MB2 Troubleshooting

Cold solder joints are the default first check for nearly every MB2 symptom, from a noisy channel to no signal at all. A couple of things that sound like problems, like extra noise compared to another booster or 48V behavior in a power-hungry rack, usually turn out to be normal. The sections below are ordered by likelihood, so work down from the top.

General resources

• MB2 Assembly Guide
• General Troubleshooting Tips
• Checking Your Assembly

One channel is noisier, quieter, or hissing more than the other

1. Reflow the solder joints on the affected channel first. This resolves the issue in most cases. See Cleaning Up Solder Joints for how to identify and fix cold solder joints.
2. Double check all the resistor values by their color codes. (You cannot reliably confirm resistor values with a multimeter after they've been installed in the circuit.)

No signal or no audio output

1. Reflow the solder joints, same as Section 1.
2. Confirm phantom power (+48V) is engaged and working on your preamp. A surprising number of "no output" reports turn out to be an issue with the phantom power of the preamp.

MB2 sounds noisier than another mic booster you've compared it to

This is often due to the MB2's higher output gain and not a fault. The MB2 has higher gain than some other mic boosters, which results in a higher noise floor at the same preamp gain setting. But the MB2's noise floor is the same relative to gain as these other boosters. If a side-by-side comparison shows more noise but also more gain, that's the normal tradeoff, not a fault.

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