I just received a brand new Power Load IR and am having multiple issues with it. First off, the included power supply cable has a terrible fit into the plug on the back of the unit. The barrel plug of the cable has no resistance against the plug on the unit. I have to set a book on top of the cable to keep it from moving and sliding out (causing the unit to shut off or power cycle repeatedly). Is this a common problem?
Also, I currently get barely any sound out of the headphone out jack on the back of the unit when it is powered on. I only hear a faint guitar sound out of the right headphone only. When turning the IR Level knob, it is very noisy and seems to have no effect on anything I’m hearing, which isn’t much to begin with. My signal chain is as follows:
Guitar → Amp (JCM900 20W) → Power Load IR → Headphones
Do I have a defective unit or am I not doing something correctly? I have the unit set up as described in Application 3 (practice with headphones) from the user manual.
Here is the power supply brick. I believe I got the issue fixed by jiggling the power supply plugin to stay in the correct location within the unit. After keeping that power supply in place, I was able to set levels and get IR output out of the headphone output and XLR outputs.
I have ordered a higher quality replacement power supply that matches the power specs the unit requires. This should permanently fix my issue. I tried plugging in other barrel plugs I have into the PLIR and all of them fit as normal. So I must’ve just gotten an out of spec power cable or something. It’s one of the worst quality power cables I’ve seen.
Thanks for posting; if you have digital callipers, maybe you could measure the outer diameter of the barrel jack? A photo of that would be useful too. If it is different from others, we might be able to tell. I have flagged this post with the factory; at least they will read it and might comment if they see any discrepencies. Of course, the issue might be the socket. I am unsure how it holds the barrel in place, but if that is loose, then that could also be the source of the issue.
Yes I have some digital calipers and made the following measurements. I checked the provided, loose barrel jack along with a few other barrel jack plugs that fit in the unit correctly. Here are the measurements:
Provided cable barrel jack diameter: 5.09mm
Other cable barrel jack diameters: all around 5.45 to 5.50mm
So something is definitely off with the one I was provided with the PLIR the barrel jack diameter is much smaller than the others. It is very loose no matter what device (PLIR, guitar pedal, etc.) I plug it into.
Just adding on to this, I discovered I was able to replicate the original issue of hardly any sound coming through the headphone out and the IR Level knob being noisy. This can happen when the power supply cord is bent a certain direction. Bending the cord in the other direction fixes this issue and causes the sound to be normal from the headphone out. So it definitely seems like all of these issues are from a bad power cord. I’ll try everything out with the new power supply I ordered when it arrives. If issues persist, I’ll just return the unit as defective.
Thanks for the additional information. The barrel jacks are not the precision engineering, but I would have expected better than about 0.5mm! Yes, please keep us posted, and if you need to go the next step of doing a return, we can process that for you.
Bgh, just curious, does your power supply cable also have an extremely loose fit into the PLIR?
Edit: I just saw the post you made where you said your power cable is loose as well. There must be a big QC problem with the power supply manufacturer that needs to be addressed. For reference, the power supply I ordered is the Quad Cortex Nano replacement power supply as it matched all the power requirements for the unit (https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QCPwrSupply--neural-dsp-quad-cortex-power-supply). I’m still waiting for it to be delivered so I can test to verify that this new supply fixes the issue. Unfortunately it’s another $35 on top of the purchase price of the PLIR, but this power supply should be of much higher quality than the junk one provided.
Yes very loose. I believe that I am trying to run a similar setup to yours. For right now I just want to use headphones. I am plugging amp into amp in with power on (though it goes on and off) with headphones plugged into headphone input. With PLIR on and amp on no sound. My biggest worry is that when the power would go on and off on PLIR, I could have caused damage to amp. The manual doesn’t make it clear to me whether or not power is required for reactive load to be enabled without power on all in all inputs. I know it says the analog out 1 works without power but are all inputs providing load protection regardless of power.
No power is not required! The load will still work. Just be advised, that for the full 200W rating, you need to power plugged in. This is because the fan needs power.
I’m so sorry you are running into this issue. I have let the shop know of both your problems. Please stand by.
Setup: I have guitar plugged into amp. I have amp plugged into Amp In (#17 page 6). No pedals, preamps or anything else. Headphones plugged into headphones input.
Plugged in 12v power cable for PLIR. PLIR did not power on initially, not until bending/fiddling with power cable (power cable connection extremely loose). Was able to get PLIR to power on. Turned power on to amp. No sound. Checked all levels and made adjustments. In process of doing so, power to PLIR went on and off numerous times. So here is my biggest concern more than anything else.
Is there a built in safety function for customers amps that prevents damage to done to their equipment in the event of power loss to PLIR? Unless I am missing it somewhere, I do not see anywhere that states this. The manual, at least to me, is very confusing.
Any idea on why I would be getting no sound. OP mentioned he was eventually able to get sound after stabilizing power. However, even after I managed to get power to stay on, I still got nothing. I’m not interested in repairs as this is brand new so if you guys cant think of anything else I will just return it.
