Gainclone not playing well with others - dead soundcard

dvdwmth · 27th July 2004, 08:50 PM

Just posted this at gainclone.com but everyone seems to be here so I will repost.

I decided id hook my gainclone up to my computer, which I have done before but in a different incarnation, and as soon as I started some music I got the blue screen of death and god awful noise. Now my sound card doesn't work. There are no black marks on the card but my computer crashes whenever I try to use it. Not a great loss because the sound card is old and didn't cost much, but it makes me worried that maybe I'll wreck something else.

So my question is, what mysterious force coming from my amp could cause such a thing? Or is this not possible? Perhaps its a coincidence that this happened just when I decided to hook up the gainclone but I doubt it since I have put many miles on both card and amp without incident. Aside from killing my sound card the amp is well behaved.

My understanding of electronics is between simple and non existant so hopefully what is mysterious to me is obvious to others. If more info will help please ask.

Thanks

Jean · 27th July 2004, 09:08 PM

There was a post about a portable cd player that started smoking recently . I think you should check for DC voltage at the input of the gc amplifier first.

dvdwmth · 27th July 2004, 09:15 PM

Thanks for the reply.

Just measured. No dc voltage at the inputs.

Tsanford · 27th July 2004, 10:00 PM

Are you using a large enough resistor on the input to ground? I use 20-47k depending on equipment, that resistor sets the input impedance of the amp. Too low an impedance could pull too much current and damage the card.
Another thought, How are you interfacing them? are you sure you haven't grounded the + output of your sound card? If the cable is wired up reversed it would cause a ground fault,I would hope the card would be protected from output to ground shorts tho.
Good luck with it.

carlmart · 27th July 2004, 10:19 PM

Anyone connecting a gainclone, particularly IGCs, to a computer soundcard should put at least 1K in series before the actual amp circuit.

A blocking capacitor is always in order after that resistor.

Carlos

Sjef · 27th July 2004, 10:19 PM

Maybe you should measure the voltage between the ground of your PC and the ground of the amp when they are not connected to each other.

With my old PC there was always a difference of about 70 Volts !!!! (with my new PC there is still about 5 to 10 Volts) Got a shock of it a couple of times. This is a static difference that will dissapear when you connect them to each other but it can realy destroy your hardware during connection.

So always connect when the power is off or use transformers.

dvdwmth · 27th July 2004, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tsanford
are you sure you haven't grounded the + output of your sound card? If the cable is wired up reversed it would cause a ground fault,I would hope the card would be protected from output to ground shorts tho.
Good luck with it.

this could be the source of the problem. I managed to get the card to work again, although its quite unstable, and in the process of experimenting reversed the connectors and got the same thing happening that caused the problem the first time.

trigon · 27th July 2004, 11:38 PM

Hi

I have pluged GC with my son's computer and it is working like a charm and BTW I have no input resistors at all.

Trigon

27th July 2004, 08:50 PM	#1
dvdwmth diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Toronto	Gainclone not playing well with others - dead soundcard Just posted this at gainclone.com but everyone seems to be here so I will repost. I decided id hook my gainclone up to my computer, which I have done before but in a different incarnation, and as soon as I started some music I got the blue screen of death and god awful noise. Now my sound card doesn't work. There are no black marks on the card but my computer crashes whenever I try to use it. Not a great loss because the sound card is old and didn't cost much, but it makes me worried that maybe I'll wreck something else. So my question is, what mysterious force coming from my amp could cause such a thing? Or is this not possible? Perhaps its a coincidence that this happened just when I decided to hook up the gainclone but I doubt it since I have put many miles on both card and amp without incident. Aside from killing my sound card the amp is well behaved. My understanding of electronics is between simple and non existant so hopefully what is mysterious to me is obvious to others. If more info will help please ask. Thanks

27th July 2004, 09:08 PM	#2
Jean diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Sacramento, CA	There was a post about a portable cd player that started smoking recently . I think you should check for DC voltage at the input of the gc amplifier first. __________________ left lane is for passing, slower traffic keep right please.

27th July 2004, 10:00 PM	#4
Tsanford diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Atlanta Georgia Area	Possible overload.. Are you using a large enough resistor on the input to ground? I use 20-47k depending on equipment, that resistor sets the input impedance of the amp. Too low an impedance could pull too much current and damage the card. Another thought, How are you interfacing them? are you sure you haven't grounded the + output of your sound card? If the cable is wired up reversed it would cause a ground fault,I would hope the card would be protected from output to ground shorts tho. Good luck with it.

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27th July 2004, 09:15 PM	#3
dvdwmth diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Toronto	Thanks for the reply. Just measured. No dc voltage at the inputs.

27th July 2004, 10:19 PM	#5
carlmart diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Brazil	Anyone connecting a gainclone, particularly IGCs, to a computer soundcard should put at least 1K in series before the actual amp circuit. A blocking capacitor is always in order after that resistor. Carlos

27th July 2004, 10:19 PM	#6
Sjef diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Amsterdam	Maybe you should measure the voltage between the ground of your PC and the ground of the amp when they are not connected to each other. With my old PC there was always a difference of about 70 Volts !!!! (with my new PC there is still about 5 to 10 Volts) Got a shock of it a couple of times. This is a static difference that will dissapear when you connect them to each other but it can realy destroy your hardware during connection. So always connect when the power is off or use transformers.

27th July 2004, 11:38 PM	#8
trigon diyAudio Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Canada	Hi I have pluged GC with my son's computer and it is working like a charm and BTW I have no input resistors at all. Trigon

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