Mixer vu meters

Thrust

New member
Has anyone ever replaced vu bulbs with LEDs? Would LEDs last longer? Im tired of buying specialty bulbs from the manufacturer. Is there any reason not to just replace them with a nice blue or green LED? Dont need to be bright white anyway. Give me some feedback or some alternate ideas. Thanks
 
Thanks GCalo. Thats a great link on everything mixer related. Im trying to reinvigorate my power supply and stereo master output section on my A&H System 8. Wish me luck. Ill need it Im a musician not a tech guy.
 
well get a tech guy to help so you don't screw up.

The power supply is quite important.

Make sure to do it correctly.
 
In my TV days we used to have a problem with the metre bulbs going on Sony VTRs. Besides the cost of the bulbs there was a time factor--getting to them took a couple of hours of stripping down. We eventually set a policy of replacing the incandescent bulbs with LEDs (plus the necessary resistor) and once they were all changed we never had to do it again. The LED life exceeded that of the VTRs.

Bob
 
LED's are the way to go but those little lights are just so analog, cast a nice glow, and are period correct.
 
LED's are the way to go but those little lights are just so analog, cast a nice glow, and are period correct.

How about amber or yellow ones? Or maybe one of each in a lower power configuration? I was tempted to do this for my B77, but I would have gone for yellow or something. I cannot stand blue LEDs...
 
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The reason I prefer the incandescent lamps isn't a color thing, so amber or yellow LED's don't do it for me either. It is a spectral issue and the way the light emits...the LED's have a sort of pulsating effect that can be seen when my eyes move across the device with the lamp...and the narrow spectral content just doesn't look right. Can't stand them actually. All TOTALLY personal preference, and yes incandescent lamps are more expensive and have MUCH shorter service life so there just is no practical reason AFAIC to NOT go with LED's...I think the LED's do look pretty neat for a number of things and many folks prefer the look...its just not for me. My Ampex meters have to have that warm glow of the incandescent lamps.
 
It is a spectral issue and the way the light emits...the LED's have a sort of pulsating effect that can be seen when my eyes move across the device with the lamp...
That probably means that the lamp is being fed AC, or DC with some kind of 60hz ripple. LEDs tend to be instant on/off, whereas incandescents have thermal inertia. You might be able to fix that with a smoothing capacitor or something.
It's not going to help if you have problems with LEDs being monochromatic, though.

Haven't seen any yellow or amber LEDs Just the colors of Red, Blue, Green and white.
Didn't you ever make an LED traffic light at school? :P

FWIW, Maplins have them in stock, though that's probably not terribly helpful unless you're in the UK.
 
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