GSSL HELP THREAD!!!

[The Landlord is Dead]

I think the needle in my meter is busted. The - lead of the meter seems to read fine with a voltmeter, a - few hundred mV at light compression settings too -5v or so for extreme compression. The voltage fluctuations move according to program material. I can't see anything physically wrong with it but the needle just won't budge.

I did open it up to switch out the meter scale to VU. I guess I banged something up accidentally? Any ideas or do I need to get myself another meter?

 

[tubejay]

Does it bounce around if you shake your SSL compressor, or is it just totally stuck? If doesn't even move when you shake it up, then something is probably wrong. Have you tried to take off the front to see if it worked? If the needle is rubbing against the front plastic piece or your scale, then it won't work. I had that problem too.

These meters just suck. They're really cheap.

 

[The Landlord is Dead]

Just for the record, I'm using the "mouser 541-ME-DMA-001 dc milliammeter. edgewise". I can move the needle with my finger, feels fine, bounces back to it's set position. I've slid the top off so the needles been unobstructed, still no movement to the voltage fluctuations.

 

[Hulk]

Could someone help me identifing these components for the SSL - I have tried the net but I didn't find anything:

1: The long arm is the posetive one right??

2: Don't know that one either :? (Is that one of the 25 100n 5mm 63V polyester capacitors(it says .1K 63 on top) for the -||- (.0) symbol on the PCB??

3: On these ceramic's it says: 10 then a little distance and then a 1 - they also have the letters MQK - are these the 10 ceramic's called (100p 100V 5% Monolithic) for the -||-(100p) symbol on the PCB??

4: On these ceramic's it says: 33 - are these the four 33p 100V 5% Monolithic for the -||-(33p) symbol on the PCB??

5: On these ceramic's it says: 220 and HQ J - are these the two 22p 100V 5% Monolithic for the -||-(22p) symbol on the PCB??

6: On this one it just says: 10 - is that the 10p 100V 5% Monolithic for the -||-(10p) symbol on the PCB??

Sorry for the stupid questions :roll:

I would be very greatfull if someone could help Thanks!!

 

[Mundox]

Mouser meters, I think Modutecs, are not great either. They tend to be slow. I compared them to a meter I found in a surplustronics shop. It was a big 1ma edge wise meter that said TORR!
It's amazing the difference a simple meter makes in using the gear efficiently.

 

[Hulk]

[quote author="Hulk"]Could someone help me identifing these components for the SSL - I have tried the net but I didn't find anything:

1: The long arm is the posetive one right??

2: Don't know that one either :? (Is that one of the 25 100n 5mm 63V polyester capacitors(it says .1K 63 on top) for the -||- (.0) symbol on the PCB??

3: On these ceramic's it says: 10 then a little distance and then a 1 - they also have the letters MQK - are these the 10 ceramic's called (100p 100V 5% Monolithic) for the -||-(100p) symbol on the PCB??

4: On these ceramic's it says: 33 - are these the four 33p 100V 5% Monolithic for the -||-(33p) symbol on the PCB??

5: On these ceramic's it says: 220 and HQ J - are these the two 22p 100V 5% Monolithic for the -||-(22p) symbol on the PCB??

6: On this one it just says: 10 - is that the 10p 100V 5% Monolithic for the -||-(10p) symbol on the PCB??

Sorry for the stupid questions :roll:

I would be very greatfull if someone could help Thanks!![/quote]

Just a few more questions :roll:

I have used "left over" wire from the resistors between the connections on the SSL PCB (black rings) - is that OK or do I need to use some kind of magic wire :green:
Within the yellow rings there are two different letters, one is called 100P the other is called 100p is there a difference between the capital letter P and the other p.??

 

[tubejay]

I used resistor wires to jumper mine too...sounds fantastic. I can't think of a reason why this would be bad.

 

[Greg]

[quote author="The Landlord is Dead"]Just for the record, I'm using the "mouser 541-ME-DMA-001 dc milliammeter. edgewise". I can move the needle with my finger, feels fine, bounces back to it's set position. I've slid the top off so the needles been unobstructed, still no movement to the voltage fluctuations.[/quote]

I don't think meters will deflect at all to a voltage fluctuation. They deflect based on current... ie 1ma is full deflection. So I'm thinking your meter probably works.

