Fixing faders which don’t fade down to silence

DwarfCactus

New member
Hi,

I bought a 2nd hand RX1202FX recently to use for switching between synths live. I tried it out last night and discovered that when I pull the faders down I can still hear output (and no I wasn’t using the mon feed!).

Has anyone else had this issue with this or another mixer and is there anything I can do to fix it? I tried both FX feed and control room feed (didn’t try main out as a jack to jack cable was what I had to hand). I tried with the stereo channels 9/10 and 11/12 and mono with channel 8, same thing. On one of the stereo channels the volume varied with a push/wiggle of the fader when turned right down.

Thanks
 
Hi,

I bought a 2nd hand RX1202FX recently to use for switching between synths live. I tried it out last night and discovered that when I pull the faders down I can still hear output (and no I wasn’t using the mon feed!).

Has anyone else had this issue with this or another mixer and is there anything I can do to fix it? I tried both FX feed and control room feed (didn’t try main out as a jack to jack cable was what I had to hand). I tried with the stereo channels 9/10 and 11/12 and mono with channel 8, same thing. On one of the stereo channels the volume varied with a push/wiggle of the fader when turned right down.

Thanks

How much actual sound is still evident with the fader at end stop? You really need to quantify this because even the best faders only give an attenuation of -90dB or so and very high level signal will probably still be heard, especially at higher frequencies.

If a fault condition it could be a poor connection in the earthy end of the track. Often this is a rivet and soldering it to the PCB can improve matters. Then if all the faders share the same earth path, crosstalk can intrude. Beefing up the earth track might help.

The problem is taken so seriously on top line desks that they use "infinite end" faders where the last few mm or so has an insulated gap in the track. Below that the track is taken to earth via a separate wire removing it from the common earth "bus".

Dave.
 
Well even with gain and faders down there is still significant noise to be heard. Additionally when I tried again this evening I moved over to channel 2 from channel 1 and it was a decent volume, not just a small amount to hear, when I moved the fader up and down again it got quieter.
 
Well even with gain and faders down there is still significant noise to be heard. Additionally when I tried again this evening I moved over to channel 2 from channel 1 and it was a decent volume, not just a small amount to hear, when I moved the fader up and down again it got quieter.

have you cleaned all the contacts with deoxit?
The web site is Home - CAIG
 
Not yet, I bought some WD40 contact cleaner (not the normal WD40).

I have a video of the issue.

youtu . be / FX5ZSlPJaWw
 
Sorry, I couldn’t post the link above properly.

Do I just spray the cleaner into the fader slot and the pot hole once I’ve taken the knob off?
 
If you can still hear a signal with the faders down check that you are not feeding the mixer excessive gain at the inputs. If you drive these hard enough you will overcome some of the fader resistance when off.

Alan.
 
Sorry, I couldn’t post the link above properly.

Do I just spray the cleaner into the fader slot and the pot hole once I’ve taken the knob off?

I've found that spraying the pot, even with the knob still on can sometimes work, too. Then, turning the knob back and forth, over the whole path many times, to spread the cleaner over the whole path. Of course, if this doesn't work, removing the knob is necessary.

If this is an older unit, normal dust and debris could collect in the slider path. Over time, the action of the slider itself pushes all of this to the two extremes, top and bottom. It's not that likely that you would ever have your fader at the top of the slide, but it is common to have it go to the bottom.

You should use a good contact cleaner (like CAIG above) that will clean away this collected debris. It should have a small tube attachment on it, so you can push the tube down into the slot and spray at the bottom of the slide, while the fader itself is up at the top, out of the way.

Then, move the fader up and down the path of the slide many times, to spread the cleaner solution over the whole path, making sure you work it at the bottom area, where you are assuming debris has collected. You could also take the case off of the unit, but that could end up being quite a task, if you have to remove a lot of knobs, first. Using the tube to get the solution down to where you need it should work just as well.
 
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