RE: Echoplex memory mess... (6 long screws and a short one)

[Pat Murphy <pmurphy@gibson.com>]

By the way, we no longer use screws of different lengths. They are all
short screws these days and have been for a while now.
Thanks
Pat Murphy      
Oberheim Sales


Greetings from Oberheim

Regarding the memory mess. This may or may not help but is worth
checking before sending your Echoplex back for repair.

1) It works great with factory memory.
2) The memory is upgraded. The Echoplex doesn't work right. 
3) The original memory is reinstalled and it still acts funky.

Some of the malfunctioning seems to occur after touching the or jarring
the Echoplex. Here is a possible solution. 

There are 7 screws holding the top on the Echoplex. There are 4 on the
back, 1 on each side and 1 on the front. All of these screws should be
the same length except the one on the right side (looking from the front
of the Echoplex). That screw should be just a fraction shorter than the
rest. Unless you are really looking for it, all the screws appear to be
the same length. When a long screw is put into the right side, it can
come into contact with the core of the transformer. It seems to mess
with the magnetic field somehow and it makes the Echoplex act kind of
spastic. Jarring and touching the Echoplex can make it reset and act
unpredictably if a long screw is used by mistake. 

This may or may not be the problem but you might check out. Hope this
helps.

Thanks
Pat Murphy
Oberheim Sales







                -----Original Message-----
                From:   Douglas Lawrence
[mailto:douglas-lawrence@home.com]
                Sent:   Tuesday, August 11, 1998 9:47 AM
                To:     pmurphy@gibson.com; dcattane@gibson.com
                Subject:        RE: Echoplex memory mess... (???)


                I'm not saying what the issue was, bad memory or
otherwise, I just know that
                my EDP was not in great working condition. I noticed the
problem started
                after I installed the new memory, then when I switched
back, I still had
                problems. It could have been a cold solder made worse by
flexing the board
                when I installed the new memory, I don't know ...

                I'm not going to make any judgements until I hear back
from Oberheim. My
                only complaint is that I've been without my EDP for over
month now, which is
                not Oberheim's fault. I mistakenly took it to a
"qualified service center"
                when I should have shipped it directly to Oberheim to
begin with. I have an
                e-mail in Mike Ayers and I should hear back soon.

                Some typical problems I saw ... when I hit overdub, the
EDP would
                sporadically switch into multiply mode on it's own, then
it would hang.
                Sometimes I couldn't get the EDP out of overdub without
hitting the switch
                several times. Sometimes the screen would turn into
giberish after letting a
                loop run for a few minutes.

                On Kim's advice, I took the EDP in for service and hope
to get back a 100%
                working EDP. I also sent the suspect memory along with
the EDP to see if
                that was possibly the issue. I hope to get it back soon
...


                >>-----Original Message-----
                >>From: Bret [mailto:echoplex@yahoo.com]
                >>Sent: Monday, August 10, 1998 10:19 PM
                >>To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
                >>Subject: Re: RE(2): Echoplex memory mess...
                >>
                >>
                >>If the unit works as you say ("the unit worked fine
with the supplied
                >>50secs of memory"), fine with one set of simms, and
not another then
                >>the simms are to be suspected, not the EDP.  I have a
wide variety of
                >>mixed used simms in my 2 EDPs, no issues.
                >>
                >>Defective or damaged ram is not an uncommon problem (I
am in volume
                >>manufacturing of storage devices) .  There is nothing
to sort out,
                >>since the EDP works fine with the 50 sec of memory.
The EDP works,
                >>the new Simms don't.
                >>bret
                >>
                >>Claude Lassonde <classonde@psbgm.qc.ca> wrote:
                >>>
                >>> What a mess... The service people at the company
should post
                >>comments over
                >>> here to sort things out... Any
Gibson-Oberheim-Echoplex tech around?
                >>>
                >>>
                >>> > -----Original Message-----
                >>> > From: Douglas Lawrence
[mailto:douglas-lawrence@home.com]
                >>> > Sent: dimanche, aožt 09, 1998 01:44
                >>> > To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com
                >>> > Subject: RE: Echoplex memory
                >>> >
                >>> >
                >>> > My Echoplex is now back at Oberheim being checked
out for the
                >>> > same reasons.
                >>> > I haven't heard back from them what the problem
was.