Adat LX20 Won't power on.

[solarscar]

I bought an LX20 off a guy on ebay in which he said was "like new"

The unit will not power on, but after jiggiling right where it plugs into it will sometimes come on then turn off for no apparent reason.

I've tried different power cords and they all do the same. Anyone have a clue whats wrong and how can this be fixxed?

How much does alesis charge for a service?

Thanks and this sucks hardcore. Cost me $325 hopefully not down the drain.

[CGibson]

I think you have three options to choose from.

1. Cold solder joint located near the AC. power line input
easy and inexpensive fix

2. Power switch on front in faulty
a little tougher fix but no big deal

3. Brain has major problems
Requires Technician and lots of cash

C

[solarscar]

Thanks Cgibson. You are from Missouri also? I am from Moberly. Maybe you should come by and fix my broken ADAT for me?? J/K.

Thanks for the info. Oh shit, Here comes the screwdriver....

[solarscar]

Hey,

I just got the power supply out and on the board where the three pins are soldered near the power cord part...

one of them is definatly defective. It has lost contact to the board. What kind of solder do i use and please give me some tips. I am about to tackle this thing right now.

Thanks again.

[CGibson]

60/40 Rosin-Core Solder

I like to Use high heat and get on and off fast or if you don't have a gun use low heat slow.

[CGibson]

Also ground yourself and don't touch anything other than what you must.
Also Clean the heads while your in there.
C

[solarscar]

cool man...


I fixxed it, yay!

I guess the recording workshop learned me up pretty good on the soldering part too.... thought that was like 7 years ago.

The two screws on the back that bolt the outlet to the chassis where a little loose and i can see how easy it would be to un-seat the VERY little solder on those three contacts on the board.

Hey, how do you clean the heads?? i just blew a little "air in a can" in there, but there wasn't any visable dust.

BTW, I checked your site out and thats cool how you are chaining those two 01v's together.

I had a Yamaha AW2816 a month ago, but i got tired of the endless buzz killing, button pushing i had to do, so i got back to my roots and got the ADAT!

[CGibson]

Great news Man!

Ya adat's are cheap, easy and almost never crash.
I had several people try to talk me into computer recording about a year ago and everyone of them lost info and money due to the big crash.
If your recording your own materila and you loose a days worth of work.....who cares. On the other hand if you loose a day or more of clients material that's another story.


As far as cleaning goes... you'll need cotton swabs and a good head cleaning solution.
Just clean and shine everything but belts and anything with a white grease lubricant.
Don't remove grease!
Don't use solution on any rubbers belts!

C

[AGCurry]

Originally Posted by CGibson

Great news Man!

As far as cleaning goes... you'll need cotton swabs and a good head cleaning solution.
Just clean and shine everything but belts and anything with a white grease lubricant.
Don't remove grease!
Don't use solution on any rubbers belts!

C

No! The ADAT manual says very clearly NOT to clean heads this way! Of course, it doesn't say how it SHOULD be done; but it warns that you may ruin the heads by cleaning them as you would a VCR. Take it to a shop. There's one here in Kansas City that knew exactly what to do.

[RickW]

I have to agree. I was told NOT to use swabs or alcohol. This was how I was used to cleaning the heads on my analog decks, but apparently not a smart thing to do with ADAT heads, so be wary. There are tape style cleaners available for ADATs, but I don't know if they're any good. You'd have to ask someone that's actually used them, and I haven't. I took mine to a shop to be cleaned and overhauled.

[CGibson]

I've maintained my adats this way for years.
Mine are used 30 a week with over 2000 hrs on two of them and no shop time. the other two were rebuilt after 1500 hrs.
(Not the manuals 500 hrs.)
So you tell me I've been doing it wrong for years?
I guess I'll pack them up and take them to the shop so they can do exactly what I've done for years.
Come on guys if I had to pack up an adat every time the heads needed to be cleaned, I would have one in the shop every Month.


C

[dragonworks]

Originally Posted by CGibson

I've maintained my adats this way for years.
Mine are used 30 a week with over 2000 hrs on two of them and no shop time. the other two were rebuilt after 1500 hrs.
(Not the manuals 500 hrs.)
So you tell me I've been doing it wrong for years?
I guess I'll pack them up and take them to the shop so they can do exactly what I've done for years.
Come on guys if I had to pack up an adat every time the heads needed to be cleaned, I would have one in the shop every Month.


