goblin Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 As it says in the title really, got a Trace SMX pedal that has recently decided to conk out (big gig tomorrow - worst possible timing!). It started happening when I got an 18V power supply for it, and it does it under battery now as well, what's basically happening is that it's now just popping and distorting everything, and not as if it's clipping, it's just not working. Sounds like the power supply could have fried something inside. Had it apart, and there's no evident signs of damage. So two questions, first off, are there any guys out there who specialise in Trace gear, and won't charge me more than the damned thing's worth, secondly, I can't find myself a cheap compressor anywhere to stand in for tomorrow night's gig, so has anyone local (Manchester area) got one I can borrow for the night in return for beer or something? Cheers, (a very f***ed off) Dave I've only had it a couple of months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ficelles Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Sounds like a grilled capacitor, who knows though. Trouble is that with them fetching around £80 on fleabay you only need a couple of hours of an engineer's time to be spending more repairing that it's worth... I'd be tempted to auction it for spares or repair and find another one. Is the 18v PSU regulated btw? ficelles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 Yeah that was my concern too, I know a guy who makes pedals who's said he'll have a look at it / try and get it fixed for nothing more than a few beers, but if it's a much bigger issue, it's down to what it's going to cost to replace. I'd sooner head in the general direction of EBS to be honest, as I bought a cheap Chord Compressor from PMT yesterday morning just to get me through the gig (which for £30 is pretty good!) and I discovered just how nice it is to be able to chain it off my TU1000 powerwise. As for the regulated transformer, I'm not sure to be honest. Centre negative 18v, sods law says I got DC and the pedal wanted AC, or vice versa. If I bypassed, I'd still get a nice clean signal, but as soon as I kicked the effect in that's when it became an issue. The other upside is that if I just write it off and go for EBS or something, I get a bit more real estate on my pedal board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 I had the Trace Compressor for many years. Its was OK but for me, its not in the same league as the Multicomp that you mention, or the JoeMeek FloorQ compressor - which is really something quite special. Whatever you choose to do, I hope that you get your compressor issues resolved promptly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 Cheers man I'm most tempted by the EBS, but just got to wait until I've got the pennies up for it and stuff. For £30 the Chord one I got is actually pretty good. I'd rather have a multiband though! With the Trace I find the extra headroom with it being 18v a bit of a con, it still clips a lot and took quite a bit of volume out of the mix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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