replacing volume pot on Soundcraft ghost console

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joninc
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replacing volume pot on Soundcraft ghost console

Post by joninc » Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:52 pm

so my volume pot has the classic LOUD CRACKLE sound when adjusted and i am finally sick of it enough to try and fix it.

has anybody replaced one before? got any tips?

is there a specific soundcraft brand pot that you need to use?

I bought a UBK Gain Train but i am not sure that I notice a big difference in
fidelity between the 2. plus I can't really integrate it very well into my tracking
set up where I monitor my converters directly on the ghost...

I don't suppose that there's a way to integrate the 2?
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Post by Tired Eyes » Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:41 pm

If it's the mic gain pot then you need the special taper from Soundcraft, part number is DM1320. It's such an odd taper that nothing else will work.

The other pots can be interchanged with the Panasonic EVU series: http://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en ... -ND/243657

I'm not sure about the faders.

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Post by joninc » Wed Sep 17, 2014 5:45 pm

it's the control room/master volume...

any idea where you can get these? online somewhere?
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Post by CFB4 » Thu Sep 18, 2014 1:51 pm

Call Soundcraft, they'll have the exact part. They're very good about parts, fast and reasonably priced.
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Post by joninc » Thu Sep 18, 2014 1:55 pm

their canadian warehouse is out of stock - gonna take a month to get here so I'll
look into the US.
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Post by ivanovich » Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:04 pm

i think the guys over at creation audio labs would know the part number and/or might be able to sell you one. unfortunately it's a pain to get to. since the board is not modular you gotta disconnect everything, turn the thing over and take out the card. the guys over at creation audio labs are definitely a good resource to hit up....

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Post by T-rex » Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:47 pm

Yeah I think those guys actually put in an upgraded volume pot, but it is a really weird taper so contact them. At the very least if they use the original soundcraft part I am sure they'll have some in stock.
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Post by crow » Tue Sep 30, 2014 1:19 pm

When I had the same problem, I replaced the pot and the crackle came back extremely quickly (like a week later, IIRC), leading me to believe that the cause is dc leaking into the pot, maybe from a bad capacitor nearby. I actually suspected this to begin with, but the fellow I spoke with at Soundcraft insisted that it was the pot.

The non-modular structure of the console frustrated me immensely. Having to disconnect all the cables and remove the underside of the board just to mess with one pot was such a drag, that the second time I did it, I began shopping for a modular console. I ended up with a Sony MXP-3036, which I love, and sold the Ghost.

I enjoyed using the Ghost, but I got the impression that cost-cutting led to less reliability than I had patience for. If I were in your shoes now, I would consider either getting to the bottom of the possible dc leakage issue, or quicker fix of replacing the control room pot with resistors to set it at unity gain, and monitor through an external attenuator.

Good luck!

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Post by Orpheus » Thu Oct 02, 2014 11:49 am

A 1uf cap on alligator clips is my best friend in diagnosing crackle.

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Post by The Scum » Thu Oct 02, 2014 11:58 am

A 1uf cap on alligator clips is my best friend in diagnosing crackle.
So how exactly do you apply that?
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Post by Orpheus » Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:11 pm

Clip it across the coupling cap before the pot. If the scratches go away, you know its the cap rather than the pot itself.

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Post by The Scum » Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:29 pm

But if the coupling cap in question is leaking DC, doesn't it still leak that DC even with the 1 uF in parallel?
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Post by Orpheus » Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:32 pm

I guess it should. I dunno, I've used that method and had it work for me twice before regardless of that though.
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Re: replacing volume pot on Soundcraft ghost console

Post by GLEA » Sat Dec 22, 2018 2:50 am

the CR volume pot on my Ghost is failing. I have a replacement somewhere. I bought it and some trim pots when I got the board. Is replacing the CR volume something I can do myself. There are no tech people I know of in my neighborhood. I have basic skills. I just dread getting in over my head.

Tips, suggestions.
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Re: replacing volume pot on Soundcraft ghost console

Post by joninc » Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:25 pm

it's a bit of a pain - I can open mine up but paid my tech to solder in the new one... major headache but worth it - i think I actually blew a woofer from the intense blasts of noise the old pot was putting out when I turned it!!
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