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Gear / Technical Help => Battery Boxes, Preamps, Mixers, ADCs, and Processors => Topic started by: kirk97132 on June 17, 2013, 03:09:39 PM
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Repaired V3 was fine till today. Packing for Mule plugged in battery to check things and smoke came pouring out of the V3 with that terrible burning electrical smell.....Back to the shop......DAMN
tried to use my V3 this weekend and ran into this.....AC power supply connected I get low battery light. I also get bottom two level lights on and the over lights on. Over lights come back right away after I clear them. Checked split pin to make sure contact was good. Tried different plug for AC source. Any clues? I need to use it by 27th and probably ain't enough tie to send it in for service with any hope of getting it back
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I don't own any Grace equipment but from what I've read here they have exemplary customer service. If it was my unit I'd be on the phone to Grace and talk to them directly to see if they have any suggestions to what you can try. If they offer nothing or something that you don't feel comfortable doing, explain your desire to use it in ten days and see if they can expedite service on your unit. You may have to spring for overnite shipping both ways but I wouldn't delay getting in touch with them.
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Yep. Get on the phone with Grace asap. If it turns out they need to service the unit, it's likely they can meet your turn-around time.
That said, try using a different power source, preferably a DC battery, and not just another plug. I'm wondering if your AC power supply is bad.
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Yep. Get on the phone with Grace asap. If it turns out they need to service the unit, it's likely they can meet your turn-around time.
That said, try using a different power source, preferably a DC battery, and not just another plug. I'm wondering if your AC power supply is bad.
tried using different power supply and same result
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I got my V2 serviced and returned in less than 8 days. Call/email to get the RMA # and it will go fast. Fast and great service.
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There is a huge amount of variation in the quality and character of power from ac adapters.
Some put out really nasty power that I would never want expose my gear to.
One TSer had a wallwart damaged in a flood... He didn't know or forgot, and that damaged wallwart fried his gear.
I don't know if this relates at all to the issue you experienced, but thought it was worth mentioning.
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Grace ROCKS They are sending me a loaner while they service mine. now that is customer service!
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That's GREAT to read and yet another example of the exemplary customer service from Grace that I keep reading here on ts.
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That's awesome Kirk ;D
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Grace ROCKS They are sending me a loaner while they service mine. now that is customer service!
One word sums them up... "Graceful" :)
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Yeah their tech phoned me back within hours of msg. and when I expalined how I needed it for a three day festival I put on they were the ones that suggested a loaner. They even shipped it out that same day. This will be saving my ass. I was going to have to beg to borrow a buddies since I HAD to have something that provided mic Preamp with wordclock AND SPDIF output. With my todo list already unmanageable before the shows I was dreading having to spend a couple hours driving just to borrow a pre. Now I'm all set, yipiiee! Oh and as a side note this was one of the units that were sold off as a bulk purchase and then ended up for sale on ebay new in a box. Not one issue covering it under warranty with Grace.
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Awesome.....mighty fine!
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Belated Update:
My V3 was one of a batch purchased from Grace but never used by the buyer, who then sold them on E-bay. Bought it new in a box. Grace has honored the warranty which is awesome. Got the unit back working good as new of course. Got this from the tech at Grace:
It was a bit of a head-scratcher at first,
but we discovered that the mic amp IC was blown and drawing lots of
current.
When I asked what could cause this:
Hmm... not sure what would cause the mic amp to blow. Do you happen to
plug/unplug mics with the 48V on a lot? That could possibly do it, but
we haven't really tested that theory out.
And No I don't unplug mics hot. BUt anyway, nice to have my V3 back and kicking butt again
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reading this thread put a big smile on my face. customer service success stories are a beautiful thing. :)
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Smoked the unit just turning it on today...just F'ing awesome. Gonna take that as a sign I am not supposed to record Mule tonight...party on dude
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smoked the loaner or your V3?
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mine. third time out after repair?!?!?!?
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I assume you've spoken with Grace about this. Any news?
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Yep got a return number already and will be sending it in...............
Speaking of Grace. They asked me if I was interested in a USB hook up for my V3? Here is what they had to say about that.....
We would basically take the USB card out of the m903 and mount on the
side panel of the V3, no need to remove anything. It would only be a 2
channel input device, no output as there are no DA converters. Won't be
able to power the V3 either, so it's just functioning as a soundcard.
We're messing around with the idea since we think it would be pretty
easy to do, so I was just curious to see if people are interested in
such a mod.
The reference to removing anything was because I asked if I would lose anything like an AES output or wordclock output.
I told them That my USBPre-2 did both A/D & D/A along with headpones etc. I also said that there would probably be people who would love to see a portable 4 channel preamp that you could name the V4 for instance and I got this reply.....
Yea, that's mainly why we don't make the V3 anymore is because you can
get 4-8 channel portable recorders with bus power and all that good
stuff. There was a V3 successor in development, but it never came to be.
I think there is still the possibility for a V4 in the future...
Who knows what could happen!
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And once again, Grace provided a loaner to help me though a gig. Also had a chance to talk with them on the phone for awhile. Found out that one of the reasons they discontinued the V3 was it cost too much to produce anymore. They are considering a 4 channel preamp, but the market has been moving away from external preamps. After we had hung up the phone I was kicking myself for not asking about something that recorded also. They also have a mod done on the loaner deck they sent me. It has a line/mic switch on the side. Similar location to where they mount the M/S switch. they charge $200 for the job, if you are interested