Weltmeister Unisella (project)

[jozz]

during corona, you come up with all kinds of small things to do

today, I treated the Unisella to some new 2mm bellow pin: same pin diameter but different head, gone are the old chipped up ball pins

fortunately managed to get 8 ones that fitted, out of a 10 pack...

 

[jozz]

Ok, so it finally broke down!

The mic system that is.

I had to search back this thread, but it's been in there since april 2019 and working on the same battery.

Last night it started crackling in the middle of rehearsal. It wasn't the 9v battery, and I couldn't really force it by wiggling or thumping the instrument, like you would expect from bad connections etc.

Time to get back on the workbench!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Jozz,

I'm sure you will crack it eventually.

Good Luck,

Stephen.

 

[jozz]

Hi Jozz,

I'm sure you will crack it eventually.  

Good Luck,

Stephen.

Thanks, but I don't know Stephen,
As how it always goes, once you take it home, the problem is gone.

Gave it a good look over, but can't find anything loose and it works like it should.

I placed the box on the window sill, pots fully open. Been listening for a good half hour to the birds singing outside through my headphones...

 

[debra]

If all else fails... clean the contacts. These mic systems have a stereo jack connector and require you to plug in a mono jack plug. The ground from the mono plug shorts in the connector between the contacts for the "right channel" and the ground and that turns on the mics. If that contact isn't 100% solid you will get cracks, hisses, and other problems.
I had problems with this on Microvox mics in the past and just shorted these contacts manually. That could be done because the volume pot also had an on/off switch. With typical built-in mics in accordions the volume pot does not do that so you do need the good contact on the plug. But after a year the battery probably also has seen the best of it...

 

[jozz]

That is a good point. I have a TRS dongle into the socket. Confuses me somewhat, but it makes the circuit and it works.

However we tried that on stage when it was occuring.

- battery replaced: problem still there
- exchanged wireless for cable: problem still there
- took it home: problem gone

I secured all internal cables and tested their connectors, but it seems fine. I cannot force the problem to come back.

Unsure what to do next

 

[debra]

That is a good point. I have a TRS dongle into the socket. Confuses me somewhat, but it makes the circuit and it works.

However we tried that on stage when it was occuring.

- battery replaced: problem still there
- exchanged wireless for cable: problem still there
- took it home: problem gone

I secured all internal cables and tested their connectors, but it seems fine. I cannot force the problem to come back.

Unsure what to do next

Did you try it at home with the exact same setup as during the rehearsal? So same cables in the accordion and same amplifier you plug it into? (You never know, the problem could be at the other end of the cable...)
During the rehearsal, did you try plugging in the amplifier in a different wall socket? (Yes, one of my groups has rehearsals in a room where the amplifier is acting up in one wall socket and not in another....)
There are just so many things that can go wrong...

 

[jozz]

It's no amplifier. The input goes into an in-ear rack and that system indicated huge input crackling on the accordion, very noticably in our ears. In theory it could be something in the rack that added noise to the channel but when I switched to cable I went into another channel and it was the same. The rack hosts 6 other musicians that stayed clean.

So I'm 99% sure it's the mic system that's doing it. The question is, how?

It didn't seem movement related, in other words, a bad connection or solder.

I wonder if I'm somehow heating up one of the components or maybe even draining the 9V battery into the dongle. And that had a somewhat lasting effect on the mic system's signal, even after switching to cable.

Essentially, I'm closing the circuit with the charger R-ring of the dongle. It might be charged by the mic system, although it doesn't indicate its blinking charger light. Also, the dongle is intended for use with active pickups so i'm guessing they thought of that. But maybe this specific mic system is not fit for that. The dongle was down to 60% battery when the problems started. Maybe it started interfering with the battery and the signal somehow. I don't know. Sounds a bit like a long shot.

We'll have another go on Thursday.

 

[jozz]

So, played three hours yesterday without so much as a pop. Same setting, same configuration, same equipment, same battery even.

I don't know!

 

[jozz]

The Weltmeister adventure continues!

Here you see me casually showing it off in the TV studio's. Trying to get the accordion to the masses again

 

[jozz]

Gigging again with this thing

test-for-access event