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Bmax problem after upgrade? Help needed...

C-5KO

C-5KO

Mar 9, 2005
1,035
1
Toronto, Canada
#1
A little help please....

I just got my Bmax back after having the upgrade done.

For the first day it sounded great. Just two days ago, the input jack went wonky. Both active and passive too. When I wiggle it up and down, the signal cuts to normal level, to less than half. Also, when I flip the bright switch up and down, it makes the signal cut. It's very intermitting, so I'm guessing it's a bad connection inside somewhere, but not necessarily inside the jacks, but more on the board.

I was wondering if anybody has experience opening up their Bmax. Maybe I could get a few tips on what to look for inside, then I would have a better idea what I'm dealing with.

I really don't want to send it back to BBE, shipping costed me close to $90 after sending it, getting it back, and paying brokerage fees.... If I have to, I'll take it to a local guy here, but I would like to go in and tell him, what I think the problem is, that way, he knows, I know what I'm talking about, and won't jerk me around with overcharging me.

Thanks guys.
 
#3
Steve Bennett said:
If I were you, I'd e-mail BBE and ask about it. When I had my BMax modified recently, I e-mailed back and forth with Paul Gagon, the man who designed the BMax. In fact, he personally performed the mod. He was very helpful and quick to respond.
Click to expand...

I sent Memo Romero an email. He has been very helpful with getting my RMA organized. I'm still waiting to hear back from him. I'm hoping that he'll get back to me on Monday or Tuesday. That way I can take it in, and get whatever he recommends done.

I was shooting the question out there, to see if somebody else has had a similar situation, or could suggest something else incase BBE doesn't know. The last thing I want to get get hit with some ridiculous $75 service charge, for the installation/resoldering of a $5 part.
 
#5
toddtodd said:
can you tell me more about the bmax upgrade?
how much
what exactly it does
how do you know if its been done already....


thanks

-todd
Click to expand...

It has something to do with the Gain. Originally when I purchase my Bmax, I only turned the gain up to 9-11 o'clock. Then it would be extremely sensitive, and really, REALLY, loud.

Apparently this fixes it. There's probably other things that are fixed as well, but this was the most obvious to me.
 
#6
toddtodd said:
can you tell me more about the bmax upgrade?
how much
what exactly it does
how do you know if its been done already....
Click to expand...
My complaint to BBE was that the input was so sensitive on my BMax that I had to run my passive P-Bass into the active input, and still couldn't go above about 9-10 o'clock on the input gain without farting. Here's a quote from Paul Gagon on what he did to mine:

"I reduced the gain of the input amp that drives the EQ section by 6dB and then I reduced the gain of the EQ recovery amp by another 6dB. This will allow for more headroom. I also reconfigured the input jacks to work better with an active bass."

The result is that the input gain is much more reasonable now, and there is a much greater difference between the passive and active inputs. They didn't charge for the mod; I just had to pay about 10 bucks to ship it to them.
 

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