[PK]

Hello Guys,

last week i got my LA502 and soldered it immediately. I was able to successfully complete the steps in the setup guide and everything looked fine. Then I tested several vocal and guitar tracks in my DAW by inserting the LA502 into the tracks. The compression sounds smooth and clear - the way it should be.
However, I was cofused by the "way" the GR LEDs lit up. They seemed very "hectic" and it seemed like the LEDs were showing more GR than the compressor is actually compressing. The LEDs with a higher GR value also shone significantly less than those with a small GR value.

All in all I tested about 5 hours in my "home studio". Last weekend I mixed a live session at a gig and brought the LA502 along to compress a monitor group. Everything worked great! After 2 hours, during the session, the behavior of the LEDs changed for my opinion, during switching back and forth between "Bypass" and "In" on the LA502 several times.

The "frantic" behavior and only "slight" lighting of the high GR-LEDs disappeared completely. Now only the LEDs light up, which also lit up "strongly" before. The whole behavior of the LEDs now seems somehow "more relaxed".

In my opinion, nothing has changed in terms of the sound and the way the compressor works and it works perfectly.

Did I do something wrong during assembly or is the behavior known or even "normal"?

I would also be interested to know whether I have to go through the "Setup Guide" and the basic settings again?

Greetings Philipp

[JPK]

Check value, direction and solder joints on U7, U8, U9, R36, R37.
What are the DC voltages you get on the 2 sides of R36, against 0V.
What is the revision number of your PCB?

[PK]

Check value, direction and solder joints on U7, U8, U9, R36, R37.
What are the DC voltages you get on the 2 sides of R36, against 0V.
What is the revision number of your PCB?

Hi JPK,

thank you for your fast reply!

I've examined U7, U8, U9, R36 and R37. Everythings looks fine. The values and directions are consistent with the component-layout and the solder joints are acceptable (continuity tested by DMM).

The DC voltages of R36 are:

left side (beside R40)
16,16V

right side (next to C23)
2,49V

The PCB revision is "1.4" - I built it following documentation 24.


Greetings Philipp

[JPK]

It looks good.
You probably had a bad solder joint that fixed itself.
I would go again through the setup of the GR meter.

[PK]

Are there really bad solder joints that repair themselves?

After reassembling after testing, and running the setup guide again, the behavior of the LEDs is back as originally described... :-(

Is 16.16V ok? The setup guide says 15-16V?

Maybe I'm just "imagining" the behavior... But would it be possible for you to provide me with a small WAV track including setting and level values for the compressor? Then the GR values could be compared with each other.

Greetings Philipp

[JPK]

Are there really bad solder joints that repair themselves?
Yes, with a little shock.

Is 16.16V ok? The setup guide says 15-16V?
Yes OK.

But would it be possible for you to provide me with a small WAV track including setting and level values for the compressor?
That would not work because every converters have their own dB to Volts relationship. The only reference can be given by a voltmeter.

Now there is always the possibility for you to send us the unit for repair. Contact us here.