Profex II

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 30 Jan 2008 3:06 pm

Hello. I have a Profex II with user presets somebody put on it, but mostly for guitar, not for steel...
Alan Harrison was good enough to try & put steel presets from his card onto my Profex, but when he inserts the card into the Profex II it reads "Not a Peavey Profex card"
It is a Peavey card, & works fine in his Profex II.
I did a reset on mine by holding the Play & Global buttons at the same time then unplugging & replugging the power supply...
Any suggestions as to how to load the steel presets from Alan's card..
Thanks,
John

Mark Edwards · Post by **Mark Edwards** » 31 Jan 2008 5:24 am

jolynyk not sure about Alan's card but there are quite a few profex II settings on Jeff Newmans web site. You will have to manually put them in yourself, not sure if this will help but there are a butt load of settings on his site....

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 31 Jan 2008 12:54 pm

Is the battery OK in the card?

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 31 Jan 2008 3:48 pm

I agree with Mark Edwards. Load it in without the card manually because no matter how good the original most players seem to tweak the settings a little, besides it's good to get the experience working with the setting and you don't have to worry about card batteries and losing or damaging the card, not to mention the ridicules price they want for those cards if you could get one. The slot is damaged in one of my tubefex and the card won't work and it cost me about $90 to find that out. And I accidentally lost the whole program on the card one time. After all the BS I discovered I really don't need the card since most players only use about 4 of the presets off the card anyway.

Casey Lowmiller · Post by **Casey Lowmiller** » 31 Jan 2008 5:04 pm

I would talk to Ken Fox. He's the man when it comes to Profex II's.

Mike Brown, from Peavey, is also a great resource. He is very knowledgeable about most Peavey products.

Casey

Ernest Cawby · Post by **Ernest Cawby** » 31 Jan 2008 6:48 pm

IF YOU HAVE A CARD SEND IT TO KEN HE MAY EVEN LOAD IT FOR FREE, HE IS A GOOD GUY.

ERNIE

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 1 Feb 2008 5:22 am

thanks all.. talked to Ken, & I opened the Profex & it looks like the battery leaked some.. So I ordered the chips from Ken, & I hope that will do it..

John

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 1 Feb 2008 6:42 am

That battery eliminator chip works exquisitely...

Billy Woo · Post by **Billy Woo** » 1 Feb 2008 10:47 am

Normally Im not a negative person but I've owned 2 of these units and have had nothing but problems with them and usually it has to do with battery leaks which doesnt take much especially if you depend on this unit for your work on the road only to find out your profex is not working, I dont mean to incite a riot but just present an impartial opinion, you might be better off with a Pod 2 or some of the newer outboard gear that are available. Anyway it's just an opinion from someone who's been there and done that.

Bronco Billy aka
Billy Woo

Alan Harrison · Post by **Alan Harrison** » 1 Feb 2008 12:15 pm

I realize that some of you Profex users have had problems, but mine is one of the most dependable pieces of musical epuipment that I own.

My Profex II and the card were purchased new in 1991, Jeff Newman programed my card as well as the Profex soon after I got them.

The origional battery in the Profex lasted until 2002 when I thought it probably needed replacing and wanted to check to see if it had leaked. At the same time, I had the battery replaced in the Card. Then in 2003, I ordered the set of chips from Ken Fox, including the batterless chip and replaced the entire set.

I still have not had any problems with my Profex II and don't plan to change it out for anything else unless it gives up the ghost completely.

I will probably purchase another one if I have the opportunity and find one in excellent condition.

Casey Lowmiller · Post by **Casey Lowmiller** » 1 Feb 2008 12:54 pm

I got a steal on my Profex II. As soon as I could, I ordered the audio chips & the batteryless mod & got the steel settings too. I couldn't be happier!!!

Much like Mr. Harrison's, my Profex II has been very dependable. I would gladly buy another for the right price.

Currently, I know where there is a Profex II, a bass version of a Profex II & either a Tubefex or the Trans Tubefex for sale. All of these seem to be reasonably priced units in good shape.

They sure are some neat & useful products!!!

