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Hohner Pianet Amplifier Low Output

Started by aruption, April 15, 2018, 11:17:56 AM

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Jazz P Bass

If you have no idea what the replacement may be and the parts work, I would suggest that you leave them be.

If there is nothing wrong with the diodes, then you will gain nothing by replacing them.

aruption

What I'd actually like to do is attempt to build a replacement preamp.  Just as a project, and to have as a backup.

aruption

Of course disaster strikes again...

I opened it up this morning so I could draw a diagram of the preamp.  The amp tech who initially replaced all the e-caps when I bought the Pianet added a small film cap between the zener diode and ground (I think), since he thought it might help with the noise. It didn't really, so at one point I disconnected it by just disconnecting one of the leads from the board. 

Well that came back to bite me today when I was poking around trying to see something, the clipped lead of the film cap came into contact with where it had been clipped off, made a tiny spark, and no more sound.  Now, in the past when I've done work on the preamp, sometimes it doesn't work when I turn it back on.  The solution to this has been clipping a lead from the pickup itself to the tip of the output jack.  This was a suggestion from the amp tech who worked on it, and it worked every time.  But not this time.  Tried it several times, and no sound ever came back to either the speakers or the output.  The pickup is getting 140 volts as usual, but there doesn't seem to be any voltage going to the preamp section.  Hope I haven't screwed it up too much this time...

aruption

So it's not the zener diode it was attached to - the film cap he added was between the E300/C5 diode and the ground.  And that diode is reading OL in both directions.  Still no voltage coming from the transformer to the E300/C5, but I think it's safe to assume that the diode is shot.  Any ideas on locating an equivalent? The zener and the AC107 are measuring as they should.

phatt

#19
I'd check that you have *AC voltage* at the output of the transformer,,
If no AC on the secondary the transformer might be burnt out,, or You might have blown a mains fuse on the primary side,, though the schematic does not show that.
Having never seen one of these I'm not sure about the diode but maybe a picture of the circuit showing that diode might give us a clue.
Probably a 400 Volt 1N4004  or similar would be fine but that's just a guess.
Phil.

aruption

The diode is the white tube on the far left of the board.

The other picture shows the tranny with the lid off and the #6 AD130.  The B30C1000 rectifier is behind the two e-caps.

There's 340VAC from the tranny to the E300/C5.  However, there is no AC going to the B30C1000 - am I right in assuming that would mean the problem is in the transformer?

phatt

Yes it's possible that winding is burnt out.
Just make sure your meter is set to AC Volts and you are measuring the right wires.

You can always power down and un-solder one end of that 12 Volt winding then measure the DC resistance on that winding, If no (or very high) reading it's likely burnt out. :(

Keep in mind that after the bridge the DCV is positive ground.
Phil.

aruption

That's what I'm afraid of too.  I contacted the tech who worked on it last year, and I think he's leaning towards that being the problem too.  So I'm going to try to bring it over to him soon.  I'll let you know what happens.  Thanks for your help so far!

phatt

If enough room,,you can always install another 12 volt transformer to run that part of the circuit.
Phil.

aruption

I ended up taking it back over to the tech who originally worked on it.  He determined that the transformer was perfectly fine, and that the problem might have been in the transistors of the preamp section.  He eventually found that a wire near the voltage regulator for the was crimped and shorting out the circuit.  Uncrimping the wire brought the Pianet back to life!  Strange thing was that this wire was nowhere near the film cap that caused the spark that stopped it from working for begin with.  We did discuss the possibility of building a replacement preamp for everything past the power section of the amp, to maybe reduce the buzzing and humming.  One step at a time though, I'm just happy that she's running again!

tonyharker


phatt

Quote from: aruption on May 30, 2018, 11:04:18 AM
  We did discuss the possibility of building a replacement preamp for everything past the power section of the amp, to maybe reduce the buzzing and humming.  One step at a time though, I'm just happy that she's running again!

My observation regards to circuit mods;
You mentioned in the first post that internal (speaker) or external (line out) gives the same volume jump.

