| Author | Message | ||
| nnek
Member Username: nnek Post Number: 58 Registered: 8-2009 |
So for some time now my Series 1 has had a bad habit of cutting out for 20sec to over a minute usually at a gig and rarely at practice. Well last night at a gig, it plain cut out and refused to be revived. The batteries are almost dead but I tried everyting including plugging in with a standard 1/4 inch cord. (foolishly in a hurry I packed no spare bass) The 1/4 inch cord gave me at least one of the pickups clearly but the most notable thing was that the DS5 still would supply power to the bass but no signal for the rest of the gig. For the remainder of the gig I could never get the signal from the DS5 and continued to use the 5 pin as well as 1/4inch cables in tandem. Today at first the DS5 worked when plugged in fine but the signal soon dissapeared never to return. Do the Caps in these DS5's die routinely after 30+ yrs or what? | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 1006 Registered: 5-2002 |
The caps in the DS5 might need to be replaced, depending on age, but my suspicion is that the symptom of that kind of cap death would be degradation of sound, not loss of sound. You'd notice more hum and noise. The fact that you get seemingly clean power to the bass from the DS5 indicates that the power circuitry in the DS5 is probably fine and that includes all the active aspects of the circuitry in the box. The signal routing is all passive. Given that it's an intermittent problem, I would suspect the contacts in the switching jacks. You might try opening it up and looking to see what shape they are in. I'm not sure what jacks are contained your unit, but some contact cleaning spray, such as DeOxit might do the trick. At the very least you could exercise the jacks. I believe it's the Treble output that is the one with the switch, but I could be wrong. Another possibility is a wire that was hanging on by a thread that has given up the ghost. Again, a perusal of the DS5 innards will reveal that kind of problem. As far as the 1/4" cord goes, this might be a good incentive to either get a proper stereo to mono cable, a stereo to mono switch mod for the bass or to just mod the output to mono. I very rarely use the 1/4" output on my S I (and never on a gig), but I am very glad that it's in mono when I do. | ||
| jimmyj
Advanced Member Username: jimmyj Post Number: 290 Registered: 8-2008 |
Kenn, Right, it always happens on the gig doesn't it? I agree with Edwin and suspect either a wire coming loose inside the bass or possibly corrosion of the 1/4" jacks may be causing your signal loss. I'll add a couple thoughts... The big caps in the DS-5 are only involved in power regulation and conversion from AC to DC, they're not part of the audio path. As Edwin said, if they were failing you would have different symptoms. Second, if I remember correctly plugging in the 1/4" cable on a Series-I switches the bass electronics to battery power even if the 5-pin cable is still attached. If you have LEDs, those are wired directly to the 5-pin jack and would not light with batteries alone. But they would light if the DS-5 is still supplying power. So if your LEDs are lit then the DS-5 is working. Also as Edwin said, the Series-I originally had a stereo 1/4" jack so a regular guitar cable would only pass the signal from the neck pickup (as you indicated). Your bass can be modified to send a mono signal out that jack or you can make a special cable with a couple summing resistors to do that externally. So I would suggest first unplugging everything... Then pull the back panel off the bass and carefully inspecting the wiring harness to be sure all looks securely connected. You can do the same with the DS-5 (remove the rubber feet and the chassis slides out) but be careful because even with power disconnected those big caps hold a charge! Exercise the 1/4" jacks on the bass and on your DS-5 by plugging and unplugging several times. Contact cleaner for the switching parts of those jacks might be worth a try but I don't think Alembic HQ approves of using any chemical cleaners. Put some new batteries in there and see if you can at least get a clean neck-pickup only signal. Keep us informed and we'll help you get the thing running reliably. Jimmy J | ||
| nnek
Member Username: nnek Post Number: 60 Registered: 8-2009 |
Thanks for the tips about symptoms of cap failure vs what I'm experiancing. I'm happy to know there may be some mechanical issue I can actually try besides looking for loose wires(which was my first action along with testing the cable ends) I am cleaning/ excersizing the little connections on the jacks in the DS5 as well as the bass and will see how that goes! | ||
| nnek
Member Username: nnek Post Number: 62 Registered: 8-2009 |
It's amazing what a little dirt build up over 35yrs will do! Full GIG test tonight and the bass passed with flying colors. In fact the sound in general is much improved with just cleaning the contacts of the plug switches in the DS5 as well as the bass. THANKS GUYS | ||
| jimmyj
Advanced Member Username: jimmyj Post Number: 291 Registered: 8-2008 |
Excellent Kenn! Or should I say: Tnellecxe nnek! Glad it worked out. Jimmy J | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 1017 Registered: 5-2002 |
It's always nice when a problem that seems to be a foreshadowing of something complicated and expensive can be resolved with a just a little effort! Enjoy! |
