Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › Strange SMMH Question: Is my looper posessed
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August 1, 2013 at 4:59 pm #83092aliensporebombParticipant
Ran into an issue I believe may be related to my Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai being overheated by a stage light during a performance.
Clip of a picture showing the Hazarai being maybe a little too close? It was about a foot or two away and only happened because the staging was such that acts that were going to be playing were setting up behind us as we played and when we were done we’d leave via a ramp by the stage.
At room temperature under normal conditions my SMMH seems to be fine such as in my home studio.
I recently played another live gig where there were eight vintage stage lights on either side of me and I could feel the heat like I was under a sun lamp onstage.
During the performance I make use of the SMMH loop feature extensively.
About 40 minutes into the performance I started noticing strange things happening that in theory should not be possible:
-at one point looping stopped dead as if I’d stepped on the footswitch but I hadn’t touched it. It just stopped dead.
-at one point older segments of music I’d played into the loop were coming at me backwards even though I wasn’t using the backwards feature at the time.
-at one point layered sections that weren’t even played during the same piece occurred.
I’d never experienced anything like it. It seemed like the frequency response was getting duller on the high end too but that may have been that particular set of monitors I was using at the venue.
After the show one of my audience members thought I was trying to do a more “avante garde” performance during that section but it was like the little box was getting a bit brittle under higher temperatures.
Any ideas? I was tempted to blow the insides out with compressed air just in case debris had somehow gotten inside and/or using a set of fresh cables to do a frequency response test. I wondered if the left footswitch was getting touchy possibly or some debris preventing it from actuating its full travel.
The unit is completely stock except the original power adapter needed replacement and I’m using an Electro-Harmonix replacement from my dealer.
I use this box both onstage and in the studio.
August 3, 2013 at 8:19 pm #119293EHX STAFFKeymasterContact info@ehx.com.
You may have gone from loop to reverse delay by accident. Then hitting the record button plays back past input material backwards.
All it takes is the shoe off to the side as in the pic to turn the white mode knob…August 4, 2013 at 3:06 am #119294aliensporebombParticipantThat makes a lot of sense except at the time everything stopped dead I was standing 8 feet away from the unit. Usually this stuff is pretty bulletproof but it might be time to clean the switches and pots of any dirt/grime/dust since the unit has been in use for a while and not had any real cleaning type maintenance.
September 21, 2013 at 12:55 am #119364aliensporebombParticipantFinal update: I used a can of compressed air (used for cleaning computer equipment) and dusted out the potentiometers as well as just making sure that the dust and debris from some years of gigging [that somehow had gotten inside the back] were [gently] cleaned off and now my EHX looks and sounds like new again. Even though the back cover was screwed on, it appeared that the screws had loosened ever so slightly allowing entry of various MUNG and DERBIS from various venues to enter. Ick. Now cleaned.
“Your mileage may vary, do not remove the back cover of your EHX SMMH as it may void any warranty and also may let the magic smoke out. I have some experience with electronics devices so I can work on them safely if necessary.”
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