On Saturday, something in my 421 failed. Whatever it was, thinking a cap or something like that bit the dust. It really muddled the sound with no warning. Will be investigating when time allows.
That's frustrating. Troubleshooting these types of failures can be tough. That's a fairly old piece of kit isn't it? Component failure is a definite possibility.
Let us know what you find. Perhaps it'll be easy, and you'll open the unit to find obviously bulging (or leaking) caps. Fingers crossed. Not directly related, but I just did the electrical restoration on a 1946 vintage tube radio. I replaced all the old wax paper caps as a matter of course. One or two of them were so misshapen they looked like molten Tootise Rolls!
The 421 was one of my first peices of processing gear about 20 years ago, I remember it making a tremendous difference. I later replaced it with an Apex Compellor and Dominator combination which proved to produce the best quality output I ever had with my Rangemaster (despite the fact that - I've been told - the Dominator was not intended for AM).
Sorry to hear your about your 421 kicking the dust, but it might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. As Dave points out it's a pretty old piece of gear, and you might find that some of the inexpensive processors out today might be a better option... Or you could use this as an opportunity to experiment with some proccessor plugins.
Keep us informed Roy. I still havent determined what I'm going to use for processing when I return to the airwaves.
This is a bummer but usually electrolytic capacitors is to blame. They have a lifespan and a shorter one if gear sits unused for 25 years or it is hot during operation. Most electronics, even old Hi fi and tube radios can be fully restored just by replacing electrolytic caps. That's the weak link in electronics.
If most of them are through hole and not surface mounts it is not too hard.
If there is a hi fi shop with a service dept in your area you can see if they would take this on.
Hope you can get this fixed.
My Decade MS-100 started to get more humming and it's the older models in the plastic Hammond cases about 15-20 years old or so and I just replaced the filter capacitor 3300uF
and replaced it with a higher DC max voltage 50 volts from 35 volts and no more humming!
@richpowers The Symetrix 421 is probably about 30 years ago I would guess. I bought it used over a year ago and was in 24/7 operation until Saturday...
@richpowers I'm looking at a Inovonics 223 processor...I haven't decided, but leaning towards that...In the meantime I'm using the AGC in the automation with the SW200...
@mark I will be taking it apart at some point to look around...
@roy A similar thing happened to my Aphex Compellor a few years ago when I ran a recording business. By replacing the caps in the power supply it came back to life, but later it broke down again and I was unable to find the cause, so I returned it to Aphex and they did something to make it work again, but I don't know what they did. Now it's in the other room in the rack with a lot of other equipment that is no longer in use. I can't just toss it all in the trash but neither will I get around to selling it on Ebay, so the entire room is a kind of museum.