What happened?

[whattaguy]

I purchased an AT 4040 a little over a month ago, and it worked great the first time I used it. Since then I've been busy and finally got a chance to track today. All I got was a loud background hiss, and the mic signal was very weak if there was any signal. I tried other cables, and that didn't help. Other mics worked with the same cables. Does anyone have a clue as to what happened? I'll try to see what GC could do for me. Thanks.

[joro]

ummm...are you running it through a pre with phantom power?

[whattaguy]

Oops...my bad. I'm running it through my Aardvark DP 2496 pre's with phantom power. The other mics that I was testing were condensors also. I'm thinking my mic "went bad" if that's possible.

[whattaguy]

Anyone?

[Blue Bear Sound]

If other mics work with the same signal path as you try for this one, then it does point to a mic failure.

It is possible that you blew the internal circuit on the mic if you didn't power off the phantom power before you disconnected the mic cable from it, or it simply is a defective unit. Either way, you'll have to take it back to the point of purchase for service........ if you killed it by mishandling phantom, you'll likely be charged for it, otherwise, it should be covered under warranty if you bought it new....

[whattaguy]

Ugh...but thanks!

[whattaguy]

So here's the deal:

I went to GC today, and said that they would honor an exchange, but they wanted to test to see if the mic was actually defective. As it turned out, it worked on they're system, and wouldn't exchange it implying that I was some idiot trying to rip them off. I thought that if it worked perfectly at the store, I'd have no problem taking it back home. Well, I tried it again, and it still didn't work! My V57 and MK012's work fine with the same cable and channel. What else is going on? Am I missing something? This kinda sucks.

[chessrock]

If GC won't help you out, I'd call Audio Technica and see if they have any possible insight in to this.

Maybe it just doesn't like your aardvark. Did you try it through any other mic pres? It's possible that it needs more phantom power than your other mics do, and perhaps your card's pres aren't delivering it?

[Flatpicker]

Do you have a voltmeter? If not, pick up a cheap one at Radio Shack, Sears, Lowes, or Home Depot (you need one in your studio anyway!) and do this:

Plug the V57 into one channel. This is needed to “load” the phantom power voltage. Plug another cable into one of the other channels. The connecter on the other end of this cable is where you’ll take the measurements. Turn the gain all the way down and make sure the phantom power is OFF. Set your voltmeter to “DC volts” and set the range to the next step above 50 volts. Stick one of the probes into pin 2 and the other into pin 1. Pin 3 is in the middle, so 2 and 1 are at opposite sides of the connecter. Don’t worry about polarity as it doesn’t matter. If the probes are backwards, the voltage will just read negative instead of positive – no big deal. Turn the phantom power ON and you should read 48 volts. If you read less than 40V, the Aardvark isn’t supplying enough voltage and may be defective. Incidentally, my Aardvark Q10 supplies 48 volts no matter how many mics are plugged in.

For curiosity’s sake, I’d try the same process with the 4040 instead of the V57. Whether the voltage stays at 48V or drops using the 4040, this information would be good to have when you call AT to explain the problem.

[whattaguy]

I'm getting 10.31V on the reading on all mics...what do I do now?

[Blue Bear Sound]

10.31 is kinda low.... sounds like the problem may be in the phantom power suuplied by the Aardvark........

[whattaguy]

Would my computer power-supply have anything to do with it? My supply is 330W and is a couple of years old.

My PC rig is:

ASUS P4T533C Mobo
P4 2.4 Intel chip
1 meg RAM
40G Seagate 7200
60G Maxtor 7200
Plextor CDRW
Pioneer DVD Rom
Soundblaster
Floppy Drive
GeForce 3 Ti200 AGP Graphics card
2 case fans
1 cpu fan

The Aardvark gets its "juice" from the computer...it's not independently powered.

[Sonixx]

Originally posted by whattaguy
I'm getting 10.31V on the reading on all mics...what do I do now?

what's the voltage with no mics (nothing) plugged into the Aardvark?

[whattaguy]

10.36V

[Flatpicker]

The Aardvark's defective. Contact them and describe the problem. BTW, when it's fixed, your other mics will sound much better.

[whattaguy]

Flatpicker,

Do you have any info on the warranty of the Aardvark units? I bought mine in February '02. Thanks.

[Flatpicker]

Originally posted by whattaguy
Flatpicker,

Do you have any info on the warranty of the Aardvark units? I bought mine in February '02. Thanks.

I dug through all my stuff, but I can't find anything except the maunal and it doesn't mention a warranty. Send them an email now and give them a call Monday. As far as you know, it left the factory screwed up and you're just now learning about it. Let me know how it turns out.

[tom18222]

it could be the computer, if its old, because it gets the power from the computer right?

[Flatpicker]

Originally posted by tom18222
it could be the computer, if its old, because it gets the power from the computer right?

It sure is a posibility. I'd still call Aardvark, though. They may be like... "GULP! There's that same problem again! Yeah, we know what it is - send it back!" On the other hand, if they say "Never heard of it. Check your computer", then I'd try it on another computer before sending it to them.

[whattaguy]

Originally posted by Flatpicker
I dug through all my stuff, but I can't find anything except the maunal and it doesn't mention a warranty. Send them an email now and give them a call Monday. As far as you know, it left the factory screwed up and you're just now learning about it. Let me know how it turns out.

Flatpicker,

You didn't have to go through that much trouble! Thanks a bunch. I already sent them an e-mail and will try to follow up on Monday.

You guys always pull through for my "off" questions.

[whattaguy]

I talked to the Aardvark tech, and said that the power supply was a possibility. I just swapped my old Enermax 330W with a Thermaltake 480W tonight to see if that was the problem (was going to upgrade the power supply regardless). I still got about 10.3V on the meter. The good thing is that the tech said that if the power supply didn't fix the problem, they will when I send it back to them. I'll keep you guys posted.

[Flatpicker]

Is it still under warranty or are they going to charge you?

[whattaguy]

Originally posted by Flatpicker
Is it still under warranty or are they going to charge you?

Dunno, he just said to send it back, and they'll take care of it. I'm going to call them in a couple of hours.

[whattaguy]

It's covered, but I'll have about a month downtime (UPS takes a week to get to Ann Arbor, MI). Oh well. I suppose it's worth the wait.

[Flatpicker]

Originally posted by whattaguy
It's covered, but I'll have about a month downtime (UPS takes a week to get to Ann Arbor, MI). Oh well. I suppose it's worth the wait.

Ah, well, just hope it doesn't take them as long as US Cell has kept my defective cell phone!

At least it's covered by the warranty.