Great unit! They sure don't build 12 channel consoles like that anymore.

For your meters, I have never had that particular problem with that unit but you might try "flicking" the meter cover with your finger, sometims the analog meters just get stuck if they got slammed into the red.

If its not that then look for a small screw at the bottom of the plastic window cover you flicked, thats for getting it calibrated to the standard VU scale. Twisting this should move the needle.

If still nothing remove the window covering the meter and make sure that the needle moves freely. They operate on the same principals as motors and speakers. There will be a fixed magnet around/inside an electromagnet. It could just have gotten run over powered and quit...

One last thing would be pull the meter/cover, run signal through your board so you know it should be moving the meters, put a VOM on the 2 wires feeding the meter with signal. You should get 1-2 volts id your hitting 0VU/+4dBu.

Be sure to report back with your findings,
Claw

Does this unit have an amp built in to it? I really need help with this unit is there any other thing I should know about the operations of this unit? I get no sound with Mics or speakers hooked up to it?

No power amps built in, so you need to run out to power amps to run speakers or what ever your intent is for it. If I remember all outputs are unbalanced with optional transformers to balance if needed.

Signal flow should go:

Mic-->XLR-->Preamp-->Assign to a bus (L-R/1-2/3-4)-->Fader-->Then out to the large master knob-->To main outs-->Amp-->Speakers-->Ear

Overall its a pretty simple and user friendly console to operate. I'm pretty sure the design is at least in part if not mostly by Greg Mackie, founder of the current company Mackie/LOUD/TAPCO by Mackie . You should find the same general feel on this unit as some of the earlier Mackie products.

If you follow that signal flow and still get no audio check you connections again. Change inputs, use a dynamic mic, at the top of the unit by the mic preamp (trim/gain) knob you will see a line/mic select make sure that it is switched to "MIC". Still nothing get it serviced!

Claw

That board was built by E-V after they bought Tapco in the late 70s.Greg Mackie had nothing to do with that mixer, and he was adamant about that fact when describing his bio in the early days of Mackie. The C-12 Catalina suffered numerous problems due to poor quality ribbon connectors, for starters. If your meters are both pegged it could be that they were slammed, but usually that condition will correct itself after the board is powered down and moved around some (the physical movement will jar the meters a bit, freeing them up). You stated that the levels were all down when it would still peg the meters, correct? Hook a pair of headphones up to the appropriate jack. Hear a loud buzzing or hum? That is either a bad ground connection or a "leaking" filter cap in the power supply. Either condition will render the symptoms you have described.
No offense, but if you could not discern that this is NOT a powered mixer in the first place, you are not qualified to open it up to repair it. It will have to go to a qualified audio electronics tech, and even then, finding someone knowledgeable about it AND willing to spend time on it will be difficult. These mixers suffer a reputation as being a HORROR to work on due to the difficulty opening the unit up to repair it, and the fragility of the interconnects. The Catalina series of Tapco by E-V was pulled after this board and a power amp they made with it ruined the reputation. No they don't make them like they used to . Thank God!
Personally, I wouldn't waste another dime on it. If you need a powered mixer, there are plenty to choose from on the market. Look at Yamaha or Mackie. Stay away from the cheaper stuff.

Jim "Not Everything Made In the Good Ol' Days is Better" Mooney

moonbaby wrote: No they don't make them like they used to . Thank God!

Intresting, I did not know that the C12 was such a faulty unit, the one I use often has worked great for many years, and I always found it to be one of the most well built in the physical sense if nothing else of many smaller/live/recording consoles even more modern compact designs. Maybe I have no idea of what I'm talking about, who never knows!

Please all, forgive me for misspeaking in regards to Greg Mackie's involvement with the C12 console. Moonbaby, do you have a link to that his bio? I would really enjoy reading it.

