20 years old Triaxis, maintenance .... ???

[Hexa]

Hello,

I'm the happy owner of a triaxis for more than 10 years now ... and for some time I do have the feeling sound a changing (seems to drop a little bit) and become just a little bit darker after playing around 10 minutes (especially on the clean channels).
I already changed the tubes without much success and cleaned out with a spray all connectivity ribbons ... But since my triaxis V2.0 is not far from being 20 years old, would it make sense to run into "a kind" of more advanced maintenance ???

For my issue I was thinking on about something wrong with an/several optocouplers ... do you think that would be something making sense ???
(Even if it was much more noticeable ... I was thinking on about that since I had a very similar issue on a quad and also a studio pre in the past, some bad LDRs were sucking punch of the preamp and before changing them sound was really "Flat" ).
A totally broken opto, is something I can test by powering on the LED and testing the resistor on the other side ... but if it's not totally broken it could be more tricky :?

From your experience, do you have some recommendation on what could be tested or if such a maintenance/advanced check makes sense ??? Also seen that some of you changed all ribbons :?:

Many thanks in advance

 

[Jackie]

I don't know about the TriAxis, but when I had my 2:90 fixed up, the tech told me that after the years start kicking in, a cap job is recommended.

 

[Hexa]

Thank you for the reply Jackie,

From what I've read on different forums, I guess Cap job (on the power power supply side) is required when you can hear some un-normal "hum" (Ground noise etc...) ... It needs to be confrmed but normally not when sound is loosing in "Punch" (My issue is very similar to having old tubes, but since they're brand new :?: )

 

[RJ2213]

failing caps can start bleeding frequencies different than designed, just depends on where in the circuitry the cap is. and if the sound changes after the unit warms up then that could show a sign of either tube or cap problems. remember caps are how you make crossovers and EQ's in many circuits, so a cap can definately change the tone. i recently did alot of reading up on testing caps and most of the opinions say that the only true way to test a cap under actual conditions is to test with a known good cap, they say even though a cap "tests" good it might not malfunction until put under a real life load. atleast start with giving a visual check for any signs of swelling or leaking on the caps.

 

[Hexa]

Thanks RJ2213, I'll make a more deeper visual check on caps :wink: