Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-550 Audio out problem
Home > Home Recording Forum > Gear Gab > Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-550 Audio out problem
Posted on Sep 21, 2012 08:23 pm
Yamacrate
Member Since: Sep 21, 2012
I am having a problem with my Boss DR. Rhythm DR-550 audio. First of all, I am only getting it to produce a mono sound through one speaker through both the headphone jack, and the recording jacks. For the right and left recording jacks, I can only hear the reduced volume drums and an awful noise sound comming out of the L(Mono) jack, and I can only hear an awful noise comming out of the Right jack. I have no idea how to fix this problem without tearing inside of it and de-soldering some things. I also have some reference audio clips so you can hear my problem: This link is for the Headphone out: http://soundcloud.com/drew-mcconnell/through-head-phone-jack
This Link is for the Left(Mono out): http://soundcloud.com/drew-mcconnell/through-left-mono-jack
[ Back to Top ]
J-botByte-MixerMember
Since: Dec 04, 2007
Sep 22, 2012 05:33 am I think Rob would probably be the one to ask about it. He's kinda our resident repair/live sound/electronics guru. But lately he's been busy with the moving to Vermont and fixing up their home there. Hopefully he'll find time to offer some insight at some point.
But yeah, I'd crack it open, examine the circuitry, see if there are any points where maybe the solder is failing, or a component is no longer connecting to the board, or if there is any corrosion or anything odd looking in the audio circuitry. Also, you know, make sure nothing got fried somehow.
I'm not an electronics guy (I'm formerly an IT guy), so I'm not the one to ask, but with what little I do know, it sounds like it could potentially be an issue with the internals. In the meantime, crack it open, dust it out, clean it up, maybe use some contact cleaner on the output jacks to make sure the connection is clean, etc. Check your audio cables, to rule any of that stuff out before looking at the unit itself.
Wish I could be more help. :/
Sep 22, 2012 12:52 pm I looked inside of it, and removed the copper film protection from the board, looked at all of the solder points, and got an air can to clean any possible dust or trash. The contacts seem fine, and there was not much to blow out of there. I'm no electronics expert, but I do have some experience in circuit bending. I guess I will have to get some contact cleaner, and try to clean the output jacks.
I just recorded a song with it, and it sounds pretty good. I hooked a 1/8 cable that splits the audio signal, so I get a left and right channel, and used the left one to record the machine in mono, since I am only able to get the drums out of that side. I am still getting some noise, and there are some volume issues with instruments faded more to the right. As of now I am happy with it as a drum machine to use when I am looking for an old school tape recorded sound, which I crave most of the time, but I want to eventually get it fixed, or just grab another one off ebay or something.
Sep 22, 2012 04:38 pm I'm with J-Bot, no expert but can hack...in situations like this my first thing is always swabbing out the jacks and cleaning the cables connections with contact cleaner...as well as swapping out cables to make sure the problem isn't in the cables themselves....more often than not, cables go bad before internals of devices.
After that, yeah, open it up and look for obvious signs of problems...lifted solders, burnt circuit board spots and all that sort of junk...beyond that, you may need to seek out a professional.
Dematrixhttp://www.reverbnation.com/2ndgMember
Since: Nov 27, 2007
Sep 22, 2012 06:13 pm
this happens alot to electronics these days, ive been fixing stuff like this for years. 90+% of the time its usually cracked solder on the circuit board somewhere and quite often everywhere.
dont be afraid to rip it open and get a nice bright light and have a squizy at the back of the circuit board where all the dabs of solder are and find any and all cracked ( usually harline cracks) and either heat them and remelt them together sealing the crack, or if ya have to... add some solder. Just dont hang to long on anyone spot or you might kill a component with the heat. Just make sure the soldering iron is hot enough first so it melts right away without waitning to long.
electronics these days have that new lead free solder and it cracks real easy. Ive fixed that much stuff doing this, just recently fixed my washing maching the same way, when i was told it was doomed for the scrap heap. Never i say, if its got a curcuit board have a crack at it. No pun.
f youre sus a spot and not sure if its cracked or not hit it with the iron to be safe.
Sep 24, 2012 06:55 am I have really been growing increasingly disappointed in modern electronics, it seems they are being built more and more cheaply...really annoys me.
Dematrixhttp://www.reverbnation.com/2ndgMember
Since: Nov 27, 2007
Sep 24, 2012 07:36 am yeah man, just about everything is on the cheap these days.
Sep 28, 2012 02:40 pm Thanks Dematrix, I will definitely try opening it up again and touching some points with my soldering iron. The drum machine was flat out given to me, so that is probably why it has that problem. I never turn down a free instrument that sounds cool though haha. I did notice however, when I opened the machine up the first time, that a piece of the board was broken, but it was not broken near any circuitry. It was broken where it mounts to the bottom of the plastic shell. I think it was thrown around a lot due to all the scratches on it. It could possibly be a grounding issue?
I actually have a small Zoom drum machine that is relatively new, and I haven't had any problems with it at all. It works the best out of the three that I have. I also have a Roland TR-606 that I tried to circuit bend, but once I closed it up with all the wires crammed in there, something went wrong with my connections and screwed all of the cool bends that I found on it. Luckily it still works in it's original state. What's stupid, is it is a drum machine from the early 80's and it works so much better than the Boss one that's newer.
