symetrix 501 problems!
- xhavepatiencex
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symetrix 501 problems!
I just picked one of these up fairly cheap. It does not seem to be working properly though. It either does not compress or will give me like -18db of gain reduction. Sometimes way above where I know the level of the incoming signal is. This is pretty regardless of where I set my attack and release controls. I can't seem to get it to compress lightly. Anyone has any clues on what could be wrong, bad opamps? caps? could the VCA be dead?
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- xhavepatiencex
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haha yes, I will have the threshold at say... -10 and will be getting no gain reduction while the level is higher than that though. If i move the threshold slightly it will all of a sudden be a huge amount of gain reduction, and this is regardless of where I set the ratio. I know how to work a compressor. I am just curious if anyone has any insights on where I should start poking around to try to fix this.
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- xhavepatiencex
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I'm having a similar problem. I just picked up two of them yesterday. One of them is working great, but the other one won't compress or limit at all, regardless of the settings. The output gain works fine, but that's it.
I then tried using the broken one as a stereo slave to the good one and that worked properly, so I guess the VCA is fine. I opened it up and nothing looked obviously fried or broken. Not having much experience with soldering and circuit design, I'm not sure the best place to start looking.
a.
I then tried using the broken one as a stereo slave to the good one and that worked properly, so I guess the VCA is fine. I opened it up and nothing looked obviously fried or broken. Not having much experience with soldering and circuit design, I'm not sure the best place to start looking.
a.
"Bounce it around, lose a little quality. I can't hear that stuff anyway." - Tchad Blake
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- xhavepatiencex
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Here is an update on my issue if anyone has any futher insight. So when I power the unit up, even if I am feeding it no signal and the threshold is at +10, which is its maximum setting. The gain reduction light is all the way to 25. After its on for about 5 minutes it starts to go down to zero gain reduction.
From there it seems to be working fine and it sounds good. I am just not sure what is causing this initial start up problem. If I turn it off then back on its fine, only after its off for a few minutes do I have this problem.
From there it seems to be working fine and it sounds good. I am just not sure what is causing this initial start up problem. If I turn it off then back on its fine, only after its off for a few minutes do I have this problem.
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Spray caig deoxit into all of the pots, then work them up and down a lot. See if the behavior changes. This would start a diagnosis.
I've certainly had older compressors off ebay and craigslist act wonky in the detection circuit from something bad in the pots.
Cracked or dirty pot, yes, first suspect here.
I've certainly had older compressors off ebay and craigslist act wonky in the detection circuit from something bad in the pots.
Cracked or dirty pot, yes, first suspect here.
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thanks!lacquer_monkey wrote:Symetrix has schematics of all their old stuff up on their website in pdf format. Having a schematic usually makes debugging a lot more straightforward. Schematics for 501 are under techsupport/products with limited support.
"Bounce it around, lose a little quality. I can't hear that stuff anyway." - Tchad Blake
www.14blue.com
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