KVR Audio

THE INTRANCER · Post by **THE INTRANCER** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:27 am

In my younger teenage years, I've had a couple of misfortunes in regard to hardware. One where I accidentally blew up a Casio SK1 keyboard by using a switchable power supply. 12 volts instead of 9 volts. The other where I got fed up using a monochrome screen for my Atari Mega ST and connecting a normal TV to it, which wasn't the brightest idea, but it had a partly broken keyboard with a few keys not working after it was sent broken to me in transit. I got an Amiga 500, colour monitor, printer and desk not long after. And also I blew up an amplifier, my brother's which he got in the mid 1980's, that he left for me. I had apparently got the wrong type of fuse for it which I told him about. He wasn't too bothered about it though, thankfully for me. It was the fuse inside for the switching of the audio channels, not the actual plug fuse. I think they did away with them in later amplifiers in the 1990's. The Technichics deck one I have now doesn't use fuses.

pekbro · Post by **pekbro** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:51 am

Nothing really, since my general level of awareness doesn't allow for such things. Much like I am unable to lose my keys or forget my old home phone number which my parents made me memorize probably 46 yrs ago.

When I first got into modular I can recall mistakenly plugging an output into another output, the thing shut itself down is all.

*I am getting old though, my neurons are beginning to slow, maybe one day.

lfm · Post by **lfm** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 5:04 am

I have blown 3 graphics cards, but not due to my handling in any way.
My current daw has really high startup current it seems, and one place I lived it blew fuses when starting up first time charging capacitors or something. But having it connected all the time it is more smooth.

But guess this startup thingy causes transients on graphics cards, and they blow up eventually. And I don't even have advanced graphics, just the Geforce 200 and 300 series.

But no other cards had issues in that computer.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 5:20 am

In my solo days, my roadie (actually my best mate) once plugged the wrong PSU into my Zip Drive, when we were setting up for a gig, and killed it. That meant I had to load stuff into my sampler from floppy disks all night. Not the end of the world but annoying, nonetheless. Since then I have always been really anal about clearly marking which PSU is for which device.

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 6:09 am

I spilled a tiny amount of coffee on my PUSH 2 pads which turn out to have no sealing whatsoever…had some pads permanently lit, some didn’t work…didn’t go away after several weeks so had to strip it down and clean pressure pads with contact cleaner….perfect since, but I definitely wouldn’t gig with a PUSH and a pint, they really needed to add a gasket!

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:29 pm

circuit bent speak and math, plugged the wrong power in, it made a squeal, a pop and some smoke came out of it.

squarewave parade teaspoon, plugged the wrong power in, it never did anything ever again.
this one hurt, as it was irreplaceable

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:31 pm

and we blew a piano up once, but that was on purpose. to show how explosive custard powder can be.

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:07 pm

I fried a few PA speakers back in the day, but more often than not, I just blew fuses or popped circuit breakers. I really can’t think of anything else. I’m boring

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:16 pm

lfm wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 5:04 am I have blown 3 graphics cards, but not due to my handling in any way.

It used to be the only time I'd upgrade a GPU was when it melted... and I still had to do it every 6-8 months or so

I've killed a few mice and keyboards with static electricity just by touching them.

I had a Packard Bell laptop in the mid-90s with a monochrome LCD. I hadn't quite owned it for two whole weeks when, the instant I turned it on, there was a loud SNAP! and two bright red lines formed across the display. Freaky.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:08 pm

Where to begin...

There was this jam session where 4 enthousiastic guitar players plugged into my London City valve top. That was more than the transformer could handle. The repairs guy said it would better make a nice plant pot instead.

I had an Arp Axxe. Was curious how it worked internally. Figured out what PCB traces held the envelope generator signal with my multimeter. Switched it from volts to amperes, which was not a good idea. A mono synth without EV is no fun at all. Gave it to my brother who converted the keybed to use with his PC. (same brother which had blown up my ZX-81 by poking its components)

My father had a 10-band graphic EQ with spectrum analyser (simple 10 x 5 led matrix) I wanted to see the spectrum of my guitar. Till this day I don't know what exactly went wrong (guitar signal instead of line should be safe) but it blew the power section. Still waiting for the repairs guy to phone me when he found the right replacement transforner.

The home hifi amp in my living room, my wife had set a plant on top. And watered it. And spoiled some. Took it for repair when simply drying did not help. And the repairs guy (different one) was an idiot. The power transistors blew again, PCB traced continued to melt. No charge, thank you.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:14 pm

Why not asked what I have fixed?

A friend had a neglected Fender Rhodes stage piano, missing all sorts of parts. Phoned a shop too far away from me about replacement tone thingies, he sent them by mail (in a guitar strings bag) without any charge. Very kind. I constructed a pedal using an old tent pole. At a posh students club there was a beaten upright piano already missing some keys. I took the middle A, really needed that to complete this project.

T-CM11 · Post by **T-CM11** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:26 pm

Nothing, except...
A few computer keyboards, spilling drinks on them. I wish most of them were cheap ones, but they weren't.

chroma · Post by **chroma** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 8:09 pm

I once spent about a month of occasional evenings recapping & upgrading ics on an old studioMaster mixer (they are cheap and I like the raw sound)…. It had several wire looms than ran across the back and connected power, signal, and the midi vca support… somehow I connected the power loom into the midi vca… it didn’t power on after that. I didn’t have that much money into it but it was not the best moment

Vectorman · Post by **Vectorman** » Thu Jun 30, 2022 10:54 pm

Several years ago, I blew up a brand-new AMT P2 guitar preamp pedal by plugging an adapter with the wrong polarity into it (whoops). Never even got to use it once. At least the P2 was one of their less-expensive models. Would've been a lot more bummed if I had accidentally done that to my AMT SS-30 or SS-11.

_leras · Post by **_leras** » Fri Jul 01, 2022 6:58 am

BONES wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 5:20 am Since then I have always been really anal about clearly marking which PSU is for which device.

Ha! Exactly this 100%.

Label on the power plug end. Label on the adaptor end!

What Hardware Have You Blown Up By Accident ?