Rane Ap-13 got Fried?

[funkymonk#9]

A bunch of you helped me along my signal chain upgrades over the last few months.
Well, it seems to be a real humbling experience for me.

I purchased a used Rane Ap-13 from a AGF member a few months back and after about 12 rehearsals with it, it seems to have stopped functioning.

The power light is on but no signal light when plugged in. I later plugged both pickups straight into a mixer and no problems other than being very weak signals.

I always plugged into the piezo with my Mcintyre Feather and sometimes my Seymour Duncan Woody.

Anyone have a palm to forehand moment for me, or perhaps someone would find a use for it with some know how.
I'm open to anything, maybe find it a home for the right person.
There is an electronics guy in town who could at least give me a educated diagnosis.

[Gordon Currie]

I have a schematic in PDF form if you need it. An electronics whiz could trace it out and possibly determine if a component such as a capacitor failed, or if it might be an integrated circuit. Knowing how Rane designed things, I would expect the ICs to be socketed for easy replacement.

PM me if you need the schematic.

[Bobalooba]

you probably have done this, but make the sure the switch that controls the path of the piezo and the mic (under the phantom power light)
isn't stuck in between the slot. That happened to me once and I liked to never figured out the problem

[MarkF_48]

A couple things to try......(Bobalooba's switch suggestion first)

I think I have the following correct from what I can see from the schematic and the following may help to see if the whole unit has an issue or sections of it.

The AP-13 has a couple places you can plug a 1/4" cable into which you can plug into an amp and check for signal through the unit.
Also you can check each 'channel' of the AP-13 by plugging in the instrument cable either fully or part way just until you hear/feel the first click (ring connection on the TRS jack).

Operate the two 'invert' switches back and forth a couple times.

Ensure phantom power is switched 'OFF'

Side 'A'
With the input switch in the 'piezo' position and instrument plug all the way in to the input jack and guitar connected ...
You may need to tweak the controls a bit to hear anything presuming this section of the unit is OK.
- Plug a 1/4"TS cable into the 'tuner' out jack and connect this cable to an amp. Play the guitar an see if signal plays through to amp.
- Plug a 1/4"TS cable into the 'piezo' out jack and connect this cable to an amp. Play the guitar an see if signal plays through to amp.
- Plug a 1/4"TS cable into the 'send A' out jack and connect this cable to an amp. Play the guitar an see if signal plays through to amp.
- Plug a 1/4"TS cable all the way into the 'loop A' jack and connect this cable to an amp. Play the guitar an see if signal plays through to amp. This jack has a 'switch' in it that could block the signal from going all the way through the amp if it dirty. Work the 1/4" plug in and out a couple of times which may 'clean' it if is possibly dirty.
- Plug a 1/4"TS cable into the 'headphone' out jack and connect this cable to an amp. Play the guitar an see if signal plays through to amp.

If the above gets signal through for Side 'A' at at point above, note where it's OK and we can try to troubleshoot from there.

[sdelsolray]

Originally Posted by funkymonk#9

A bunch of you helped me along my signal chain upgrades over the last few months.
Well, it seems to be a real humbling experience for me.

I purchased a used Rane Ap-13 from a AGF member a few months back and after about 12 rehearsals with it, it seems to have stopped functioning.

The power light is on but no signal light when plugged in. I later plugged both pickups straight into a mixer and no problems other than being very weak signals.

I always plugged into the piezo with my Mcintyre Feather and sometimes my Seymour Duncan Woody.

Anyone have a palm to forehand moment for me, or perhaps someone would find a use for it with some know how.
I'm open to anything, maybe find it a home for the right person.
There is an electronics guy in town who could at least give me a educated diagnosis.

If you want to attempt to isolate the fault, let me ask a few questions first.

1) When you say there is "no signal light when plugged in", are you talking about the overload LED ("OL") light than turns on when you are approaching signal distortion?

2) How you you connect your guitar to the AP13?

a) Is it a TS cable with one pickup signal?
b) Is it a TRS cable with two separate signals from the guitar?
c) Something else?

3) Have your tried running your pickup through the second channel (the "B" channel) instead of the first channel the (the "A" channel)? There's a switch on the front of the AP13 that allows you to do this, IF you are using a TRS input cable (see question #2 above).

4) See posts above for additional tests.