Having never seen these units but messed around with similar circuits years back, I'd guess the issue is caused by the way the volume pot is used.
Looks like the volume is the 1 Meg pot after the first transistor. I assume it's activated via a leg bar underside?
It's wired as a Variable resistor and as you get close to max volume it likely upsets the bias of TR2 which = distortion

My guess here;
The point at which it jumps in volume is Max volume for that circuit design. It is a very basic circuit and you won't get more volume just distortion.

Early Valve Amp designs had the same problems. 8|

One possible thing;
Maybe ask your teck guy if that Volume pot can be rewired as a Voltage divider and add another resistor after the pot so that TR2 always has some series resistance to stop it going berserk.
You will have less max volume but more control over the leg bar.
If you then want more volume,, try other speakers or take the line out to an external Amp.
Phil.

J M Fahey

Phatt hit the nail in the head  :tu: and I´ll continue:
1) that is a ¨**terrible** circuit, VERY early Germanium Technology.
Very advanced ... in 1960 or so, obsolete by the next year  :o

2) that amplifier design is **terrible** : worse than Class A , besides having 25% efficiency (Class A is 50%) it passes full idle current through the speakers, a HIGH idle current I might add, it shift voice coils out of the gap, go figure.
Terrible design.
You will solve nothing by "repairing" it, just *replace*  it.

What is supply voltage?
I guess some 14 to 16V raw, before the capacitance multiplier.
Let it feed the preamp only,  which is a light load, and:

a) remove the cheesy original amplifier.
Simplest is to plain remove from the board (use a good solder sucker to clean pads first) the parts enclosed in red.
b) beef up the 1000uF main filter cap to a 4700uFx25V one.
You will have some 14/16V there which you will use to feed a:

c) TDA2003 amplifier.
Buy a ready built one from EBay for less than $5, feed it available 14/16V, connect it to speakers but first wire them in parallel, for a 2.5 ohm load.
TDA2003 is designed to drive down to 1.6 ohm, so it will be happy with that.

Now you will have som 8 to 10*clean" RMS watts, enough to play at home in a living room or similar with very good sound.
To play in a Church/Club, etc. you connect line out to an external amplifier, like you already did.

The original amp was capable of 1W (if that much)  and intended for quiet practice at home, at table radio levels, not more.

d) you can replace the cheesy series volume pot with a 10k to 25k one, Audio/Log preferred, but even a Linear one will perform better than the current series one.
You just connect it from coupling capacitor to ground, and wiper to TDA2003 amp board, which I guess already has an input capacitor.
If in doubt, upload board schematic an pictures when you buy it.

You will be (pleasantly) surprised :) 

aruption

Phil:

Yes, the volume pot is activated by a leg bar on the underside.  I leave the bar unhooked because it just seems useless given the volume situation.  There's definitely more volume when I plug the unit into an external amp - but that just means there's more buzzing and noise too, which is acceptable when the rest of the band is playing, but just knowing that it's there...well, you know...

J M:

[/quote]
Quote from: J M Fahey on June 03, 2018, 02:59:06 PM
The original amp was capable of 1W (if that much)  and intended for quiet practice at home, at table radio levels, not more.

You are correct about that.  When I'm just playing it at home, it's perfect for quiet practicing.  I like your suggestion about how to replace the amp.  I'll keep a look out for those TDA2003s.  So far the ones I've seen probably wouldn't fit in the unit (it's incredibly tight in there). 

Now, would this mod increase the volume at the external output, or just the internal speakers?  I think I can live with the level of the internal speakers, it's just that (as I was alluding to earlier) I'd like to get more keyboard volume from the external output, without all the extra noise volume. 

So y'all can hear it for yourselves, here's a video of the Pianet in its current state, played with internal speakers only:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7gUYOnMlWU

Thanks guys for your help!

J M Fahey

Now that I think about it, you will probably have more Preamp signal out as well.
That cheesy power amp has very low input impedance (think about 1 k or so), and loads the volume control down a lot; I think when you remove the old one and add the TDA2003 instead, which has higher input impedance ( 20k to 40 k or so) you will now have more signal available at the signal out jack.

In fact I guess you´ll need to add a second volume control, so one for the internal amp, one for line out, OR regulate just the internal amp, and send line signal "straight" .... which in any case will be regulated at the external amp.