Topic: Right channel failure

[Rockinman59]

Equipment: akg460mods>ck63>Microtrack II>Wmod UA5

I taped a 2 night stand from the same spot each night, same exact setip both nights. N1 show came out perfectly.  I had the right channel totally die about 50 min. into the main act the next night.  I taped the opening act the 2nd night also, no problems.  Had both channels working during the opener and the 50 min. of the headliner.  I have no idea what happened here.  I'm standing there the whole time and nothing was moved.  Previously I had external battery issues with the MTII but I replaced the usb cable and the battery was fine and running when I saw the right channel go out.  I switched around the cables on the UA5, but still only the left channel showed anything, that rules out the mics or cables which are brand new and have high RF rejection.  I tried even lowering the record level on the left channel and the record level would not decrease.

 I have no idea what happened but I tested everything today and I get levels on both channels.  I recently had the ck63 caps repaired and had no issues at all for the past 10 shows I taped until last night.  I had perfect weather and the gear bag was open enough to vent the gear just like the night before.

My only thought is perhaps I didn't have the right mic cable 100% snapped into the mic body. I'm not sure if that would have the mic work ok for a while then lose power.  Any ideas or similar experiences?

Thanks in advance.


Tom

[SmokinJoe]

The usual test is to swap mics/caps/cables/channels and see where the problem moves.  When it's intermittent it's hard.

You said...
I switched around the cables on the UA5, but still only the left channel showed anything, that rules out the mics or cables which are brand new and have high RF rejection.  I tried even lowering the record level on the left channel and the record level would not decrease.
If I'm reading you right.... right channel drops out... you swap mics/cables going into the UA-5... right channel is still dropped out, and turning down the gain on the UA-5 doesn't lower the recording level?  Sounds like the problem is in the UA-5.

What were you using for a UA-5 battery?  Did you run 2 nights off one battery?  Note that in my experience, when the battery is getting weak feeding a UA-5 I have seen the optical output drop out and the UA-5 runs for a while before it dies.  Seems to happen around 6 or 7V.  That is my experience with UA-5 > optical > H120.   Could running UA-5 > coax > MTII only drop one channel?

[Rockinman59]

The usual test is to swap mics/caps/cables/channels and see where the problem moves.  When it's intermittent it's hard.

You said...
I switched around the cables on the UA5, but still only the left channel showed anything, that rules out the mics or cables which are brand new and have high RF rejection.  I tried even lowering the record level on the left channel and the record level would not decrease.
If I'm reading you right.... right channel drops out... you swap mics/cables going into the UA-5... right channel is still dropped out, and turning down the gain on the UA-5 doesn't lower the recording level?  Sounds like the problem is in the UA-5.

What were you using for a UA-5 battery?  Did you run 2 nights off one battery?  Note that in my experience, when the battery is getting weak feeding a UA-5 I have seen the optical output drop out and the UA-5 runs for a while before it dies.  Seems to happen around 6 or 7V.  That is my experience with UA-5 > optical > H120.   Could running UA-5 > coax > MTII only drop one channel?

Thanks Joe for the info.  I have the cables with colors so I know right from left on both ends.  I tested it using the same cable in the right channel of the UA5 as I did at the show and it works fine.  I use the Walmart battery (7.5V  Black Energizer type) and it was fully charged.

What's funny is on the wav file where the right channel suddenly cuts out, there is no spike to indicate a surge or whatever, it just flatlines right there.  The MTII only dropped one channel and I couldn't even get the MTII to show less left channel when I turned down the record level almost all the way on the UA5.  I even put the left cable onto the right channel of the UA5 and only the left still showed working on the MTII, could not get the right channel to work at all, but now it's fine in testing it at home.  Frustrating!!

[DisturbedPyro]

i dont know if this is what happened to you but: this happened to me on two separate occasions (but thankfully only for a few seconds) while stealthing. in both cases it was as a result of the cable connecting my mics to my battery box being a bit loose. this happens with headphones too. if you listen to headphones, and pull out the jack from the player a little bit, one channel goes out while the other one stays. but i dont know why/how that would happen if youre stand taping. with me it was because of moving around and my gear was in my pocket

[Rockinman59]

i dont know if this is what happened to you but: this happened to me on two separate occasions (but thankfully only for a few seconds) while stealthing. in both cases it was as a result of the cable connecting my mics to my battery box being a bit loose. this happens with headphones too. if you listen to headphones, and pull out the jack from the player a little bit, one channel goes out while the other one stays. but i dont know why/how that would happen if youre stand taping. with me it was because of moving around and my gear was in my pocket

Thanks for the input.  My only guess is that it's possible I didn't have the cable going into the back of the mic 100% snapped in there, but I know the cables were in the UA5 firmly.  My test of everything at home as OK so we'll see tomorrow night, fingers crossed 

[SmokinJoe]

If you had a loose cable at the mic yes that might cause that mic to drop out, but it would move when you swap, and it wouldn't describe the flakeyness in adjusting the other channel.

UA-5's are designed to run off 9V.  Using a 7.5V battery means you are providing less than that, and maybe it drops off a little after it runs a while... at which point it starts to get flakey?  I don't know for sure, but that's where I would start.  Buy a 9V DVD player battery which are readily available, and sell your 7.5 to someone with some other device (like a V3 or MR1 which will happily run on 6V+)

[Rockinman59]

I actually have 2 other Walmart type batteries and one I believe is 9V so I should start using it.

Update on the taping issue. Last night I tried taping the opening act with my digimod UA5 then the main act with the Wmod UA5 which I used when the right channel problem occurred, figuring it wouldn't get too heated up sitting in the gear bag for a long time.  Both channels were fine the entire show, so who knows what happened the other night.  My wife says electromagnetic wave lol.  I guess it will remain a mystery what happened last Sunday night.