Behringer Mixer/PA repair

[Cliff Schecht]

I've been working slowly towards getting my bands PA back up and running. The model is a PMP1280s 600/1200W unit. The PA side died a few months back after we got about 10 words into "Trudy" but the front panel still lit up and showed that it was receiving audio. So I pulled it apart and identified a few components in the PA protection circuitry that blew (read: cooked!). Two of the burned out parts actually took a good amount of FR4 out with it, especially the 5W power resistor.

I swapped the parts out that were bad, spent 3 hours trying to figure out how to put the damned thing back together enough to test and flipped it on. The only light that came on was the phantom power light, for a few seconds, then the smell of burning electronics and it was gone. I haven't invested too much time or any money into this repair yet but it's quickly looking like it'll be easier to just buy a new PA. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out this crazy over-engineered power supply and don't even really want to pull the power board out to start probing further. I've worked some miracles WRT repairing equipment that would otherwise be trash but this is already looking like a lost cause.

This new generation of disposable electronics bugs the piss out of me. I've been in lots of China-built equipment that is impossible to repair, as if it was engineered this way. The Behringer stuff is designed so that you don't ever repair the boards, you just swap in a new one and eat their price. But since the replacement board I need is over 1/3 the cost of the PA itself, it's hardly worth it..

[selloutrr]

for what it's worth -

they are not made to be fixed

when a protection circuit blows.. before you power it back on you better be sure you know why that protection circuit was tripped. It didn't fry without a reason. It's possible you did more damage when you powered it back on then when it was broken because all the power had been contained behind the protection circuit.. now passed freely across into the rest of the circuit.

solid state is a very delicate thing to repair. they don't stop working without a reason and the burned area is almost never the actual cause of the problem but a by product of some other issue.

in order to trouble shoot you should work from the output to the input. or isolate the problem to i.e the power supply, input section, fx loop, routing, master bus...

if you have a signal tracer you could work the circuit an make repairs as you find them.

I find amperage meters are a saving grace when powering electronics back on. I can shut the power off before it does damage if the amp meter starts to climb.

[Cliff Schecht]

Yeah I knew I was taking a gamble when I plugged this thing in. In retrospect I should have left the power amp completely unattached for the first fire-on to test functionality elsewhere first. But this thing is designed in such a way that it's a 10 minute job just to open it up and pull some cables. Lots of sharp cheap steel edges too. Not worth the time and pain, I'd rather throw $300 at another cheapie. We got this PA for free when we bought some speakers from a friend so god only knows what hell this box has been through.

I have any piece of lab equipment that you would need to fix this guy. That's not the problem really.. It's just too much of a nightmare to bother with, which I think is the point. The value is in the amount of engineering you get for your money, but no engineer is perfect (even in Germany). Tack on whatever error is introduced by the Chinese manufacturing and it's no surprise that these units aren't known for lasting. But like Harbor Freight tools, it's cheaper to buy another than it is to fix it. Maybe I should buy USA this time..

[dukeamps]

Hi, don’t waste your money on Behringer, its all scrap. Everything I’ve ever bought from them broke, & it will let you down just when you needed it most.

That sounds a bit like the start of a good song

Cheers

Nigel

[Bob-I]

My only experience with Behringer was through a friend I was gigging with. He bought a Behringer mixer to mix his keyboards. Gig #2 it went up in smoke so he brought it back, Sam Ash gave him another out of stock, gig #1 it went up in smoke. He brought it back and traded up to a Mackie.

Homey don't play no Behringer shit no mo

[UR12]

I'm been using their Dual 31 band EQs for monitors, Compressors and quad noise gates for years in my FOH rack and love them. Never had a problem with any of it but I know if I did, I would just chuck it and buy a new one. They are so cheap it doesn't pay to spend any repair time on them. Mackie used to be cheap junk too until they bought up a few good companies and now they make a good product but with a big price tag. Anything that has surface mount components, I just refuse to try and repair.

On the other hand I have been gearing up a lighting system that I can use for gigs from time to time. I have found that some of the moving lights and scanner fixtures can be picked up not working for a song and dance and repaired fairly easily. I just repaired a MBT Dynamo scanner that had a missing mirror, bad tilt motor and driver chip for like 50 bucks. The thing sells for $140 retail but I bought it for 10 bucks.

[M Fowler]

Every piece of Behringer equipment I own has broke. Cheaply made stuff.

Mark

[daydreamer]

A man of your skills could build his own PA!



It would sound a million times better than anything in the cheapo price ranges, and would challenge the top end stuff as well.

My little behringer collects dust, it managed to make everything brittle and thin sounding. I live in the shadow of China so I give there gear the time of day, but I've come to believe there is something in the soul of a machine that isn't explained by the components. nothing like someone who is free to choose his/her job to inject that extra something...no doubt some decent opamps wouldn't go astray either...

Andy

[Cliff Schecht]

Well there is something to say for building your own equipment but it would take me months to develop that on my own. Then there is actually paying for everything and somehow figuring out how to manufacture a housing for it. Heck, I could probably refit something in this Behringer case.. But it's not worth the time or effort it would take to do that. Remember, I'm a college student so I don't have endless time or funds..

With that said, I've been wanting to play around with LC based EQ's and SS PA's.. But until then, I think we're gonna take the risk with another Behringer cheapie. They only break so often because people abuse them so badly. I think if we start with a fresh unit we can probably make it last a good while.

[daydreamer]

I would go with an Allen & Heath mixer and separate power amp, the pres and eq are good quality, still chinese assembled but A&H have class and a history of good gear, not crap. work out how many channels you actually need and go for a better quality product with less features. Even the second hand soundcraft or yamaha gear will out perform the cheapies, even if it has a bung channel or two! And that would most likely be fixable as well.

http://www.allen-heath.com/zed/

Anyway, Best of luck mate.

Andy

[M Fowler]

Cliff, just open Craig Anderton's instructions on making an eight channel mixer and your set. I have 15 of those chips left for just such a build

Mark

[vibratoking]

I'm been using their Dual 31 band EQs for monitors, Compressors and quad noise gates for years in my FOH rack and love them. Never had a problem with any of it but I know if I did, I would just chuck it and buy a new one. They are so cheap it doesn't pay to spend any repair time on them. Mackie used to be cheap junk too until they bought up a few good companies and now they make a good product but with a big price tag. Anything that has surface mount components, I just refuse to try and repair.

+1000 on the Dual 31s and compressors. I've used them for years and never had a problem. I wouldn't touch a Behringer mixer, though.

Mackie! Nope! They use the cheapest ribbon cable connector known to man inside their mixers. What a weak link. I've had to repair quite a few of them. What a pain in the ass. Take off every knob, open the chassis, spend 5 minutes inside, then close it up and put every f%^&*() knob back on.

[M Fowler]

For a mixer I use the 12 channel non powered rack mount Carvin, a great inexpensive unit.

Mark

[Cliff Schecht]

I wanted to ask you guys Carvin actually. They have a small 500W, 6-ch mixer for $350 that I was peeping at last night. They still make a solid product right?

[M Fowler]

Carvin makes a very solid product they have just got hit in the economy like everyone and selling on ebay, catologs, website and in-store sales.

Service is excellent in my experience.

If you go on line to their store they have specials and close out deals.

Mark