Doh, should have waited and had you send me one with the mobo (which I got today... thanks a TON man, i just need to find some RAM for it and i'm back in MAMEy business!). Could you send me an encoder? I got a replacement for my MkIIa, which was in a bad spot, a while ago but not for the MkII. Thanks Rob!

Send me a private message with your shipping address.

Do you know if a bad encoder can also cause the empeg to be starting itself? Mine is doing that quite frequently lately, I now either put it in pause before turning off or pull it out of the sled.

Hm. Does turning the volume knob wake the player, or is that one of the functions that deliberately does NOT wake the player, precisely because it could cause that behavior?

There are some FAQ entries, near the end of the Troubleshooting section, about poltergeist players, that aren't related to the encoder. Have a look at those when you have a minute and see if they apply to your case.

Rob thank you so much, I got them last week or so. Been busy with work and hurricanes and forgot to thank you. Appreciate your personal attention in getting me a couple encoders! Just need to find the time to do the swap now, really appreciated, thanks.

Just wanted to let the group know that I ordered some encoders from Mouser and replaced them in my two MkIIa players today. The part number from Mouser was 688-EC11E15244B2 and the Alps part number was EC11E15244B2. They were $5.61 each plus shipping. The link to the Mouser webpage is below:

http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?&han...=0&crc=true

Everything went okay with my two replacements, although I'm not sure if I ordered the correct part. I didn't notice this until after the first installation when I was reassembling. I decided to go ahead and do both players, so the issue is not a large one...I just thought I'd report back to the group in case someone else is interested.

The knob didn't want to go on all the way like I thought it should. When I put the old and new encoders side by side, I saw that the new part has a longer shaft (it's approximately 0.25 inches longer).

Because of this, the knob sticks up a little bit more than on the original encoder, and there is a little bit of a gap between the bottom of the knob and the fascia. The new parts work just fine electrically, the volume is now smooth again in both of my units and the pushbutton switch functions okay as well.

I've looked at the Mouser website and tried to see if I ordered the wrong part number, maybe there is one listed that is shorter, etc.? But I didn't see anything that is obviously shorter in their catalog or data sheet...

So be forewarned, Mouser has a replacement that works, but if you're a stickler about the original look of the knob, this isn't an exact replacement.



Does anyone know if the replacement colored knobs that come with the colored button sets are exactly the same size as the original or by some chance would they be a little thicker?

Thanks, Randy

Ooo. Err. I could have sworn that was the right part number, though it's just possible that it got confused with the one on the Rio Receiver, which *does* look a bit like the longer one. Sorry.

Hmmm....

Well, at least it's electrically correct, I suppose.

Hugo

Just cut/file down the shaft some, and the knob should go on like with a stock one.
Best done *before* installation, though.

Cheers

It looks like the lower housing is significantly longer, not just the shaft. While it'll be better that way, I doubt it'd be the same as before.

It really hasn't been a problem for me at all. You only really notice the small gap between the knob and the fascia when looking at it from the side, which I don't do much in real life usage of the player.

If a person had never seen the front of the player before, I don't think they'd notice that the knob is sticking up a tiny bit.

It's worth it just to get the better performance from the new encoders and the smooooth action when spinning the knob....

By the way, I noticed that the Mouser page data sheet for the encoder lists the operating life at 15,000 cycles. Does anyone know how that translates to real use? Does every flip of the volume knob up or down count as 1 cycle?

Thanks, Randy

There is actually another option from Mouser as well. This one is a direct replacement with an overall shaft length the same as the OEM Alps version. It also has a .5mm pushbutton travel instead of 1.5mm like the Alps encoders Mouser stocks. The only downside is that it's body is a little thicker which brings the fill nipple of the VFD closer to the encoder. It's rated at 20,000 rotations. I believe we installed one in Robitic's player, so maybe he can comment on how it compares as far as feel and appearance. That is about the only other option other than having Mouser order about $4000 worth of the exact encoder the Empeg came with.

Stu

Side-by-side comparison between my two MkIIa units yields no difference IMO in feel- rotationally. Push-button-wise, the new encoder is slightly easier to depress (not a bad thing).
The knob sits about 1mm further out of the fascia on the new encoder, though this is also not a bad thing (no gap at the rear and the knob is easier to lay a finger on).

/chiming in
//kudos to Stu! Great work!

I bought this part as I screwed up my encoder when installing the light kit (damn super glue!). I put it on as is but marked the length of the other shaft onto the new shaft with a sharpie. It stuck out entirely too far for my tastes - about 1/4"! I took a dremel cut off wheel and cut it shorter and it looks much better to me. Mind you, I just did the install and cut within the last 2 hours...