We’ve got a PS-100 up on the bench that is exhibiting a strange issue. The customer brought the unit to us and noted that it was losing volume and would sound anemic when the unit was used as a power soak with his Marshall head. I haven’t been able to replicate the loss of volume here on the bench, but did notice that the level switch seems to be related to the problem.
When the switch is in, the level drops out even though the graphic says that this is the high mode. The level jumps when it is in the low mode. I’m starting to think that the input sensitivity is what the customer has been experiencing and I’ve just been unable to get the unit to come out of the failure state.
Any help would be appreciated. Voltages seem fine and the unit works with both channels and as a power amp.
The level switch would lower the level in HI mode. It’s used for attenuating louder amplifiers and preamplifiers. LO mode does the opposite and boosts the signal.
From the manual:
INPUT LEVEL SWITCH – Sets usable range of the Volume control relative to strength of Line Input or Amp In signal level. This is useful for setting your ideal playing volume whether you are attenuating a high powered amp, boosting a low powered amp or connecting a preamp to the Line In. Set the Level switch to HI for attenuating high powered amps or hot Line In signals or LO for boosting small amps or when using low level Line In signals.
We see a good amount of issues with the gear being used with the Power Station. Often times it’s bad cables, improper impedance settings, an amp that has an issue, etc…
If you’re not finding the issue with it, it could boil down to a bad cable in your customer’s system.