Frustrating Problem

jgparker59

jgparker59

Inspired
Had my Axe 8 for a few months and I love it. However, now I have an intermittent problem. I play in church every week and it keeps happening. I’m playing and the level drops down and the sound gets extremely thin. It doesn’t matter what preset I’m on. I switch presets and it doesn’t help. Sometimes, not always if I turn it off and back on it will fix it. I’ve tried different cables and still the same. It almost seems like when the unit is on more than an hour, it will do it. But not always. It’s almost like a bad capacitor or something. I’ll bring the unit home and I can’t get it to do the problem. I take it back to play and it happens sometimes. Today it happened and I couldn’t get it to work properly. It should be under warranty and hope Fractal will let me ship it back. Very frustrating.
 
That it never happens at home is interesting, and suggests that possibly the problem isn't the AX8. Perhaps something like the power source, too many things plugged into the same circuit? Just guessing, but maybe worth checking out.
 
If you can't replicate the problem in a different environment, I would check other potential causes before presuming it's the gear. Can you try a different power source other than on stage? Does anyone have a power conditioner at the church you could try? How are you running the AX8, with an amp, direct to the PA?
 
Is it possible the Wah block is getting engaged? That problem has been a common one I've seen when this type of problem crops up.
 
I am running left xlr out of the AX8 to the house and right AX8 xlr out to my powered monitor. And it affects both. I have no wah blocks in my presets. I know what that sounds like and this isn’t it. Like I said sometimes when I turn it off and then back on it corrects it. Today it did for one song and went right back into that low volume thin sound. Got me curious on the power source because I am plugged into a shared power strip though.
 
I've found troubleshooting to be more effective if you can get access to the building when you don't have time constraints. If you have all of your gear plugged into the power strip, especially if you're sharing with other gear, it could very well be a power issue. Try different outlets in the room including the one with the power strip plugged in (don't use the power strip though).
 
I have it at home now and It won’t do it. It’s the second time I brought it home and can’t get it to do that sound. So maybe you’re all right about the power supply at the church, I just never figured it would behave that way because of power. Thought power is either on or off. Didn’t consider how it would affect the sound. I do plug the ax into my monster power conditioner strip before going into the church power strip.
 
When you say "the church power strip" it makes me cringe, I picture some of the power strips at our church, LOL. Our building's stage circuit was supposed to be isolated but discovered it shared the dimmer lights on the side of the room. Lot's of unwanted noise so I chose to provide my own power connections. I found an outlet I could use and run a Furman SS-6B 6-outlet Power Strip and a 10ft, 16 AWG IEC cable into a Voodoo Labs power supply with a 2ft IEC cable from the courtesy outlet into the AX8. The Furman might seem like overkill since only one outlet is used but with the noise reduction features it has, I haven't had any noise issues since using this configuration.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom