Advice needed. Problem with PA/Desk at last Saturday nights gig.

kennedydream1980

Update:

The desk is still faulty, the singer said he had checked it but he hadn't really!!

I've now got my hands on it and the problem is still there. I had a KV2 EX12 speaker hooked up to the desk testing it with a mic in my house. With the gain at 10 o'clock, channel fader full up and master full up, it was way down on volume, I mean you could shout over it and be heard no problem.

So it's now gone in to a local repair shop to see what they can do.

@Danny1969 I've advised them of what you said the problem probably is, so they know what they are looking for when they open it up.

Thanks for all the help guys.

maltingsaudio

kennedydream1980 said:

I've suggested to the guys in the band it might be a good idea to buy an analogue backup desk. Only problem is we would need at least 4 aux sends, we play with a click track so the drummer needs his own mix, plus 3 of us use in ear monitors. Any suggestions @ICBM

Allen and Heath Mix wizard FX best bet here up to 6 auxes and fairly bullet proof get the one with built in effects shouldn't be a lot of money secondhand

Danny1969

Yeah A & H Mix Wizard is a great little compact 16 channel mixer, good EQ, quiet and tiny footprint for a 16 channel desk. The first 4 aux sends are switchable to pre \ post so you can have 4 pre fader aux sends for your ears and still have 2 left for running effects. 

The last analog desks we used were all A & H, GL series and Mix Wiz, great desks

ICBM

kennedydream1980 said:

The desk is still faulty, the singer said he had checked it but he hadn't really!!

I've now got my hands on it and the problem is still there. I had a KV2 EX12 speaker hooked up to the desk testing it with a mic in my house. With the gain at 10 o'clock, channel fader full up and master full up, it was way down on volume, I mean you could shout over it and be heard no problem.

That's not so good - not just because of the desk, but because it means there's also a possible fault with the JVM. Although if it was just that the distortion was weak, it's probably a valve. (Most likely the second preamp valve I think.)

kennedydream1980

I would hazard a guess that the JVM problem was down to his pedalboard. He's had a history of problems with it, too many pedals for my liking :-)

He took the pedalboard out of the equation and plugged straight into the amp using the JVM footswitch and it worked fine from then on.

kennedydream1980

@Danny1969

I've also got my eye on the new soundcraft signature 16 mixers. 3 aux sends which at a push we could manage with. Looks like it could do the job. The idea of buying new appeals as you get a warranty with it.

kennedydream1980

@Danny1969

Update on the desk. Initially the place where we took the desk for repair couldn't find anything wrong with it, although digital mixing desks were not really something they were familiar with. When I spoke to them earlier in the week they told me that they had the desk on 'test' for a couple of days and couldn't find anything wrong with it.

I sent them a link to this thread so they could see all the things that had been suggested, especially to what you had said @Danny1969.

When I rang on Thursday they said they had opened the desk up and noticed something had been spilled on it that had got inside, they said it was on the main board and some of the faders, they said it looked like it had got in through the vents on the side, I don't really know how this happened as it's been racked up for most of it's life.

Anyway they said they cleaned it all up inside and said the desk output from the stereo outs was now registering over double what it was before. So it would appear that's what the problem was.

Danny1969

kennedydream1980 said:

@Danny1969

Update on the desk. Initially the place where we took the desk for repair couldn't find anything wrong with it, although digital mixing desks were not really something they were familiar with. When I spoke to them earlier in the week they told me that they had the desk on 'test' for a couple of days and couldn't find anything wrong with it.

I sent them a link to this thread so they could see all the things that had been suggested, especially to what you had said @Danny1969.

When I rang on Thursday they said they had opened the desk up and noticed something had been spilled on it that had got inside, they said it was on the main board and some of the faders, they said it looked like it had got in through the vents on the side, I don't really know how this happened as it's been racked up for most of it's life.

Anyway they said they cleaned it all up inside and said the desk output from the stereo outs was now registering over double what it was before. So it would appear that's what the problem was.

That's a good result, hopefully it will be fine now, might be a good  idea to take a little spare desk to the next 10 gigs or so just to be certain though.