Mackie board signal issue

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kindofsudden

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I have a new-to-me Mackie 8 buss board with a meter bridge (LEDs for 32 channels and 2 analog VUs for the main).

I plug it in, power is on. Immediate win. I plug a mic into channel 1 (then later 2, 32, etc.) and everything looks great. I have levels on the channel on the meter bridge.

Then comes the issue. I've been through the manual and I can't figure it out. I never get signal to the busses or the L/R main fader. I've assigned the channels to L/R, to the busses, and to both and neither. I've made sure nothing is soloed. I've tried having everything soloed. I made sure the Mix B is off, and I tried with Mix B on. I always get meter at the channel, but nothing on the busses or the main fader. Yes, all faders are UP.

Can someone set me straight? I'd appreciate it!
 
Do you mean L/R mix?
 

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Yes, and you'll need the control room pot up and your monitor out connected to an amp/speaker set up.
 
RRuskin said:
Yes, and you'll need the control room pot up and your monitor out connected to an amp/speaker set up.
Click to expand...
Okay, I'll give that a try. I hadn't gotten that far since I hadn't even gotten a signal on the meters. Are the two things really related? I'll try it in the morning.
 
RRuskin said:
Yes, and you'll need the control room pot up and your monitor out connected to an amp/speaker set up.
Click to expand...
Alright, I had to give this a shot, couldn't wait until the morning.

I connected both my Main Mix and my Control Room Output to my monitor setup and I get plenty of signal. I still get my LED meter for that track on the meter bridge, but nothing on the LED meter on the board, and nothing on the L/R meters on the meter bridge. So the audio is working correctly, but the only meters I get are the LED channel meters on the meter bridge.
 
It looks like there are some switches on the meter bridge's right side. What do they do?
 
There's one switch there that switches the meter bridge from channel to tape input.

So I made some progress today. I found an issue that might be driving the other issues. When I feed a line-in signal, I get the channel LEDs (as mentioned before), and now I also get the right main meter working on the meter bridge, but the left registers very, very weak even though the line-in signal is just as strong on the channel LED meter. I started playing with the main fader and the pan controls, and I found out that when I take the main fader all the way down, everything panned L and R go silent. Perfect. However, as I incrementally bring up the main fader, while everything panned L comes up gradually, everything panned R goes max volume immediately and stays max volume as I take the fader up.

At this point I think that should be my biggest concern over the fact that the Main LEDs are acting quirky. Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Check the ribbon connectors from bridge to mixer. Make sure they are seated properly.
 
I looked at them and it looks they seat internally... I'd have to take the board apart to get it at it. I would think that might fix the meter bridge problem, but I have to think that main fader issue wouldn't be caused by that. <shrugs>
 
Your master fader and/or the insert points for the L/R busses may be dirty. With the board off, burnish the insert points with by plugging a trs connector in & out a few times. Exercise the L/R fader as well to loosen up any crud that may be there. Spraying them with contact cleaner may also help.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I tried the TRS idea and working the fader a bunch. No dice. I don't have any contact cleaner, but can pick some up tomorrow. Do you suggest contact cleaner on a TRS, then repeat the in/out on the inserts?
 
Does it behave like this on all outputs, including headphones?
 
Aaaand my power just went out for the 2nd time in 14 hours. Let me get back to you.
 
Okay, so I did the contact cleaner thing thoroughly, and I still have issues. Here they are narrowed down:

Input shows great at the channel level on the meter bridge, but barely registers on the Main VU meters.

The only way I can get anything to show on the Main LED meters is to solo one of the 8 busses.

The biggest issue: When I take the main fader all the way down, everything panned L and R go silent. Perfect. However, as I incrementally bring up the main fader, while everything panned L comes up gradually, everything panned R goes max volume immediately and stays max volume as I take the fader up.

I'm beginning to think that a ribbon swap is in order, but that's just speculation based on some things I've read.
 
How big a deal is it to remove the meter bridge from the system to see if the problem is caused by the bridge or is in the console itself?
 
Not sure. I can tell you it can't be unplugged on either end externally, but I'm considering opening up the case to check those ribbon cables anyway, so I could unplug them from there and see if that changes anything. I'll do that today or tomorrow and report back.

Thanks for all the help! We'll track it down!
 
The manuals for these units should have install instructions. Don't go in without info unless you are very resourceful if something goes awry.
 
You're just not doing this systematiclly. For the moment - forget the meters. The mixer can send to the groups, then the groups to the main LR, or the channels direct to the LR. You can also solo things and when I had one memory says that just one solo button pressed kills the output. You have speakers connected to the main outs, I assume? If so, you need to start sending stuff to various outputs - have you made sure audio comes out of the busses, and the sends? It's doubtful the meter bridge is causing any of these problems=it's for showing whats going on. the important thing is listening to the outputs. Double check on of the solos is not stuck down.
 
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