hi bill, thanks for responding! that's great advice, but they were doing just fine (no humming) in the US just before moving here to the UK earlier this year. that suggests that it's something to do with the power here, but perhaps it's a coincidence...?
k
k
From: Bill Yerazunis <yerazunis@...>
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, June 22, 2011 8:18:53 PM
Subject: Re: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, June 22, 2011 8:18:53 PM
Subject: Re: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK
Hmmm.... personal experience with this says it's usually not the 60-->50 Hz with
older equipment but rather that old equipment has old electrolytic capacitors that have
lost capacitance (often a LOT of capacitance).
Those paper electrolytics are now over 30 years old. You might want to try replacing
them with modern electrolytics and seeing if that's the problem.
Or - just get a new power supply and keep the old one as a memento.
- Bill (project MOARNOBZ moves forward... slowly, but moves forward).
--- On Wed, 6/22/11, Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...> wrote:
From: Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...>
Subject: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 3:07 PMHi guys,
I hope this question isn't outside the scope of this mailing list, but I thought some of you might have experience to help me. I've got a beautiful old Aries modular synth that my dad (Carl Fravel of Gentle Electric) built in the 70s with a Serge touchpad sequencer that my dad traded him for a CV keyboard. Unfortunately, all the circuits in this old synth are American, and they really don't like my step-down-transformed power. Both racks hum terribly and i think they really want the 60Hz AC they were built for.
Does anyone know of a nice US -> UK (or european) power transformer that also outputs reliable 60Hz power, or do you think i'm going to have to modify my dad's power modules to better handle 50Hz power?
Sorry if this is a dumb question.
Warmest,
Kelly