Rane Empath

Disclaimer: This Rane Empath troubleshooting article is about a dj mixer and not any other type of problems you may have in your pants. Please take those concerns elsewhere.

The Rane Empath is considered one of the best most verseatile DJ mixers in the industry. Sometimes, even the unsung hero. Nobody gives the 3-channel mixer with not effects its fair chance, but the Rane Empath is always a pleasant surprise like the girl next door in junior high who ends up being the prom queen in high school.

But all flattery aside, sometimes a DJ can have a problem with his Rane Empath, loose or sticky knobs (not to be confused with the prom queens loose stool, totally different). So here’s a little guide to help you through your difficult time.

Loose Knobs on the Rane Empath

This can be for 3 reasons

1. Loose knob
2. Loose knob extension
3. Physical damage to the knob or pot

Let’s work backwards.

3. Physical damage to the knob or pot
Take off the knob, the extension (if its a removable one, such as the eq), so that the metal is exposed. If you’re dealing with the EQs, you will see recessed EQ pots, whereas other knobs actually have metal knobs underneath. If there is a metal knob, make sure it is firmly in tact and doesn’t wiggle at all. If it does, there is phsyical damage to your mixer and you should call Rane about getting it fixed or you may cause even more damage. Likewise, if its a recessed pot, use a toothpick or small screwdriver to dig prod the hole a bit. It should be absolutely sturdy and not wiggle.

2. Loose knob extensions

Knobs with recessed EQ pots have plastic extension, which the knob is mounted onto. If you found that your pots are sturdy, place the extension on and make sure that it does not wiggle. It should stand firmly and rotate smoothly in the pot. If you’re not sure, try the extension in different pots and make sure that it feels the same in all of them. If so, your extension is fine, and the problem is probably the knob.

If your knob extension are loose, you should call Rane and just order new ones. The extremely ghetto, not-recommended, do-this-at-your-own-risk-or-better-yet-don’t-do-it-at-all, DIY fix is to put sticky tack inside the piece where the extension meets the pot. We really don’t recommend you do this, because you may do more harm than benefitand instead of having to replace a cheap piece of plastic, you will screw up the much more expensive, metal EQ pot.

3. Loose knobs.

Ok, so the pots are sturdy, the extensions are sturdy, it has to be the knobs then. The obvious, quick solution to this is to just buy new knobs. They’re not free, but pretty close.

If you want to try a DIY fix, try to put some celophane around the extension, which should tighten the grip of the knob around it. Similarly, you could try sticky tack, but celphane is much easier to fix if you decide you don’t like it. Sticky tack is, well, pretty damn sticky and hard to get out of a recessed knob with a bunch of grooves inside.

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Well there it is my knob-defficient, Rane Empath using friend.

Hopefuly this little trouble shooting guide helped you fix the problem of your loose knobs. If you’re experiencing the opposite problem, sticky knobs, you can follow a similar method to determine what’s going wrong, but generally this is a bit more serious and deserves a call to Rane customer service, who are usually extremely helpful.