Orion Remote Gain Controller Problem

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

Do you have a picture of this knob? I have a few Orion friends and I can see if I can find a spare.

That would be awesome! Let me know their price.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

That would be awesome! Let me know their price.

Oh that's just a standard knob. I just gave one to a guy from the Soundqubed group looking for one. I don't think I have anymore but I'll check and let you know.


EDIT: All I have is the FSD knobs that don't have clipping lights left.

Crescendo sells replacement knobs. I would guess they are exactly the same but not 100% sure.

Replacement Bass Knob

store.crescendoaudio.com

 

[Firewalker]

Definitely looks like it is the same one to me at least on the outside. For 20 bucks it is worth shot.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

Oh that's just a standard knob. I just gave one to a guy from the Soundqubed group looking for one. I don't think I have anymore but I'll check and let you know.


EDIT: All I have is the FSD knobs that don't have clipping lights left.

Crescendo sells replacement knobs. I would guess they are exactly the same but not 100% sure.

Replacement Bass Knob

store.crescendoaudio.com

Ordered. Damn you made that easy.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

I ordered the one @Popwarhomie linked. It doesn't seem to work as well as the original:

Crescendo Audio

store.crescendoaudio.com

Orion MD Audio rep suggested this one from amazon (I find it sketchy they recommend competitors' products):
Amazon product ASIN B07J2QRZKT
The cases look identical, but the obvious difference is which side is max and which side is min.

Is the way the pot is mounted the only difference between the two?
Does a bass knob use the full range of the pot since does not even make a full rotation?

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

Does a bass knob use the full range of the pot since does not even make a full rotation

Potentiometers are full open & close from lock to lock. If the company suggested this knob then it should be ok.
I do suggest to anyone looking for a non-RCA bass knob to do research before plugging in a non OEM knob. I just recently changed from a JL HD to a JL Slash amp. Knobs looked identical so I just left the same one. It did not work so I swapped the new one. It did not work! I kick myself for being lazy and not changing it in the first place.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

Potentiometers are full open & close from lock to lock. If the company suggested this knob then it should be ok.
I do suggest to anyone looking for a non-RCA bass knob to do research before plugging in a non OEM knob. I just recently changed from a JL HD to a JL Slash amp. Knobs looked identical so I just left the same one. It did not work so I swapped the new one. It did not work! I kick myself for being lazy and not changing it in the first place.

If neither worked, do you think you damaged the amp by using the wrong one? It would be nice if these things became standardized. Who even knows if the pinouts on the plug are the same...

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

If neither worked, do you think you damaged the amp by using the wrong one? It would be nice if these things became standardized. Who even knows if the pinouts on the plug are the same...

I did damage it. It was working before this time around. It should be fine because when the bass knob is not plugged in, the amp goes to full out, be it gain or boost. I do not want to pay the $360 flat fee for just the bass knob jack repair. I will use the RCA knob I have.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

I did damage it. It was working before this time around. It should be fine because when the bass knob is not plugged in, the amp goes to full out, be it gain or boost. I do not want to pay the $360 flat fee for just the bass knob jack repair. I will use the RCA knob I have.

I agree an rca attenuator is much more reliable. I'll probably go that route. The downside is they can't detect clipping. If anyone could find a schematic for an oem remote gain with clip light, it would be incredibly easy to make a clip indicator.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

The downside is they can't detect clippin

With your experience, that should not be an issue... unless you get trigger happy.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

With your experience, that should not be an issue... unless you get trigger happy.

I honestly don't know if clipping actually damages a speaker. I understand that actual power increases.

 

[1aespinoza 10+ year member]

I honestly don't know if clipping actually damages a speaker. I understand that actual power increases.

I say it depends on speaker quality. A normal sine wave pulls and pushes in a gentle curve whereas a clipped signal brutally yanks and shoves the cone assembly. If build quality is low the glue may crack, cone may bend, spider may tear. Coil failure will most likely be a combination of overheating and clipping. Now that I say this, I realize how important a bass knob is. I have been without one for 2 weeks and have had some songs that start off hard. Scrambling for the push button volume is frustrating. A bass knob is just a twist away.

 

[Jimi77 5,000+ posts]

I honestly don't know if clipping actually damages a speaker. I understand that actual power increases.

It's the additional power in the clipped signal that causes the damage; ie you could kill a 1kw sub by clipping the hell out of a 500wrms amp.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

It's the additional power in the clipped signal that causes the damage; ie you could kill a 1kw sub by clipping the hell out of a 500wrms amp.

That's what I said.

 

[Firewalker]

What about some of the ones from Sky High? Those are all hand made iirc as they are customizable with all sorts of stuff. Plus the one you posted above is the same one as you bought before. A lot of those companies as you are well aware off just use the same bass knob but put their own branding on it. The ones from the Sundown Amplifiers with the LED's I've seen with a few other companies. Like the one they have listed on Sky High from DS18 same bass knob as Sundown.

Heck the one you bought after looking at it again and the other one Orion suggested is the looks to be the same one that my Cab-22 and Cab-45 came with it maybe a little bigger housing. If you want I can pull it out and take the screws out of the housing and take some pictures in the next couple days so you can see how it is wired up. Probably the same damn thing just a little bigger housing

Install Accessories - Bass Knobs - Page 1 - Sky High Car Audio

skyhighcaraudio.com