Claw

No, Christopher, I don't have that link. I would guess that whatever bio info available on him is on the Mackie website. The bio I read was in the promo literature during the late 80s/earl 90s when the first Mackies came out. I do remember that they were very adamant that when he sold Tapco to Mark IV (owners of E-V), that he had started Audio Precision and was NOT involved in the later Tapco gear, but that some of the design team from his Tapco was. This included the 6201B mixer (I have one of those in my warehouse, and half of it still works!), and the later Catalina series. The Mackie went on to basically slam the "plastic" Tapcos that E-V made. Now I happened to have liked my 6201B, and the "plastic" was their attempt to protect the high-gain preamps from RF interference. These mixers were an olive-colored rack-mount unit. These were followed by the Catalina series (C-12 and an expander unit, plus a power amp). Those products did the Tapco name in. I know because I sold them "way back when". Greg's name didn't come up specifically, but we were told that the "original owner" had long gone, and now Tapco could "advance to the future". Some future!
Every one of the amps came back with major faults with overheating.
The C-12s came back with intermittent problems due to the ribbon connectors, and our techs hated them because you had to disembowel the entire front panel (knobs and all) just to get to the guts. This is true with most of the Tapco gear, though, no matter who designed it.
Anyway, the C12 sounded, like all of the Tapco mixers, pretty good, very clean, and the Cat DID have better output headroom than the predecessors. But they souldn't compete with the likes of Yamaha and
Tascam when it came to relibility, and they went bye-bye. It was several years before E-V came out with another mixer. You are very lucky to have one that has survived!

No, Christopher, I don't have that link. I would guess that whatever bio info available on him is on the Mackie website. The bio I read was in the promo literature during the late 80s/earl 90s when the first Mackies came out. I do remember that they were very adamant that when he sold Tapco to Mark IV (owners of E-V), that he had started Audio Precision and was NOT involved in the later Tapco gear, but that some of the design team from his Tapco was. This included the 6201B mixer (I have one of those in my warehouse, and half of it still works!), and the later Catalina series. The Mackie went on to basically slam the "plastic" Tapcos that E-V made. Now I happened to have liked my 6201B, and the "plastic" was their attempt to protect the high-gain preamps from RF interference. These mixers were an olive-colored rack-mount unit. These were followed by the Catalina series (C-12 and an expander unit, plus a power amp). Those products did the Tapco name in. I know because I sold them "way back when". Greg's name didn't come up specifically, but we were told that the "original owner" had long gone, and now Tapco could "advance to the future". Some future!
Every one of the amps came back with major faults with overheating.
The C-12s came back with intermittent problems due to the ribbon connectors, and our techs hated them because you had to disembowel the entire front panel (knobs and all) just to get to the guts. This is true with most of the Tapco gear, though, no matter who designed it.
Anyway, the C12 sounded, like all of the Tapco mixers, pretty good, very clean, and the Cat DID have better output headroom than the predecessors. But they souldn't compete with the likes of Yamaha and
Tascam when it came to reliability, and they went bye-bye. It was several years before E-V came out with another mixer. You are very lucky to have one that has survived!

thanks too all

[quote=moonbaby]Hey thanks for all the help guys and i knew that this unit didnot have a amp in it but the person i am fixing it for did not believe me soo i had to shom him something in writing from someone other than me well i was able to get the meters to go to zero by unplugging the ribbions inside. Can a faulty ground still cause no movement adn sound from this unit?

It sounds as if you may have a bad ground somewhere, but as I understood it from our repair tech way back then, that board had a design problem with the grounding scheme. You could have a simple "cold solder joint", maybe a faulty ribbon connector that has developed a short to ground (my guess), or a power supply fault. It needs to go to an experienced repair tech. Or the dump. Yanking on those ribbons may make matters worse...they are old and brittle...pulling them off their terminals may break the internal connections...

I own one

I have one that I would like to sell. It's been sitting in my garage for years. It still works fine from what I know. I suppose I should fire it up and test it. But it comes with a solid flight case. I'll sell it for $200.00 Contact me at 602-331-8563[/code]