VTB- 1 : the letdown continues

N

nezpierce

New member
Hey all,

So I pre-ordered a VTB-1 back in December when it was still a VTP-1.

And I waited.

And finally, IN August, I get the call that it's come in. Since I ordered it from a store that is a bit of a drive away, I told them to ship it to me. I am getting super excited to have the blue glow in my pre amp rack.

And then I get it.

AND IT DOESN'T WORK!

I frantically look for :
an on/off switch (nope)
I look thru the manual for any clues, do I need to let it warm up?
Does it have to have something plugged in to make it work?

A day later:

and still no blue glow, no red glow no yellow glow, no go.


(I was overly careful in my attempt to run signal through it however and I tested for input but not output, as I was afraid that I would be accused of "frying it" by the store I bought it from.)

Perhaps I am an idiot who can't make it work (perhaps not?)

So I called the store and left them a message this AM (they aren't open yet to feel my wrath), and I figured I'd post here to see if Alan Hyatt had any helpful suggestions.

OK SP slammers(which I am not one of BTW), get yer rocks off.....


nP
 
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So let me get this straight, you havent tried to run a signal through it, but you assume it doent work? Plug it in and try it.
 
yeah I am going to do that tonight, but I wanted to get a call into the store first. I guess its silly of me to assume that the lights coming on mean it works....


but based on past reviews of the unit here at this site

"One little "gift" from Studio Projects is that inside the VTB1 there's an indigo-bluish light that glows. "

no glow for me :(

nP

(so I guess what I am looking for is, anybody own one of these yet and am I off base on this? Did yours light right up ?)
 
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nezpierce said:

Does it have to have something plugged in to make it work?
Click to expand...

This makes me wonder if you actually need it to work. You can't test drive a car without sitting in it, putting the key in and turning it. Yeah, it could be broken but considering how Alan checks them before sending them out, its highly unlikely.
It may be a burnt lamp, but ya have to plug something into to it, lights are not the indicator that something doesn't work. Hang in there though, if Harvey's unit worked for him and DOT's worked then, you'll get yours to work.


SoMm
 
Cmon guys give me a little credit...

Obviously, you guys are missing my point here.

I know it's not a lamp.

I did a quick test with a bass guitar when I first got it. Plugged it in and tried to get some reaction from the pre amp. There was no glow, and no reaction from the meter lights. It may be passing sound but I didn't test it for that yet. As I staed I wanted to get a call into the store to let them know that it may in fact be defective.

I am just really bummed that it appears that I waited 8 months for it and if it doesn't work then I have to wait even longer.

geez....


nP

(and when I bought a car, I made sure the lights worked on it too ;)
 
Try MORE. Different cables, some mics, other guitar, try to get some input. Also connect the output to your amp or mixer.

You cannot break it by putting a signal from a mic or bass in it, or by connecting it to yer amp or mixer. That's what it is made for. Won't harm it. Try more, untill you're sure what's wrong.

Or make a working setup with another micpre, and then replace that micpre, so that you are certain that everything works except for the micpre. If it doesn't work then, then it's up to the shop you got it from to have it replaced. That's all there is to do. Nothing more, nothing less.

Unless you are experienced in repairing electronic equipement in which case you could ask alan to help you fix it yerself. But judging from yer questions here, you should just take it to the shop.
 
yeah there is now way I would even attempt to open this thing up and fiddle with it. I have a history of bad luck with electricity...

nP
 
nezpierce said:
yeah there is now way I would even attempt to open this thing up and fiddle with it. I have a history of bad luck with electricity...

nP
Click to expand...
OK, There are a couple of things you can check. The first thing to check is the wall wart power supply. Do you have another wall wart with the same general output you can try? Any power supply that puts out a 9 to 12 Volt AC output at around 500ma to 1 amp should work.

If the jack fits, plug in the test power supply and see if the blue light comes on inside the unit, or push a front panel button and see if the LED for that switch comes on. If it comes on, that means the wall wart is bad and Alan will surely send you a replacement.

If that doesn't fix it, it means a wire or part in the preamp has come loose or gone bad, and the preamp needs to be fixed or replaced. Is there a small TV repair place near you? Take both the wall wart and the pream to them - it may be a simple fix.

Is there a Radio Shack nearby that can let you try a 12 Volt AC wall wart, or can they put a meter across the output of the wall wart to verify it's putting out 12 Volts AC?
 
