The Fishman Chain - Fail

[bkepler]

I’m a music teacher and was accompanying my school’s choir at their promotion to the next level last week. I was running a full Fishman chain: Recording King Series 11 guitar (school beater) with Fishman Sonitone under saddle pickup > Fishman Aura 16 (for natural sound) > Fishman Pro-EQ Platinum (to tweak further) > Fishman SA220. Both channels on the SA220 were dead. I’ve read everyone’s problems over the years with losing channels on the SA220 and getting good directions from Fishman on how to revive them.

It got me wondering… Have owners of the SA330x had similar issues or was this something that they changed during the update to the system? Any thoughts?

Luckily I had a variety of other speaker options to choose from. That’s how I know it was only the SA220 that failed. It was still frustrating.

Rant over.

[RogerPease]

Yeah. It’s good work that you had something standing by to fall back on.

The SA 330x does not have the channel noise/failure problem that the SA 220 has.
The control pots are enclosed on the 330 so they don’t get dirty like the open ones on the 220.
That change is one of the significant upgrades in the 330, that and the channel expansion unit adding 4 more channels.
The power increase and the integrated sub are less significant to me, for acoustic music at least.

Have you tried following Fishman’s instructions to clean the 220’s control pots?
It should bring your unit back to life. (At least I hope that is the problem you’re talking about.)
Other 220 owners here on the forum have said they do periodic maintenance on the pots and have no problem.

If it doesn’t revive your unit Fishman customer service may be able to replace what’s busted.
Someone else may have more info about what parts are still supported on the 220.
If they do still have parts it will cost $50 plus shipping.
If you can figure out what’s busted they will tell you how to remove that piece so you don’t have to ship the whole head unit.

I bought my 330 used and ended up replacing the preamp board (hiss in one channel) and the plastic end cap (crack).
Later I had to place the driver in the sub.
Apparently the previous owner thrashed this system. It’s been solid and works great since the repairs.

Hope that helps, _RP

[bkepler]

Thanks so much for your response. I haven’t tried cleaning/reviving yet. This was the first time out of the gate in a couple of years due to the suspension of in-person events. I’ve had the unit for about 10 years and have watched with fingers crossed while others had issues. I love the Fishman brand and a lot of their products do EXACTLY what I need them to do. It’s good to hear that they’ve fixed the problem going forward. The expansion mixer of the 330 is appealing, but if I can keep the 220 reliable, it fits the bill for my needs at the moment. But not having to worry is mighty appealing. The day after that happened, Facebook thought I needed the Bose S1 at a really attractive price. But I like Fishman. What can I say? Thanks again for your input.

[RogerPease]

Best of luck on the cleaning.

I wasn’t trying to talk you into a 330, just throwing in some extra (probably off topic) info.
I don’t believe the 330 sounds measurably different or better than the 220.
Your 220 is a fine system and best of all it’s*paid*for! :-)

Cheers, _RP

[leew3]

Check with Fishman support as well. They're legendary here on the AGF and in my personal experience will go way beyond what's required by warranty to make things right for you.