repair APHEX 207 again

CoolCat

Well-known member
APHEX 207 dual preamp 19" rack.....great unit...but.....the weird buttons were really "sticking" and not popping back out.

The sticking buttons appear to be spring loaded. They were unable to easily switch from ON to OFF.
Theres 10 of them! and only a few worked ok.

Reviewing deeper, the brand is a WB Electronic switch.There wasnt much to see in the switch, its encapsulated. A push button with a Spring. the springs were not able to be changed out, replacing the switches seemed a lot of soldering!! for 10qty switches each with almost 10 pines each!

Being a mechanical switch I thought getting some fine oil on the plastic moving switch could help. But light amount of oil didnt work.
I then thought to really swab it up with oil, using a tiny fine model airplane painter brush and fine oil, I soaked the oil , brushed on the oil to the white plastic switch, focusing on the slides and the tiny hole on the top and cycling the switches many times and re-applying oil has them working like brand new! So did all 10qty were re-lubed and unit put together.

These type switches are also found on some Fender Amps per pictures. On/OFF, Double Throw /Single pole etc.. so this procedure to oil switches might help someone?

Just wanted to log it in the REPAIR logbook for gearheads!
 

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When I had a similar issue with a rack unit, it was that the front cover plate was not aligned correctly. So all the latching switches would catch on the front plate's ridge. With the screws loose, it can be positioned and function verified.

A good fix, is a good fix.
 
yeah man, this 207/207D has some of that too.
the skins are better left a little loose. there can be enough slight resistance on the mechanical buttons to make them rub. These switches arent switchcrafts, and plastic and a weak spring, so any resistance to the travel could be an issue. From the years of 2002!

207 was just too good a piece of gear to toss out for these problems, but yet too cheap & old a piece to spend cash on repairing...
selling for parts I suppose, but probably not worth the shipping costs...so garbage bound. I'd had another issue with it sometime ago where a channel was out and APHEX (owned by RODE now) wasnt interested in repairing it, and I guess it was close to going to the GEAR GRAVEYARD
 
207 was just too good a piece of gear to toss out
Aphex rack gear from the 80's was what they used at the TV studio I briefly worked. The whole package works together and is so transparent. Pro grade. Does +8 for the station. Heavy aluminum rack chassis. Transformerless. Amazing stuff that was ahead of its time and is waiting to be rediscovered.

Aphex 107 tube pre
Aphex 109 Tube parametric 4band
Aphex 105 gate
Aphex 320 A compellor/ compciter ..makes the buzzy voice with the 'drive' knob / auto-compressor

Works great together as a complete channel. Try to get the whole thing, they are relatively inexpensive now a days.
 
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