securing the 990c OpAmps

[jwschaff]

I have an eight-unit rack with three J99s among the pres that I took out to a live jazz gig this past weekend. When I opened the door of my van, the rack unit with these pres dropped about a foot down onto the curb. When I went to crank up the unit, sure enough one of the J99s just gave me a bunch of static. I suspected that something happened when the unit dropped!

When I got the unit home, I openned it up and found that the 990c Opamps had partially loosened in their sockets. Because of their proximity to one another there is not enough space for them to fall out completely, but I am concerned that they are not that tight in their sockets. It seems that even a casual amount of transporting will continue to loosen the Ops in their sockets and cause intermittent problems.

Q: does any one have a solution for securing John Hardy op amps in their sockets so that future moving won't cause them to loosen and lose contact?

John

[markmazoo]

How about lightly soldering a couple of the pins to secure the op amps?

[jwschaff]

I don't think that would work, as the op amp covers access to the leads.

[dkatz42]

Falling even a foot and hitting a curb is going to subject the unit to a significant G force, far beyond what you would ever get by just moving it around. My 990c's fit quite snugly and show no tendency whatsoever to move, and they're all consistent, so I'd be surprised if you have any trouble if you don't drop it again.

You might want to check to make sure the opamps are fully seated in the little socket thingies--there's pretty significant insertion force (they kind of snap in after pressure is applied), and they should fit pretty snugly to the surface of the board. Perhaps they're not inserted all the way?

You could try carefully putting a little bend to the pins to force a bit of side pressure in order to increase the friction in the sockets, I suppose.

[jwschaff]

Thanks for the reality check! I guess the real issue is stop dropping them rather than worrying about how to keep them well seated. As long as they stay firmly in place with normal handling that is all I really need to be concerned with. Since these preamps will almost always be used in remote situations, cartage is an important factor. I think I'm go to go ahead and be very careful with them and presume I will have no additional problems.

As an aside, I used two J99s with a pair of Neuman M149s on a 7 foot Hamburg Steinway, and I am totally blown away with the overall quality and presence of this combination. It is the biggest and sweetest jazz piano recording I have done to date!

[tpryan]

You might try a few small pieces of double-sided foam tape. A big blob of silicone adhesive would probably work, but if you try that make sure to keep the modules well ventilated while the adhesive cures.