Need help with Crack/Speedball problems

[Bruce Lantz]

Need some help.

I have a Crack with a Speedball - operating normally for a few years. Prior to the current problems I had replaced the stock output caps with Dayton MPT 100 with excellent results and also added an ALPS volume control. 

Recently it was getting a little noisy (scratchy) in both channels at a steady volume, and a little more so when I turned the volume up or down so I decided to replace the volume control. Otherwise the stereo sound was strong – no degradation.

It seemed like the volume control was easiest thing to start with. I took the opportunity to replace some wires, re-solder some connections and added two small Dayton .01uf in parallel with the two existing Dayton’s.

When I turned it on the LED’s on one of the small Speedball boards didn’t light up. I took it apart and re-soldered many joints and then re-installed the Speedball – and I swapped position of the two small boards.

So now when I power it up the same small board LEDs’ don’t light up, as well as one of the LED's on the small socket.   I’ve swapped both tubes with no change.
The voltages look good except for…
A1 = 0
A3 =0
A8 = .01
B4 = 0
5 = 0
20 = 0

It seems like the problem is with the one board, but I’m definitely out of my depth and would appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Bruce Lantz

[Paul Birkeland]

0V at 5 is indeed quite a problem.  Is the wire going from the Speedball board to that terminal broken? 

There are far more issues that would leave the voltage at terminal 5 really high rather than at 0V.  It's also worth inspecting the socket to see if there's somehow debris or components shorting out A1 to A2 or to the center post of the socket.