guitarrmanpercy Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 I have had a legacy Variac acoustic 700 model that came with the power supply kit (pedal with switch, XLR out and TR out that comes with the stereo cord to supply power to the guitar).It's been issue-free since I bought it about 8 years ago. I rarely use it with the battery pack due to its short life. Recently I turned it on through the power unit's XLR output and all I got was mega distortion and noise coming out. I checked all the connections and they were good. I tried the TR output from the power unit with the same results. I replaced the XLR cable and tried a different channel in my PA and got the same results. I tried a soft reset of the guitar (sitar setting and plug stereo cable in while holding in button). This did not fix it. I tried cleaning all the inputs with pot cleaner - did not help. I finally tried putting batteries in and used a TR cable straight into the PA. That did the trick and it worked and sounded fine. I deduced the power supply kit was the culprit. To that end I checked the TX going into the unit and it measured approx 10 V AC which should be good. I checked the end of the TRS cable that goes into the guitar and it measured only 7V DC. I'm thinking it should be 9VDC as the battery pack with the 6 AA batteries provides 9V BUT I removed the board inside the power supply unit and the trace corresponding to the ring of the stereo input cable has a print on the board stamped as 7V. So I'm confused? It seems to me a 7VDC output could be causing all the distortion and noise. Shouldn't the TRS cable "ring" be outputting 9VDC to the guitar? I would like to buy another unit power supply kit but research has showed they are no longer made or sold and impossible to find? I could possibly build myself a unit that provides 9V DC to the ring of the stereo cord and provides a TR output to the PA at the same time but I need to know if that ring is supposed to carry 9VDC or 7VDC? Thanks guitarmanpercy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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