512c's sound different?!

[drmmrboy]

Originally Posted by Winey

Is it rare for brand new identical pre's to sound noticeably different?

I had a problem with levels varying from one to the next.
Apparently API had a run of lunchboxes that were a bit deep, and the pre's wouldn't fit tightly enough.
I sent mine in... they shimmed it... All is good!

Andrew

[Chris Parsons]

Originally Posted by drmmrboy

I had a problem with levels varying from one to the next.
Apparently API had a run of lunchboxes that were a bit deep, and the pre's wouldn't fit tightly enough.
I sent mine in... they shimmed it... All is good!

Andrew

damn....I just got my lunchbox and I thought that the modules should have fit in a bit tighter. They only stick into the "motherboard" an 1/8" or so. But all of the pres work. Do I have anything to worry about?

-Chris


PS: It's amazing that when asking the board about these before I decided to buy them I heard nothing but good things....now I hear about too much gain on the output...modules not fitting into the lunchbox...I even had one preamp with the wrong color buttons on the pad and phase switch. GEEZ people! quality control!...okay i'm done

[drmmrboy]

Originally Posted by Chris Parsons

damn....I just got my lunchbox and I thought that the modules should have fit in a bit tighter. They only stick into the "motherboard" an 1/8" or so. But all of the pres work. Do I have anything to worry about?
PS: It's amazing that when asking the board about these before I decided to buy them I heard nothing but good things....now I hear about too much gain on the output...modules not fitting into the lunchbox...I even had one preamp with the wrong color buttons on the pad and phase switch. GEEZ people! quality control!...okay i'm done

Are they consistent with one another? Before I sent mine in, the pre in the 1st slot was always low compared to the others. And, when i pushed in the phase button, the level jumped through the roof! For me, the problem was in the lunchbox, not the pre's. When I got it back all modules were consistent down the line.
If they sound good, and respond the same, I would say your cool.
Others might know better how far/tight they should fit into the board.
Max Cooper love's his API's and might know more about this... Max?

There is not necessarily too much gain on the output. Mine will go to +6 or more before they think of cliping converters. This is usually cool for me. That being said, I will sometimes pad the output if I want to drive them harder.

As for the lunchbox issue... They had a run of them being too deep. Yeah, you could have one of them. I don't know. A call to API with your serial from the box could clear that up. When I called about mine, the guy I talked to knew off the top of his head, between serials__&__ had issues.

I don't know what to tell you about the wrong color buttons.
Does it sound right?? Cool... I'll trade ya.

Andrew

[Sam Lord]

Originally Posted by Winey

...Is it rare for brand new identical pre's to sound noticeably different?

Just a possibility: if a channel had QC problems which they fixed, and ran the channel much longer than the others, that one could sound better. All electronics sound better after strong signals with substantial current run through them. The first 24 hours makes the biggest difference; I wonder how long API runs their QC tests.

[Winey]

I moved the slot 3 512c (weird sounding one) to another slot and it sounded identical to the others.
So it looks like it might be lunchbox after all.
I contacted API.
I really don't want to send it out to get fixed because I use these things everyday. I guess I have no choice.

[drmmrboy]

Originally Posted by Winey

I moved the slot 3 512c (weird sounding one) to another slot and it sounded identical to the others.
So it looks like it might be lunchbox after all.

The problem with my lunchbox made my situation look worse than it was... It looked like one pre was messed up and the lunch was too. Even though it was just the lunch.

You wouldn't happen to live close to DC, would ya?
I live in Wilmington Delaware, about an hour drive from API.
I drove down, and they fixed my lunchbox the same day.

Andrew

[drmmrboy]

I don't want anyone to think I'm complaining about API products.
I'm just trying to help, based on my limited, yet similiar experience.
They had a bad run of lunchboxes... An inconvenience to those of of us who recieved them? Yes. But a small one, worth fixing, because I think my API's rock! Well worth the time to get something fixed that I will have for the rest of my engineering days.