Do I have an electrical problem?

[Jason Stanfield]

Here's a brief rundown of my rig:

 

RD-700NX > Speakeasy Preamp A > Peavey PV6 Mixer ch. 1 > PV900 Power Amp

Gaia Synth > Speakeasy Preamp B > Peavey PV6 Mixer ch. 2 > PV900 Power Amp

Tx5 Organ > Speakeasy AMA Preamp > Peavey PV6 Mixer ch. 3 > PV900 Power Amp

 

When I play the organ (not the piano or synth), I get a loud crack or pop from the speakers; when I'm playing with the band, that pop becomes a crackle; when I turn the power amp off and use headphones from the mixer (and play alone), I hear the pop but it's a lot softer.

 

It sounds like a sine wave spike or something, and the first time it happened it activated my power amp's overload suppression feature and it shut down. The problem occurred again last night on the gig, and I just shut the organ off for the 2nd and 3rd sets to prevent the power amp from shutting down - no pops, no problems.

 

The fact that the sound becomes more intense when the whole band is playing indicates its an electrical issue, and eliminating the organ to eliminate the problem narrows the issue down to the organ itself.

 

But I've never heard of this kind of thing before - what could the problem be that my organ is sending some kind of power-amp-killing spike from its outputs?

[Sven Golly]

You've been around long enough that this is probably a moot point, but have you switched channels on the mixer, swapped out cables, and checked every other point in the signal chain that's unique to the organ to see if something in the chain is the problem?

 

Have you run direct to the mixer without the Speakeasy?

 

[Jason Stanfield]

I haven't taken the AMA or other preamp out of the chain, but I did swap channels, cables, etc.

 

I doubt it's the AMA - those are built like tanks and I doubt a little road wear would do that to the unit - but I'll try it soon just in case

[mate stubb]

Could be a solder joint going south somewhere in the chain.

 

Try running headphones directly out of the organ instead of the mixer. If you still hear it, it is truly the organ.

[joeljjison]

Indeed, take the mixer away, go direct , and try the different outputs on the organ. Could be left or right or headphones.

 

I have a synth that produces a horrid hissy crackle on the headphones socket. I don't know what to do about it, but its fine on L+R.

[Jason Stanfield]

Well, I think I figured it out.

 

It's definitely the organ by itself, and it's definitely a power issue -- I'm running way too much on a single power outlet, including a power amp.

 

It looks like I need to get a power conditioner, so I'll be adding that to my list of gear that I need (including a new rack case, a new piano case, a new stand, an iPad MIDI interface ... ugh, there go my next few paychecks).

 

Update: I got a new extension cord, plugged all the 'boards into that, and ran the preamps and amp on the other one - it worked fine!