Quickie & Blumenstein Benthic

[Jameson]

Holy shit, man. Adding the X2 had a massive impact. Before getting it I was preparing myself for turning it around and re-selling it if it didn't work, but this is a game changer. Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Jamier]

Jameson,

Really happy to hear that the X2 worked out for you. I love mine and it's proably the only piece of gear that is constantly in my setup. Crossing subs actively always seems to produce better results for me than using speaker level connections. When you add the second sub in stereo mode you will be even more impressed.

Jamie

 

[Jameson]

I can only imagine.

I put a Smash in the chain to replace the Quickie and noticed that if I move the balance pot to the left channel, the bass disappears completely. I assume that's in how the X2 handles mono subs.

 

[Jamier]

That doesn't sound right to me. Do you have both inputs on your sub connected and the X2 in mono mode?

Jamie

 

[Jameson]

Yeah. It's strange. I have it hooked up the same way I outlined in the drawing above. I noticed the right side was sounding a bit louder and when I turn the SEX amp all the way down I noticed the bass is only coming out of the right side. If I turn the balance pot on the Smash all the way to the left, there's no sound.

 

[Jamier]

Disconnect one of the sub cables, keep it in mono and see if that corrects  the problem. If it does,you will need to get the Y cable and run your X2 in mono mode with only one sub out connected but the Y inputting both channels on your sub.

Jamie

 

[Jameson]

Something is weird. Switched sources to my iPad and it's fine again. One of the following is happening:
[list type=decimal]
[*]The record I was listening to had the bass on one channel. It was a Sam Cooke album, so it might have been converted from mono and put all the bass on one channel.
[*]When the Smash warms up it's exposing a shitty solder joint someplace.
[*]Other weird problem tbd.
[/list]

 

[Jamier]

Jameson, I would try connecting your sub, in mono mode, to each of the sub out connections in your X2, one at a time. This will tell you if you have a bad channel in the X2.

Jamie

 

[Jameson]

Yeah, I unplugged one out connection at a time and there was bass. I believe this may be a balance pot problem on the Smash compounded by a recording that had the bass track moved to one channel during conversion from mono.

 

[Doc B]

Channels are out of phase.

 

[Jameson]

Ok, I did a couple of tests.

• I took the X2 out of the chain and went straight from the Smash to the SEX and noticed the left channel was far quieter than the right channel when I had the pot turned from one direction to the other.
• I took the Smash and the X2 out of the chain and ran it again. Although there's no balance control in that setup it appeared that the speakers were getting roughly the same dB level (I unplugged the speaker I wasn't testing).

So I think this might actually be a Smash balance pot issue. I'll reheat those joints and open a thread in the Smash forum if it persists.

 

[fullheadofnothing]

Or you could, you know, turn the balance control...

 

[Jameson]

I did do that. If I understand the balance pot, the way it works is that when it’s all the way to the left the left channel should be as loud as the right channel is if it’s turned all the way to the right. That’s not the case here. The left channel doesn’t get anywhere near as loud.

I can use the balance pot to adjust, but I thought the point was to use it to adjust for speaker distance and all that, not fix significant imbalances inherent in the build.

 

[Jameson]

I’m new to an amp with a balance pot, so if I’m missing the point of the balance pot let me know.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

The output of the Smash should be well balanced without using the balance pot at all.  What you're describing sounds like a build issue that you're now discovering.

 

[Jamier]

Jameson,

Put your Q back in, use the X2 and enjoy some music while you sort out your Smash. I'm sure you'll find the problem in short order. Besides, the Q is a pretty good pre, I wish Doc hadn't retired it, but maybe he's got something else coming down the road that's even better for the low,low price of a hundred bucks.

Jamie

 

[Jameson]

I actually think it’s one of The 4P1L tubes! It follows whenever I swap them.

 

[Jamier]

Jameson,
      Do you have some other 4P1Ls to swap in?

Jamie

 

[Jameson]

I have some on order from, like, Romania... we'll see if they arrive. I've also emailed the replacementparts address to see if they have stock. And finally I've ordered some polish to try and clean the pins just to see if that's the issue.

In the meantime I've swapped the Quickie back in and it sounds great!