electro-music.com   Dedicated to experimental electro-acoustic
and electronic music
 
    Front Page  |  Radio
 |  Media  |  Forum  |  Wiki  |  Links
Forum with support of Syndicator RSS
 FAQFAQ   CalendarCalendar   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   LinksLinks
 RegisterRegister   ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in  Chat RoomChat Room 
go to the radio page Live at electro-music.com radio 1 Please visit the chat
poster
 Forum index » How-tos
Boss DR-110 Drum Machine - Slight noise in output
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Page 1 of 1 [9 Posts]
View unread posts
View new posts in the last week
Mark the topic unread :: View previous topic :: View next topic
Author Message
Aaron



Joined: Nov 08, 2012
Posts: 4
Location: Phoenix, AZ

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:55 pm    Post subject:  Boss DR-110 Drum Machine - Slight noise in output Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Hi all, this is my fist post here.

I just acquired a Boss DR-110, and the output is a little noisy, at least to my ear. When you have the headphones in and just listen for awhile (with no pattern playing), you will occasionally hear a little pop or two, just a little bit of noise (there's also a constant and very mild hiss, but I don't mind that). The noise happens sporadically, and it's rather quiet, but you can sometimes hear it during playback.

As an aside, I should note that before I could even use the machine, I had to re-solder the joints connecting the headphone jack to the PCB. When I got it, you had to wiggle and hold the headphones at a certain angle just to get any sound out of the jack. I figured that cold or broken solder joints were the problem, and I was right. But I've also got this noise problem. I don't know, however, whether the noise existed before I fixed the headphone jack.

Any idea why I'm getting the intermittent noise described above? Any suggestions you can offer would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Aaron

Last edited by Aaron on Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:32 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
blue hell
Site Admin


Joined: Apr 03, 2004
Posts: 24075
Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 277
G2 patch files: 320

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

welcome Aaron

1980 .. might just be a lil noisy by nature?

_________________
Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Aaron



Joined: Nov 08, 2012
Posts: 4
Location: Phoenix, AZ

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 2:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Blue Hell wrote:
welcome Aaron

1980 .. might just be a lil noisy by nature?


Thanks for the welcome, Jan. Yes, I've considered that possibility, but I'd like to hear from DR-110 owners. Perhaps I have a bad cap or something in the output section? Anyway, I can read a schematic and I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron, so I'm ready to tackle it, if need be. Very Happy

Aaron
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Aaron



Joined: Nov 08, 2012
Posts: 4
Location: Phoenix, AZ

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Well, today I replaced the electrolytic capacitors in the little headphone-amp circuit (C64, C65, and C68). I was going to change the amp chip, too, but as it turns out, I have one of the later serial numbers that uses a different one than is shown on the schematic. The schematic shows LM386N-1, but mine uses M50501L. The latter is apparently pretty exotic (or just obsolete) because it's hard to find on the Internet. OTOH, I found an LM386N-1 at Radio Shack! Laughing I also unsoldered and resoldered the headphone jack, just in case there were any bad solder joints.

Anyway, none of these steps helped. Still getting the noise through the headphone jack. As it turns out, though, the signal is very clean and quiet through the 1/4" output jack. I ran it through an amp tonight and it sounded great. Since I'll use that jack to record anyway, I suppose it doesn't matter about the headphone jack. But I'd still like it to work properly. Cool

Still welcoming any ideas on the noisy headphone jack!

Aaron
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
blue hell
Site Admin


Joined: Apr 03, 2004
Posts: 24075
Location: The Netherlands, Enschede
Audio files: 277
G2 patch files: 320

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 3:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

[quote="Aaron"Anyway, I can read a schematic and I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron[/quote]

Sure looks like that Cool

_________________
Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
grenert



Joined: Mar 08, 2014
Posts: 4
Location: United States

PostPosted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I know this is a very old thread, but for the sake of adding a little information on the internet regarding the headphone out, my DR-110 is also noisy/buzzy from the headphone out. My version has the M50501L headphone amp. Not sure if replacement by LM386 would help, but it would be a royal pain, because the M50501L is a SIP package.

So, this seems to be normal, at least for the later models with M50501L headphone amps.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Aaron



Joined: Nov 08, 2012
Posts: 4
Location: Phoenix, AZ

PostPosted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 10:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

grenert wrote:
I know this is a very old thread, but for the sake of adding a little information on the internet regarding the headphone out, my DR-110 is also noisy/buzzy from the headphone out. My version has the M50501L headphone amp. Not sure if replacement by LM386 would help, but it would be a royal pain, because the M50501L is a SIP package.

So, this seems to be normal, at least for the later models with M50501L headphone amps.


Thanks for adding this info. I just pulled out my DR-110 to see how I felt about the noise in the headphone jack. Three years after my original post -- and having had a lot more experience with analog gear -- I find that the noise level is acceptable. I mean it's analog, it's 30 years old, and it wasn't a super high-end piece to begin with. You live and learn, huh? Very Happy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Paradigm X



Joined: Feb 15, 2011
Posts: 363
Location: Null and void
Audio files: 2

PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Recapping the PSU should have a beneficial effect. May as well replace all electrolytics.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
paulmorison



Joined: Feb 27, 2013
Posts: 32
Location: UK

PostPosted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 4:38 am    Post subject: Noisey DR110 Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Definately the batteries. I have one that I left the batteries in, and they dropped to 0.8v percell, and the noise present, made it un-useable!. I also replaced the output amp with an amp chip, which helped a little more

Check the power rails when running on battery, change caps in PSU cct, and run off a external psu. You should find your answer
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Page 1 of 1 [9 Posts]
View unread posts
View new posts in the last week
Mark the topic unread :: View previous topic :: View next topic
 Forum index » How-tos
Jump to:  

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Forum with support of Syndicator RSS
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
Copyright © 2003 through 2009 by electro-music.com - Conditions Of Use