Take the wall wart, plug it in, then quick-touch your tounge to the jack. Did you get a shock? If you did, then the wall wart works.

Seriously, it's not gonna kill you. You've touched your tounge to a 9v battery before haven't you?

If you're afraid to do that, then hook a volt meter up to it.
 
Harvey to the rescue!

Harvey and Michael,

I ran home at lunch time and did some more testing. Well the unit would not respond at all to either an sm57, a sd condenser or a passive pickup'ed Jazz bass. and I had to swing back to work but on the drive back I realized that it could be the wall wart.

I guess I can take the smallest of comforts in that I came to the same conclusion as you two did.

My guy at the store talked to Alan and they offered to ship out a new one immediately ( yay ). So I am going to get some feedback from him and maybre drive it down to the store before I give up on it completely.


*sigh*

I wanted to play with my new toy....

thanks everyone for being part of my mini-soap opera "as the knob turns..." :)

nP
 
Michael Jones said:
Take the wall wart, plug it in, then quick-touch your tounge to the jack. Did you get a shock? If you did, then the wall wart works.

Seriously, it's not gonna kill you. You've touched your tounge to a 9v battery before haven't you?
Click to expand...
Michael,

That's NOT good advice!!! I've seen some wall warts that put out the full live voltage to the plug if the wart overheats and the unit is badly made. No, a 9 Volt battery won't kill you, and 1 amp at 12 Volts probably won't either, but it's NEVER a good idea to test a wall powered device with a body part that you care about possibly using at some later date.
 
Sorry to hear your unit was not working properly... I bought two of these Pre's and they both work beautifully. Glad to hear that you're going to stick with the VTB-1... they are built very well from what I can see and most of all you be quite pleased with its many features and great sound.

It may not hurt to order one online. I got mine along with other gear from Jake at Humbuckermusic.com

Your patience will be rewarded. ;)

Bowisc
 
Wall Wart

The posters who said a bad wall wart is a likely culprit seem to be on the right track.

The obvious way to test the wall wart is with a meter. You probably have other uses for a multimeter anyway, so maybe you should just go ahead and buy one. You can get cheap ones (like $15) that are moderately useful, and somewhat expensive ones (like $115) that are more useful, and really expensive ones that are more useful than you probably will ever need anyway. Touching the plug to your tongue doesn't seem like the best way to go about it. Tongues are really designed for other purposes. And electricity tastes funny.

I hope that whoever manufactured a wall wart that outputs full line voltage when it overheats has some lawyers lined up. Probably might as well just go straight to the bankruptcy lawyers and get it over with.
 
lick. bad.

Harvey Gerst said:
Michael,

That's NOT good advice!!! I've seen some wall warts that put out the full live voltage to the plug if the wart overheats and the unit is badly made. No, a 9 Volt battery won't kill you, and 1 amp at 12 Volts probably won't either, but it's NEVER a good idea to test a wall powered device with a body part that you care about possibly using at some later date.
Click to expand...

Harvey,

I mentioned that to Alan while I was on the phone with him and I think he jumped out of his chair hehe

He also advised against licking as a course of action. (at least for this particular application)

I am going to take the unit into a music store after work today and swap my wall wart for another one that is 12V AC 50-100 ma to see if that is indeed the problem.

Who knows, the preamp could have gotten bumped during shipped and something could have loosened up... ya never know

thanks again for your help.

nP
 
nez, with all due respect, the best first step in a case like this would have
been to e-mail Alan at PMI Audio's website first, along with letting your
dealer know. Hang on in there as this mic pre is more than worth it!

Chris
 
chessparov said:
nez, with all due respect, the best first step in a case like this would have
been to e-mail Alan at PMI Audio's website first, along with letting your
dealer know. Hang on in there as this mic pre is more than worth it!

Chris
Click to expand...

Yeah I had to vent a little, bad me I know<

but I was hoping that this post also would have resulted in some other folks who bought the unit ofering some help.

After all of the talk about this pre amp for the last year plus, I am the only one at this forum who actually bought it?

(They've sold over 200 so far...)

it makes me wonder if anyone here realy owns a C1 either ;)

nP
 
I recently got a C3 and have no regrets.
I have heard that it sounds better than the C1.

I wish someone can give more details on this finding. Perhaps the person who commented. ;)


Bowisc
 
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