Crakle after installing SpeedBall [solved]

shrapnel · 1240

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Offline shrapnel

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on: July 20, 2018, 07:23:07 PM
Hi,
I used my plain vanilla for close to a year before I installed the speedball. I soon after ran into issues of crackling. Someone suggested I re flow some joints. I have now gone over this process 4 times. I have taken apart the speedball boards, went through every single joint on the base and re-flowed some. Everything checks out. A curious thing is soon after I reflow the solder joints and put everything back together everything works flawlessly for the first 2 days. Its always the third day I start hearing the crackle back on. Very frustrated about this, any suggestions what is going on?

I have only re-flowed the main circuit. I will now try and reflow the speedball boards. The issue could very well be in these boards.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: August 06, 2018, 07:47:51 AM by shrapnel »



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #1 on: July 21, 2018, 05:36:29 AM
How frequent is the crackle?  It is indeed super common for installation of the Speedball to disturb an otherwise normal solder joint.  You could also be experiencing interference from another device that's now more audible with the Speedball installed.

-PB

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline shrapnel

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Reply #2 on: July 30, 2018, 01:50:32 PM
It is crackle come pings and pops followed by loosing audio in 1 channel completely. It is defn a solder joint somewhere, the amp is placed far from any electronics.  I just reflowed the joints on the speedball boards and got the following voltages. Please let me know if these numbers check out.

OA 115.6
OB 108.5
G 0.04 mV
B+ 178.9

0A 76
1A 179.9
B-A/B 0.04mV
1B 180.3
0B 85.1

Thanks,
S



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #3 on: July 30, 2018, 02:23:05 PM
Those numbers look good.  You very likely have a loose wire or unflowed joint that is preventing proper operation.  There are few enough solder joints in the amp that just reheating each of them and applying solder as necessary will likely solve your issue.

-PB

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline shrapnel

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Reply #4 on: August 01, 2018, 09:00:28 AM
Third day today and no crackle-pops-loss_of_channel, usually the third day is when it would give out. Looks like it was the speed boards all-along. fingers crossed. If this continues the feelings will be mixed.
a) I am happy the issue is resolved and I can enjoy the product :)
b) I am sad that I did not get the opportunity to really tell apart stock from speedball :(