Casey

Carl Dvorcek · Post by **Carl Dvorcek** » 1 Feb 2008 9:27 pm

Funny this thread came up. I've got a problem with my Profex II that maybe someone has experienced. First let me reply to the thread. The flash card has nothing to do with it. I've used a Roland M-512E in mine for years without a problem. I've experienced battery failures which is the only reason I have the card which I only use to restore mine and Newmans settings in the event the battery fails. If you're into MIDI, I believe I still have the MIDI dump off of my machine with all of Newmans settings that I laboriously entered manually. If not, it's easy enough to dump it to your PC if you have a MIDI interface. Now for my problem. My Profex all of a sudden turned into an attenuator instead of a preamp. I get audio out of it but no amplification. I can crank up the input level until it clips and it has little to no effect on the output except distortion. I can crank up the output pot and get little to no increase. This just happened out of the clear blue. My ShoBud direct to the amp works fine. Bypassing my Goodrich makes no difference. I'm sure it's the Profex but am baffeled that it does have output and control. Any thoughts?

Alan Harrison · Post by **Alan Harrison** » 2 Feb 2008 5:38 am

Carl, check your cable from the pedal to the Profex. Last week mine was working fine before we took a break and when we came back it had very little output. I played the rest of the evening with just the Evans direct into the pedal.

It turned out to be the short cable between the pedal and the Profex, one of the George L cable ends had lost contact with the ground cable. Just a thought, but hopefully it will turn out to be something simple.

If not, call Ken Fox. He is top notch when it comes to electronics and problems with Profex's and Amps. alan

Carl Dvorcek · Post by **Carl Dvorcek** » 2 Feb 2008 10:35 am

Thanks for the suggestion Alan. I had already checked that possibility by trying it with several different cables. However, your reply did rouse my curiosity. I have been using George L cables and plugs exclusively for years. On your suggestion, I decided to test my cables using a digital multimeter. I found several that had as much as 48 ohms resistance end-to-end. I ended up rebuilding 7 cables and got the resistance down to 1.8 ohms end-to-end. I don't know what that translates to in impedance per foot but it has to have made a difference. Here's a little tip if you haven't already thought of it. WHen I started using George L's, I drilled a 1/4 inch hole in my work bench. Stick the plug in the hole and you have an excellent placeholder which allows you to insert the cable and keep a solid downward pressure while tightening the shield screw. No clumsy fumbling trying to hold it in your hand and do it.

Alan Harrison · Post by **Alan Harrison** » 2 Feb 2008 2:28 pm

Hey Carl, I wish I could say that I had thought of that 1/4 inch hole in the bench Idea, but I didn't. Pretty darn good Idea.......alan

Ken Fox · Post by **Ken Fox** » 2 Feb 2008 5:20 pm

The number one problem I see with Profex 2 units with battery leakage is low to no output. Requires stripping the parts off the board in the affected area, cleaning both sides of the board, replacing with new parts and testing.

Often tines a small trace just in front of the battery will be cut through by battery acid. it will cause the error code "not a Profex 2 card" to come up.

Another problem I see is a low battery warning after the battery has been removed and a battery-less chip installed. That happens if someone de-solders the battery and pulls out the plated through hole on the circuit board when pulling the battery out. That requires repairing that plated thru connection.

I do not de-solder the batteries I break them out by wiggling them back and forth. Much less chance of damage that way.

Carl Dvorcek · Post by **Carl Dvorcek** » 3 Feb 2008 10:20 am

What is the battery-less chip and how does it work?

Ken Fox · Post by **Ken Fox** » 3 Feb 2008 10:45 am

The user memory settings are kept on a memory chip. That chip will loose memory without a battery backup. This newer memory chips uses no battery! No more battery leakage.

Carl Dvorcek · Post by **Carl Dvorcek** » 4 Feb 2008 7:31 pm

Thanks Ken. I think I got the idea. I just shipped my Profex to Peavey to get whatever the problem is fixed. I also requested info/quote on getting the works done on it. Stay tuned.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 4 Feb 2008 7:44 pm

I must add my endorsement of the Profex 11.

I've had one of them since about 1992, and a second (an old Bassfex - exactly the same thing, just different logo on the front panel) that I had second-hand from Ken Fox in 2001. I don't know how old that one is, but both of these have performed faultlessly for the entire time I've owned them.

I did have Ken do the battery-less mod a while ago, but this was just to preempt any problem, not because of one.

I'm told by some that I'm using ancient technology, but I love their dependability. Like most, I only use about 3-4 settings at most, and those I've tweaked a little from the original patch. I have a nice mix of a slight reverb and an almost imperceptible delay, and I've warmed up the EQ a bit: that's all the effect I want.

A good product!

Bo Legg · Post by **Bo Legg** » 5 Feb 2008 7:23 pm

I had Ken mod both of my tubefexs. I had two because one was always at the peavey repair shop. I only found out after I joined the Steel Guitar Forum. All those years and about $500 in repairs and I was never told that the battery was the problem.

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