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So a few years ago in a fit of stupidity I went blindly off a salesperson's suggestion and bought an ART TPS II.

It's been sitting unused for a long long time. Today I thought "gee, I'll think I'll try to sell it."

Long story short, when I plugged it in to test it the lights in the VU meters are not lighting but the meters are working. Other than that I think it's working as designed.

Now I recall reading about someone having a similar problem a while back but I can't find that post for the life of me. Maybe I just suck at searching, I dunno.

Anyway, I cracked the case thinking it's a fuse. I don't see any fuses but I did find a bit of a mess over by all the caps.

So now my questions:

1. What is that mess and should I worry about it?

2a. Should I try to fix the unit and sell it? If so, any ideas how?

2b. Should I try to sell the unit as is?

2c. Should I say to heck with it and use it as a door stop?

Thanks in advance for any help.

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Comments

Link555 Thu, 04/12/2007 - 18:16

Often electronics manufactures try to help large electrolytic capacitors stay put, by gluing or potting them in place. From your the goop in your photo it does not look like silicon or hot melt, it might be an epoxy though. Is it around all of the bigger caps?

Does it seem come from one source or equally distributed around each large cap?

anonymous Thu, 04/12/2007 - 19:02

Man you guys are smart.

Yeah, it's hard like epoxy. At first I thought it looked like a leak the way it "runs" over the board. But now I see it's more like when you apply a continuous bead of caulk... or glue.

Problem, or lack of one solved. Thanks!

Now I just gotta figure out why the two vu's don't light up. I suppose it's possible both bulbs blew from something. I'll have to check that.

Thanks!

Kapt.Krunch Fri, 04/13/2007 - 03:11

What brand and values are those larger caps?

That's hilarious that they are doing the same thing Behr&%$# does to get that "warm tube glow" by putting some yellowish-orange LEDs behind the tube! Behr&%$# probably copied that idea! Don't worry about the VUs...just make sure that tube is glowing! :lol:

Kapt.Krunch

anonymous Fri, 04/13/2007 - 05:15

I put the lid back on already. The caps are 85 degree ones though, I did notice that... mainly because I'm looking at a John Hardy M1 and he uses 105's.

Digging further, I decided it's just too much trouble to get to the meters. There's some thin metal bars soldered in that are in the way. So I'd have to remove them, put them back, pray I didn't screw anything up.

Nah, they work they just don't light up. I think I'll put it on craigslist as is.

How does it sound? I'm a voiceover guy, I had paired it with a Rode NT1000 and a DBX 166 compressor with okay results. Not great but okay. I put my MKH416 through it and it just sounds terrible. And that's my goto mic now, so the tps II never gets used.

anonymous Fri, 04/13/2007 - 12:40

John,

Thanks for the reply. The pictures aren't as clear as I had hoped. There is no corrosion. And there is no bulging or popped x's.

After looking at it further, it's at the base of all the capacitors so I belive you are right.

Funnily enough, I'm selling this unit along with some other gear and upgrading to your M1 to pair with my 416.

This may be a rookie thing to say, but it's just so awesome that you posted.

Thanks again.

RemyRAD Fri, 04/13/2007 - 14:18

And we must not forget the capacitor debacle that occurred in the early 1990s when I believe it was Siemens-Neve or was that SSL that had a really terrible problem with an underrated electrolytic capacitor/capacitors that leaked all over the circuit boards, virtually destroying numerous $250,000 consoles that all had to be repaired/replaced and retrofitted with all brand-new electrolytic capacitors. Remember that one guys??

I'm glad I never owned one of those!
Ms. Remy Ann David
who owns the old stuff

TVPostSound Fri, 04/13/2007 - 21:38

And we must not forget the capacitor debacle that occurred in the early 1990s when I believe it was Siemens-Neve or was that SSL

It was AMS/Neve, I would literally hear a cap blow in the middle of a mix!!
I was using a VRP, luckily there was a twin in the other room, and the
modules were easily swapped!!

It was however funny when I was given 3 days off so the Neve tech could
replace the caps in 144 modules (72 modules per board!!!)

Alan Sides bought those turkeys!!!!
Made a 96 input from the two:

http://www.oceanwaystudios.com/studiob.htm