echoplex ep-3 echo problem

[thendara69]

hi all,
ive recently come across this good looking ep-3 but there seems to be an intermittent fault on the echo/repeat. i opened her up and when i tweaked the sustain trimpot (on the far left of pic) she sounded awesome!
came to use her today and on switching her on,the same distorted,short(or fading out amongs the distortion) echo. kind of tweaked this pot again and she was good.

just wondered if anyone else out there had this problem?

ive cleaned the heads, and theres a demagnetizer on its way but i doubt i need to really. when its working good this thing sings!

 

[thendara69]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/8096832581/in/photostream

 

[thendara69]

the echo/sustain pot or the trimpot on the circuit board inside? (im not talking about the record level on the front)
didnt know weather to spray anything on the board incase of damaging it
will clean all other pots now.thanks!

 

[thendara69]

strange, the distortion happens when i turn her on,so i back the trimpot clockwise, (the one on the circuit board in the picture to the left)fully, and she come good.
then i trim her back anti clockwise to add more sustain and she stays fine.
this is what seems to happen anyway.

 

[thendara69]

anyway, took it down to the rec studio and cranked the ac30 with it and noticed when i unplugged my guitar lead to add an effects pedal it went back to the problem. unplugged it again and then back in and she was fine.
gonna clean the input shafts tomorrow and do the pots again
you gotta love these old machines! awesome sounds!!!!

thanks to all the other peeps who post on here,ive learned a hell of alot just from reading about the ep-3

rock on!

 

[thendara69]

just done a demo to show off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nA8zGPsQ4Q

 

[Tonal Comfort]

Sounds great!

 

[Phoenix59]

Awesome. I remember sitting in a music store in the late 70s messing with one exactly like that. Grats!

 

[thendara69]

well, cleaned the pots/shafts but ive just had to turn that interior trimpot CW again to get rid of the distortion/depleting echo. carnt work it out. maybe crack in the circuitry somewhere.

 

[thendara69]

it seems to do it when i unplug input lead and add effect pedals. phase 90/signa comp

i have to go to this small trimpot which seems to control the echo/sustain input signal,
trim it right down(clockwise) then the signal come good but i have to add more back on and it stays ok until i unplug input lead and plug back in