I have gotten into the thing more. I have tested that the input is making it to the board so the mode switches are eliminated. I got good suppies it loks like and both relays are kicking in. there is no offset to speak of.

The defective channel is the one with the components on top. Limited in test points at that point I removed it for dry testing. I found one of the relat contacts had gone bad to the board. It was well corroded and not making connection, I mean it was so obvious even my blind ass could see it.

So I add solder, then wick, then scrape both the terminal and the relay pin thiniking that I might just get lucky. Then I decide just for the hell of it to test the outputs.

We have determined that these are some ******* type of transistors invented on Mars or some **** because the drian/collector is not in the middle. They are som esort of MOSFET. I did not read the channel that works, but after resoldering the one that didn't I checked the resistance between the source and gate of them and one bankk read about 100 ohms or so both directions and the other reads alot less. I forget, maybe 15 ohms or something like that. I thought that unusual but them here is a device with which I am not familiar so maybe that is the way it has to be a quais comp. I resally have very little ideaa of the characteristics of these divcies so how would I know ?

Anyway, I hook it all back up wiht the relay connection fixed and I got hte same thing. there is still no offest but then you got a shorted in leg. Input shorted, not the kind of shorted that causes the fuse to blow.

I thing the connection started going bad and kept on arcing at high pwoier and somehow with that all ****ed up load took out the junction(s) in OPNE of the output devoces. Once one is shorted, none of them work, that's the fakt jack. So it can't drive, trying to dfoix the DC offest results in it shuitting down the bias, and that's that.

Oh, and there are no source (emitter) resistors in there.

So I put out an open ended estimate of $150 IF we get extremely lucky and can find identical devices and replace only five of them. there are ten per channel. you CNA get awat with replacing only five because the thing never shorted out. I am figuring ten bucks apiece and just to replace them I want a hundred bucks. This **** is not all that easy and I have no idea if I have to deal with insulators or if they are all "P". Even the soldering is going to be a PITA because it looks like Pbf. And of course it is at least two sided.

And now we come to the customer history. Remeber I mentioned where I work, that some of them don't seem to be aware of the difference between levels ? they brought me a box, an effects box. The complaint was it is noisy. When changing modes and all that. I had to tell EACH AND EVERY ****ING ONE OF THEM the device is NOT a guitar pedal, you cannot pkug a guitar into it abnd then to the amp, it has to go into a effecs loop. I proved it an d all that ****. And these are the peole who blew out two amps by somehow connectong two amps, one bridged and one not, to the same speaker ! Not only blew out both amps, the bridged one blew ALL the outpiuts, 16 of them, and the other blew only the relay mainly because it is designed to short out the outoupt when it opens from the amp output. this is to prevent arcing over of the contacts which would cause an insidiuos problem, especially for idiots like this. ****ing don't know what line level is ? Keep them away from my stereo. I don't want them anywhere near my Soundesign ! (I alnost shouldn't capitalise that huh)

And this ain't the first time. There was another effects machine that I didn't cathc this on. told then there was nothing wrong with it. Saw soem crazy mod in there and blew it off. the complain t was noise. If I had known they were that fucikng ignorant, I could have told then it works fine and that was done by the factory.

Come on. The clock from one chip was fed to another. Nobody really does that in the field. That is a design error. That was never a fix and I didn't realize the engineering was all that sloppy in this business yet. Now I know.. Live and learn.

I have learned. Now I can see alot of things. I have to totally take over the service but I am not doing it at this salary, and I am not doing it on commision. Maybe later, but not at the current state of afairs. We can stay how we are, I am theonly one on the area with a chance in hell of fixing it, but the opportunity is there.

?They are not bad people, just ignorant of some things, well more than some whe it comes to electronics. I even wrote them a page but will not release it yet, even though I am hosting it. I'll email you it but with all Iv'e said now it would be bad publicity. I don't want that. I want to fix the place, not hurt it. All I need is another job where I take home $40,000 tax free. that's al I want. I don't need your healthcare and you ain't getting my SSN. I'll invoice you. Taxman is scared of me these days. I'll take care of that.

But to be autonomous ? Inside another business ? They already offered me that, keys and all. I have been offered that many times and always turned it down. he ois trying to sell part of his retial space to me and I sdo not see tha value, especuially what they did at that bar. And that bar is MY customer in a way. They might buy **** from the store but I thinkk by now they are not taking any equipment there. The boss keeps teling me that I would do better to buiold businees at his business because people are more willing to takwe htings to a shop than a basement.

Well that bar's amps are coming to a basement. Mine.

thing is, I got options to consider, there is a need. The competition has too long a lead time, iike three weeks to lok at something and give an estimate.

If I can do the work I got this buisiness by the balls. What's more I think I have a backer. Not big money, but enough. there is a whole lot of **** I don't know, but like Dick Cheney said (and oit was ****ing stupid) about we know things, we done;t know things, we now thigns we don't know and we don;t know things we don't know. As ****ed up as that is, it is about right.

The only thing that keeps me from taking the plunge or committing to that company is the **** I do not know. The company, I don't know those people. I could lose thousands worht of tools in a heartbeat. Not thsat that they would steal them, they might have a foreclosure n ****. I have no idea. Even if they HAVE a D & B rating it means nothing when it comes to **** like that.

I cna't tell them to buy evrything them I am autonomous, that ain't right. And as far as me bringing my good **** in there, well for one it is not all that good. but I am not igving up my home shop by any stretch of the imagination and I ain't geting into any on-competition clauses.

Not sure what to do. An now, in this amp with the relay contact burned and an output effectively leaky B-E or G-S, indictuance did it. what that means is this ap was already fuicking up and they weither couldn't hear it or duecided to let it keep running. Eventually enough inductive kick for that caused the worng polarity spike at the wrong time and caused leakage. Inductive spikes are always the worg polarity. So the relay connection to the board arcs over and that is that.

Enough, this is driving me crazer. I ill figure out what to do. I do appreciate advice. On the amp or the people. Should I just insist on worjking at home wiht my wn policies ? I mean, htese people take in **** saying "call if over $15". No MF. you bring it in you are signing up for fifty bucks with no estimate and you will be lucky to gt it. Or you can go down the street to find out oin a MONTH that they are charging you ten times that much.

Yeah, I git some work to do and it ain't all at the bench.

But how would they know ? I cnba't be ****ed off becaus they necer met the likes of me before. when I went to LNB, they said "We never knew what to expect". Meaning that I had got so much domne, nobody even fixed half as much.. After a couple of months they found no recalls. I wass King of the hill and soon made more than the bosses. And they had no problem with that. If they had, they knoew I could just walk.

Is this happening again ? Should I really show my ass. As fr as I know I am already better than anyone they ever met. Is history repeating itself ?