C

Yay, you tell em, nothing like the voice of exp. eh boys, tell them techies to go wipe their ass, your savin your cash.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by CGibson

I've maintained my adats this way for years.
Mine are used 30 a week with over 2000 hrs on two of them and no shop time. the other two were rebuilt after 1500 hrs.
(Not the manuals 500 hrs.)
So you tell me I've been doing it wrong for years?
I guess I'll pack them up and take them to the shop so they can do exactly what I've done for years.
Come on guys if I had to pack up an adat every time the heads needed to be cleaned, I would have one in the shop every Month.

Sorry - you ARE dead wrong... you don't do head maintenance on these types of machines using cotton swabs. IT's NOT a freaking tape deck!!!!!

And no, you don't need to bring it in, you simply need to learn the proper technique and do it the right way yourself....................................

It's CRITICAL to keep the heads aligned on these machines, and poking them with a cotton swab is a great way to throw them out.....

[CGibson]

Originally Posted by Blue Bear Sound

Sorry - you ARE dead wrong... you don't do head maintenance on these types of machines using cotton swabs. IT's NOT a freaking tape deck!!!!!

And no, you don't need to bring it in, you simply need to learn the proper technique and do it the right way yourself....................................

It's CRITICAL to keep the heads aligned on these machines, and poking them with a cotton swab is a great way to throw them out.....

That's OK I've been wrong before. I'm sure it's dumb luck I've been able to save myself cash by being wrong.

You're advice is probably great for most people that don't make a habit of taking things apart just to see how they work.

I'm not a mechanic either but in the last Month I somehow changed the break system on three vehicles and rebuilt the carburetor on my Van as well as my chainsaw.

I also know very little about computers but I still installed a TV video card and upgraded my RAM to a gig just ten minutes ago.

What's the fun in always leaving it up to an expert?

My advice is not to be reckless but to live a little, just do the research and dive in. We'll all be dead in a hundred years and when I check out I can say I maintained my adat until they turned to dust.

On the other hand adat's are now disposable. So if an adat needs to be rebuilt just stack it on the pile and buy another one on ebay for about the same rebuild cost.


Are you sure it's not a "freaking tape deck"? Just kidding man.
Nice Studio by the way.....Is it yours or place of employment?

C

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by CGibson

Are you sure it's not a "freaking tape deck"? Just kidding man.

Well yeah... sorta sure!

Originally Posted by CGibson

Nice Studio by the way.....Is it yours or place of employment?

Thanks! It is both, actually........

I checked-out your video tour as well - cool idea!

Just curious - how come you haven't hopped on the HD24 bandwagon yet? I used to use a whack of ADATs myself, but the first time I tried the HD24, I could see the advantages right away...!

[CGibson]

Originally Posted by Blue Bear Sound

Well yeah... sorta sure!


Thanks! It is both, actually........

I checked-out your video tour as well - cool idea!

Just curious - how come you haven't hopped on the HD24 bandwagon yet? I used to use a whack of ADATs myself, but the first time I tried the HD24, I could see the advantages right away...!

Thanks Man! The video thing was kinda fun.
I wanted to do the 3D full room looping thing but wasn't smart enough in the video department. That was actually my first attempt at putting together a video scene by scene.

I've been debating the HD24 since the day it came out. My biggest problem is the drive availability. I like the idea of putting a master on the shelf and at some point the smallest new drive available will be 100 gig or larger. So if I record two songs for a band and pull that drive I leave tons of drive space on the shelf. If I could buy 10-20 gig drives in bulk I would be a little happier.

Although all that being said I'll probably get one anyway and transfer smaller projects over to adat tape. I must be too much of a linier kinda guy for my own good.

I sure do like your studio layout as well as the web page. I’m gonna have to try the circle loop now that I’ve seen how cool yours came out. Again here I go jumping into things I know nothing about. ha ha

C

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by CGibson

I sure do like your studio layout as well as the web page. I’m gonna have to try the circle loop now that I’ve seen how cool yours came out. Again here I go jumping into things I know nothing about. ha ha
C

I commissioned a local photo guy to do my virtual tour... all it is are 360-degree photos shot of the facility that is put into software to provide the 360-degree rendering. It's a pretty cool mechanism...! (Don't know the s/w used though...)

[Dethska]

So which one of you genius's is going to post the correct way to clean an ADAT.
I guess we got CGibson's way. What is your way, Blue Bear?

[Blue Bear Sound]

I would post it if I could Dethska, but it is too detailed to describe in a post... There is a video that describes it in great detail -- The Care and Feeding of Your ADAT... done by BASF/Emtech for Alesis.

If you own ADATs you HAVE to have this video.

[Dethska]

Darn, thanks anyway BlueBear. I don't know why I really care anyway, though. I don't even run tape through my ADAT anymore, I just use it for the A/D/A converters.