Where does your Studio Preamp start breaking up?

[Whoopysnorp]

My Studio Preamp's rhythm channel starts to break up pretty early on the volume dial--anything past 2.5 or so and I no longer have a nice pristine clean. I run my treble up pretty high (8), which probably contributes to this, but still it seems like it breaks up a bit early. I'm wondering if I don't need to replace my LDRs, which is something that has never been done on this unit. Is this normal behavior for a Studio Pre?

 

[RectoStudioGuy]

I suppose that could be a cause but I'd probably start by back down your highs. Also the manner in which your mids and bass react together contribute to gain dramatically.
T 5.5ish
M 2.75-3
B 3
Are settings that I typically use as a starting point...depending where I'm trying to go. It's a pretty sensitive unit...so very slight adjustments go a long way.

 

[r_cod_81]

2.5 on the volume does seem a little low for breakup. The rhythm channel master has a lot to do with breakup threshold too I find from what I remember it also functions as the effects send level.

I set my studio for as clean a clean sound as possible and the heaviest lead sound possible. Off the top of my head my settings are

Volume (rhythm) = 8
Master (rhythm) = 6
Treble = 8 (gives me the lead channel saturation I need)
Bass = 0 to 3 (depending on mood)
Middle = 0 to 3 (same reasoning as above)
Lead drive = 10
Lead master = 2
Reverb = 4 (I use it on the clean channel only)

I'm afraid I can't comment on LDR leakage, breakdown or whatever. My unit is rather noisy, I'm going to try some tube swapping soon to see if that helps. If that doesn't fix it I'll start on the coupling caps/ LDRs.

 

[Whoopysnorp]

Yeah, I concur--I find that setting the treble knob quite high on Mark series stuff is the way to go for getting a good saturated lead sound, and it helps brighten up the clean side too, which I like. Here are my typical settings (from memory, so they may not be that accurate):

Volume: 2.5
Master: 4 (I run the effects send into the effects return of an Egnater Tweaker, so this is my overall output control)
Treble: 8
Middle: 6 or 7
Bass: 1 or 2
Lead Drive: 10
Rhythm Bright: enabled
Lead Fat: enabled

I can't remember where I have my Lead Master set. I use the graphic EQ to pull down the mids just a tiny bit and increase the treble a tiny bit on both the rhythm and lead modes. I am satisfied with the amount of gain and saturation I get in the lead mode with these settings, but it would be nice to have a bit more on the gas pedal if required. I may change the LDRs just to see what happens.

 

[elvis]

I get quite clean tone with volume at 7. The treble is probably 6-ish.

 

[RectoStudioGuy]

Now you guys have me thinking something is wrong with mine! :? Mine breaks up (not in a bad way) fairly early depending how deep I dig in.

 

[Whoopysnorp]

Just thought of something: shouldn't it be possible to test whether channel leakage is occurring (due to worn-out LDRs) by setting the clean channel so it breaks up a little bit, then dialing down the Lead Drive control and seeing whether that affects the amount of breakup in the clean channel?

 

[r_cod_81]

Could be worth a shot - I've just had anothe thought though: spray all the pots full of switch cleaner to ensure any crap stuck to the wipes gets removed. I usualluy have good results doing that in the first instance.

I seem to have got lucky with my noise issues, I got lucky first time: changed V1 and it's totally silent (extraneous noise wise) even with everything gain-related maxed

Hope you get your problems fixed OK!

 

[masher]

Could be worth a shot - I've just had anothe thought though: spray all the pots full of switch cleaner to ensure any crap stuck to the wipes gets removed. I usualluy have good results doing that in the first instance.

I seem to have got lucky with my noise issues, I got lucky first time: changed V1 and it's totally silent (extraneous noise wise) even with everything gain-related maxed

Hope you get your problems fixed OK!

What kind of tube did you put in?, was it a low noise?

 

[r_cod_81]

What kind of tube did you put in?, was it a low noise?

It was an Electro-Harmonix; I got a matched pair off ebay for a tenner, not sure if they were explicitly described as low noise but they certainly seem to be.

After some swapping with the GTs that were in my preamp and a JJ I have in my wee home-made amp I put one EH at the input and one in the lead circuit. so V1 = E-H, V2 = GT, V3 = E-H, V4 = GT, v5 (reverb) = E-H. I found the JJ, while uttelry noiseless (it's very new) sounds loud and not as fuzzy round the edges. My amp sounds ******* great now! Really had to resist swapping it back into my as I need to get properly aquainted with my recently-acquired recto preamp.

I then put the noisy ex-v1 in my wee home-made amp and it's still really craclky, guess I'll bin that one but all-in-all a fun evening of tube-swapping