CIY: Check It Yourself

By Rebecca Love

While a professional repair technician will advise you against attempting to self-service your own pro audio gear, repairs can be costly. So here are some items to check before you put your gear into the shop that can save money down the road.

If your brother-in-law did two quarters at DeVry and insists he can fix your amp, ask yourself first — how much do you like your brother-in-law? Some units can hold death-ray voltages, even when turned off.

And if your unit is under warranty, service by anyone other than an authorized service center can void your warranty.

Your unit doesn’t power up at all

• Is it plugged in? (Don’t laugh — it does happen.)

• Double check to see if you’re using a reliable power cord or power supply.

• Is there an external fuse or circuit breaker to check? If you replace a blown fuse and it blows again, don’t keep trying. Shut it down; there’s a reason why your unit is trying to protect itself.

Your unit powers up, but you’re not getting sound

• Check all your speaker cords/connections for reliability.

• Check your display for any indicators or error messages. If there is an error message, check your owner’s manual. If you don’t have an owner’s manual, most manufacturers have them available online.

Your unit powers up, but the sound is bad, wrong or just plain obnoxious

• If it’s connected to other equipment, check that all other equipment is operating properly.

• If it has tubes, is it possible that they need to be replaced? If it has new tubes, have they been biased?

• If the unit has batteries, could they be dying? If you can replace them yourself and it’s a unit that stores sounds, then back up your work before the battery is changed.

A couple more things...

• There’s no checklist for anything getting spilled on the unit. If a spill gets inside, damage can begin immediately. Picture Pacman going after solder joints, especially if what gets spilled is sugary (including beer).

• And if you’ve seen a puff of smoke, you can be certain it didn’t come from a magic dragon. Shut it down and don’t try to power it back up. You need a technician.

• These ideas should help to save you time and money. The only thing worse than having to take your gear in for service is taking it in, paying a deposit and finding out there’s nothing wrong!

Rebecca Love, Shop Manager and pro audio Diva, Logical Sound, Atlanta, Georgia