no LED on A3, voltages slightly off

[Armaegis]

So I've finished building my second crack+speedball, and after an embarassing episode of wondering/panicking over why I had no power (hint: if you're using an extension cord, make sure the extension cord is plugged into the wall), I've only got a few kinks left to iron out. These are the voltages that don't match...

5 = 175
9 = 175
A1 = 175
A3 = 16
B4 = 175
B6 = 175

and the LED that connects from the centre pin to A3 does not light up (and yes, it's facing the right way).

I get sound from the left channel, but nothing from the right.

So... what did I mess up?

[dubiousmike]

I don't know if this explains your readings at terminals 5 and 9, but it sounds like your LED at A3 may have gotten damaged at some point in the install process?  I had that happen with my LED at A8, and it did result in similarly high voltage readings at the corresponding terminals on the B socket.  To get the ball rolling, your first step should be a call to Eileen at BH HQ to request a couple of new HLMP-6000's to work with.

Jim and Grainger held my hand through troubleshooting/understanding the LED issue here: http://www.bottlehead.com/smf/index.php/topic,1825.0.html

Hope this helps some!

[Armaegis]

Hmm, that does sound very similar. No visible damage or burn and the joint looks good, but the diode check seems to indicate a dead LED.

[Armaegis]

Yep, so it was a bad diode. I got the replacements today, 30 seconds with the iron later and wonderful music is playing through my Sextetts. Thanks guys.

(https://forum.bottlehead.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.head-fi.org%2F9%2F9d%2F1000x500px-LL-9d5b2f3e_IMG_5200.JPG&hash=d0e082486876b51feba92e3b9d35d9908991098e)

I'd like to think I'm pretty decent with a soldering iron, but man my painting could still use some work.

I used some of that hammered paint and even did the tops of the screws, but the finish came out... well, not as "hammered" as I wanted, though it does have a rather nice shimmer to it. I was thinking of spraying the bottom of the tube to match, but considering how hot it gets, I'm guessing that's a bad idea? (it only looks like the same colour in the picture due to reflection)

As for the wood base, let's say I made the very silly mistake of putting a semi-gloss poly coat on top of the gloss stain. Whoops. I was also trying to make it darker, but subsequent coats of stain didn't make it any darker. Should be there some sort of prep work done to the wood for deeper stains? I also sanded down to 600grit before staining; not sure if that makes any difference at all.

[Armaegis]

Actually, I just noticed my left channel does not go silent when the knob is turned all the way down. Should I just chalk this up to channel imbalance in the pot? It's actually pretty strong, though once I turn it up 10% then the balance is back to normal.

[Doc B.]

Could be the pot. Try exercising it a bit to see if a little piece of something is on the end of the carbon track. We can send out a replacement pot if it doesn't go away.

[Armaegis]

Okay, I'll give my crack a good rub tonight, see if anything comes out...

[Armaegis]

Gave the knob a few good cranks and double checked the joints. I think it's just a bad imbalance in the pot.

As an aside, if I wanted to put a glossy coat on the wood, can I apply that on top of the semi-gloss coat or would I have to sand that down first?

[2wo]

You can put a coat of gloss poly right over the semi. If you are happy with the smoothness of what you have now, no other prep is needed, short of a wipe down...John