Spirit studio repair help!

tapeboy

New member
My soundcraft spirit studio has problems:

Some lights ('ON' lamps) are not working but I've been told this is a case of replacing the diodes. Do you know which type of diodes I should buy, are they the same for 'PFL' and 'ON'?

And the worse thing is that on some channels I have to use some 'inserts' as outputs because when I plug in to 'tape send' and 'tape return' I get no sound. So I have to use the 'insert' with the jack halfway in, thus losing the high EQ (and the possibility of using the inserts for effects.) On one channel I noticed I couldn't even use this method, no sound at all.

Does all this sound serious and expensive?

The last person to own the desk has looked after it badly I think.

I would be thankful for ANY help you can give me.
 
The green and red LEDs are pretty standard types, nothing special there.

To send audio to a recorder, you need to press the "Direct" switch down, it's the 2nd switch down from the top of each channel and to hear the return signal you need to turn the "Direct" off and press the "Chnl/Mntr Input Reverse" down.

If you are doing this and still having problems it is quite possible that the cause is dirty contacts..maybe in the Tape Send and Tape Return jacks or in either of the abovementioned routing switches. Because of the age of these consoles, bad/dirty contacts in jack sockets, pots and switches are fairly common and can be a pain in the butt. Earlier this year I stripped my S/craft Studio right down and systematically cleaned every jack, switch and pot with the appropraite CAIG product...........it was a long a tiresome job and at the end of it all I still have intermitent issues with bad contacts, in my case usually the Gain pot.

Servicing these (or any) consoles can be relatively pricey, mainly due to the time it takes to access the internals and remove the necessary pcbs...................it would be wise to check with you local S/craft agent for further advice.

:cool:
 
thanks

thanks very much, I just bought some contact spray! And those lights...they all work except a couple of channels where, when I press 'on' it seems to affect the other lights in the particular channel as well as not lighting itself if you know what I mean. This is cosmetic and I could live with it but it would be so nice to havre all the lights working. Should I replace all the diodes on these channels do you think? Thanks again.
 
I both track and mixdown through my console and rarely have need of the routing flexibility offered on each channel, so apart from the green "On" LED (Light Emmitting Diode) being in use, I almost never see any of the red LEDs turned on unless I'm driving a signal too hard and then the Peak (PK) LED will light up. Why you would be seeing other LEDs light when you press the "On" switch is beyond me........again, I seriously suggest you contact a S/craft agent for advice.

Also, a lot of "contact" spray cleaners are not suitable for the pots, switches and especially the faders in these consoles...........do a Google search for CAIG Laboratories website as there is some very good information there about the "do's and don'ts" of cleaning components.

:cool:
 
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