Melos SHA Gold - what may be the fix..

The phototentiometer on the Melos was a known problem.

Now things are getting interesting! Thanks for sharing.

Hi - I too have a Melos SHA Gold with exactly the same problem. In my case, i have tracked it down to a unique PLA chip (near the balance pot), and have thus assumed that it is irreplacable. However....the 2 relays that control the mute are on the pho-teniometer board and are well worth checking, as is the diode and the driver transistor for the relays. Remember, if the tranny is not switching, it is highly probable that the diode is dead too, so replace it at the same time as the transistor.
In my case, I am going to rip out the entire board, replace the volume pot with a decent ALPS one and hard wire whatever I have left. I'll let you have the details when I have done, just in case you end up following my path.

thank you. I will go through and check fuses and see if
I overlooked any thing of the kind you suggest. Certainly no mention in the owners' manual.

Seems to me I recall reading a post mentioning some kind of photocoupler or a photo related replaceable part that can burn out????

I did leave a little info out. I had a BAT VK-31SE and I had some issues, when I called BAT there was a re-set sequence that the ran me through and that fixed my issues. It was a matter of holding two different buttons and shutting it off at the same time.

Don't want to ask a stupid question, I know nothing about melos, but did you try unplugging for a while? Just in case it's just a matter of re-set. Just ignore me if this is too obvious.
jeff

I sent an email to George Kaye. No response after a couple of days. Thank you for the suggestion all the same. I have enjoyed reading yor other posts. Folks who contribute to
the knowledge and helpfulness at this site are second to none.

hi, for what it is worth when i had a melos sha gold and melos audio restoration could not fix the problems i had i contacted george kaye (now of moscode tube amp fame)and he was able to fix the unit and was familiar with the circuit in the melos tube preamps.