 

[Hulk]

Great tubejay - I'll just use the resistor wire!!

@Greg

I have used your SSL Component list to buy components - can you recognize any of the ceramic parts on the picture above??

 

[Rob Flinn]

The 5 caps that are stuck together at the top look like tantalums, so it is probably likely that those are the 0.47uF since there are 5 of them.

The white square cap on the left looks like a polyester cap, & is similar to the ones that I used that were 100nF. There are about 25 of these.

The rest of the caps look like ceramics.

If there is one that is more like a bead shape & looks like the tants at the top that is probaly the other tant 6.8uf if I recall corectly.

 

[gyraf]

And yes, long leg is positive.

 

[PabloJn]

hello!!!

I'm still testing my ssl clone, now the phase is ok! but I have a +6 db in bypass position...

I'm working balanced and I made some tries shorting the pin 1 with the pin 3:

when I short pin 1&3 in the input connector nothing append...

when I short pin 1&3 in the output connector the +6db go away, and in&out have the same level (bypass!!!)

I used the 15K resistor at the VCA input (the schematics says 15K for balanced; 27K for unbalanced, right?)

I apologize for my english... I wish anyone can understand and give me some help!!!!

thanks

Pablo

 

[gyraf]

Pablo,

Don't short output pins when running unbalanced. This design dosen't like that. Just take your output signal from pins 1 and 2 (ground and +)

Jakob E.

 

[PabloJn]

I found the solution of my problem in this topic

http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=1379&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

the right resistor for bal mode is 27K !?

I'm going to listen to my diy ssl clone!

thank for all, see you soon.
Pablo

 

[zboy2854]

A couple of basic newbie questions regarding grounding wiring. Am I correct that when you say that the grounding should only be at one of the input XLRs, the wiring would be from the 0V input terminal on the PCB to pin1 on one of the input XLRs, and ALSO a wire going from pin1 to the bottom of the chassis? Or is connecting the PCB terminal to input XLR pin1 enough without the need for a separate wire to the chassis itself?

Also, does this mean I leave pin1 unconnected on the other input XLR? And do I connect both pins 1 from the output XLRs to the 0V output terminal on the PCB? Thanks. :?

 

[PabloJn]

zboy, pins 1 of your in&out xlr are connected to the 0v (ground) of the pbc (look input&output connection)

if you connect the ground to the chassis you put the ground to earth (the chassis should be connected to earth), in my clone I made a switch that do this. It's like the earth lift switch. sometimes you need to put ground to earth but sometimes no...

 

[PabloJn]

[quote author="gyraf"]Pablo,

Don't worry about that - it's a minor schematic error.

The PCB's are known working.

Jakob E.[/quote]

This is true!

I redrawn the schematic (just in&out sections) tracing the pcb rev7, I hope this can be usefull for someone...

Bye!

full size pic: http://groupdiy.twin-x.com/albums/userpics/10022/rev7 schem.jpg

 

[rstreber]

I just fired up my first SSL clone (also, after the great Bloo LA-2A, my first DIY project) and i've got a problem with the right channel. Everything works fine, all controls work, compression on the left channel sounds great, but the right channel has a much hotter output than the left and severely distorts in bypass or when the makeup gain is even slightly raised. I'm going to try swapping out my 2180s and double check everything, but I just thought I'd see if anyone else has had this particular problem or could offer some suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

 

[gyraf]

Rstreber,

As always: Check for shorts on the pcb. Check resistor values.

Jakob E.

 

[zboy2854]

[quote author="PabloJn"]zboy, pins 1 of your in&out xlr are connected to the 0v (ground) of the pbc (look input&output connection)

if you connect the ground to the chassis you put the ground to earth (the chassis should be connected to earth), in my clone I made a switch that do this. It's like the earth lift switch. sometimes you need to put ground to earth but sometimes no...[/quote]

Thanks for the response. I'm still a little confused about connecting to the chassis itself. Should I run a separate wire to the chassis, and if so, should I run it from the 0V terminal or from the XLR pin?