Home Forums Help/Technical Questions stereo memory man high pitched noise

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  • #78929
    mr mustard
    Member

    Hi all,
    I recently got a stereo memory man (the big box analog one with 3 knobs). I noticed that it emits a high pitched wistle when the delay knob is past say 40%. The more you turn the knob CW the lower the wistle gets and vice versa. There isnt any wistle with the blend set fully CCW and less when the knob is all the way up. The noise seens to be stronger at say 50%. I’ve tried ignoring this but its started to bug me.Is there a way to remedy this be it a mod or adjustment? Or is this the way this unit is.
    Thanx in advance!
    Mario.

    #101263
    The EH Man
    Moderator

    What you’re hearing is clock noise from the delay ICs. There’s a trimpot that you can adjust to minimize the noise but if you really want to cancel it out you’ll need to replace it with a multi-turn pot.

    Can you post a pic of the circuit board in your unit? I’ll try to mark the trimpot for you. DO NOT TOUCH ANY OTHER TRIMPOTS!

    #101265
    mr mustard
    Member

    Thanx for the reply! here is the pic

    #101266
    The EH Man
    Moderator

    Here’s the marked pic. Do it this way:

    Turn on the delay and have it plugged into an amp.
    Turn the delay time to max.
    Make a small mark on the circuit board with a Sharpie to mark where the trimpot is now set.
    Use a small screwdriver to turn the trimpot back and forth while playing a single note and letting it delay. Turn your Blend to full delay, too.
    You’ll hear the whistle come and go as you turn the pot back and forth. The correct setting, where the noise is at a minimum, is usually around the center of the trimpot’s travel. It’s a very fine adjustment so take your time with it until the noise is at a minimum with your delayed note.
    Put it back together and play!

    EDIT: set your delay control where you hear the most whistle and adjust it there. Then try it at full delay and make sure it’s acceptable there as well. You may neeed to readjust the trim.

    #101269
    mr mustard
    Member

    I did what you said. There is no wistle with the delayed notes any more and with the blend knob all the way up it ok. As soon as I back off on the blend knob the wistle is back(not on the delayed notes) without me playing anyting infact its there with just the output connected to the amp. You mentioned a mod to fix this. How easy is it? Im pretty familiar with most things to do with electronics but I dont know what a multiturn pot is. is there an easy fix with slight changes to the unit? It would be great if I could keep the blend knob all the way up and reduse the volume of the delayed notes a diferent way. Thanx again for your help!
    Mario.

    #101271
    The EH Man
    Moderator

    There shouldn’t be any whistle on the clean sound as that’s not going through the delay circuit.

    Have you tried adjusting the pot again on the clean signal? If it doesn’t change then the problem’s somewhere else.

    #101272
    mr mustard
    Member

    It wistles when the blend knob is anywhere but turned all the way up or all the way down. Strongest wistle at midpoint wich lesens as you move fully CW or fully CCW. This wistle changes in pitch as i turn the delay knob. In chorus mode its ok. Thereis a faint “beep” when a flip the chorus switch.

    #101273
    The EH Man
    Moderator

    Set the Blend where the whistle is loudest and try adjusting the trimpot.

    #109097
    claytushaywood
    Participant
    Quote:
    What you’re hearing is clock noise from the delay ICs. There’s a trimpot that you can adjust to minimize the noise but if you really want to cancel it out you’ll need to replace it with a multi-turn pot.

    Can you post a pic of the circuit board in your unit? I’ll try to mark the trimpot for you. DO NOT TOUCH ANY OTHER TRIMPOTS!

    Im having this same problem–

    EH man you mention a multi-turn pot? Could you enlighten us a little more. I can definitely remove and solder in a new trim pot if that will help my beautiful stereo memory man

    Thanks!

    #109098
    claytushaywood
    Participant

    Alsoooo… I was wondering if you all could recommend and mods or component upgrades for this particular unit. I was thinking about changing the input caps to silver mica and changing the smaller electrolytic caps (1uf) to metal film caps and the larger ones to tanatulum caps. And maybe upgrading the electrolyics to some nice sanyo or panasonic ones. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! I do like to go into pedals and take out all polarized electrolytics or at least the tone changing ones

    Thanks Again,
    Clay

    #109099
    The EH Man
    Moderator
    Quote:
    Quote:
    What you’re hearing is clock noise from the delay ICs. There’s a trimpot that you can adjust to minimize the noise but if you really want to cancel it out you’ll need to replace it with a multi-turn pot.

    Can you post a pic of the circuit board in your unit? I’ll try to mark the trimpot for you. DO NOT TOUCH ANY OTHER TRIMPOTS!

    Im having this same problem–

    EH man you mention a multi-turn pot? Could you enlighten us a little more. I can definitely remove and solder in a new trim pot if that will help my beautiful stereo memory man

    Thanks!

    You could remove the trimpot and replace it with a 10-turn trimpot. The 10-turn pot allows you to have really, really fine control over how it’s set. It’s a 10k on the vintage unit and probably the same on the reissue.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/Multiturn-Precision-WW-Pot-JM39015-3-010-XP-10K-Ohm_W0QQitemZ360250377023QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53e098833f

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