everyone does different type of giging at different types of venues.
for the type of gigs I think you do I would definitely go XLR. Why?
1. You walk into any venue with a PA and mics, and plug right in.
2. You already mentioned the signel gain and loss of noise. (and contrary to some opinions) it can make a BIG difference when playing in places with buzz and power issues.
3. As you said, no special cords required.
4. The adapter for those occasions that you want to use a 1/4" into keyboard amp is cheap and small.
Funny side note, I picked up a batch of 10 or so 1/4" to XLR impedance matching adapters on ebay for $5 each and tossed it in my trunk.
In one band we kept playing at venues that didn't have direct boxes and the accordion player was left high and dry with no place to plug in his 1/4" cable to the PA.
I just pulled one of those adapters out of my trunk and sold it to him for $5. I ended up doing it three times because he would always forget to bring it to the next gig!
1. you can;t just 'go balanced'
i mean you can,
but if your source isn;t balanced to begin with, it won;t be any better than unbalanced
some mics have center taps so they can be balanced naturally
or if you have a transformer right after the mic, and it is center-tapped, you can get true balanced outputs
2. the 'loss' in unbalanced cables is close to nothing, particularly using 600 ohm mics at the source [it can be more with 10,000 ohm guitar pickups]
3. what you may get is some noise input [60hz buzz, most notably from solid state dimmers]
if your mic or wiring is unbalanced and unshielded internally.
but if all you do is take that noisy signal and 'balance' it with a transformer, it will still have the noise, because it started before the balancing
if you aren;t hearing buzz now, i wouldn;t worry about it at all
just maybe buy a $20 direct box [which is basically a center tapped transformer] to produce a balanced output if you need one, and BDWI
What happens if you use the TRS jack with a normal guitar cord into a normal amp? Would that even work? If so, it provides some extra flexibility for some situations.
==it should work
if not, the TRS is wired wrong
they should send the + signal to the 'tip' of the TS
if there is a -, it would work but one way of doing 'fake balancing' is to wire the + to the 'tip' and put nothing on the 'ring'
if those were reversed, the 'nothing' would be going to 'tip' and it would not work
Use a dynamic microphone with and XLR connector. If you need to use it with a keyboard amp or something with a 1/4" input you can do two things.
1. Use an little mixer between the mic and the amp.
2. Make a cable that converts the XLR to 1/4". It's real simple. Cut one end off of a guitar cable. Solder the shield to pin 1 and pin 3 (ground and -)on a female XLR. Solder the center conductor to pin 2 on the XLR.
This will convert the balanced mic to an unbalanced mic.
NEVER use this cable on an output of an amplifier, mixer or effects box as it could cause damage to it depending on the design of the equipment. It will not hurt any input you plug it into. Even those with phantom power. But since it's a dynamic mic turn off the phantom power if you can.