Dear RAP,



I am wondering if any of the seasoned studio pros or techs here have
advice for me regarding all the 80's outboard gear I own that has given
up the ghost as far as their internal power supplies are concerned.

I have a Yamaha SPX-90, Roland SDE-3000 and SRV-2000, etc.

All of these units are fine except for dead or faulty power supplies.
Roland and Yamaha don't even have replacements to sell and when they
did they were astronomically priced.

Can anyone recommend a good source for new supplies that will work in
these units or a way to repair them that is not equivalent to the cost
of the units themselves.

Any info would be highly appreciated. I love these old units and hate
to have to lose them. TIA.

I can understand why you would want to keep them.

Try replacing the electrolytic capacitors with good quality PSU,
+85-105 degC types.

Electrolytic capacitors that are 20 years old may have become dry and
have changed there value by a large degree.

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 17:51:38 -0700, James Reynolds
wrote:

I have a Yamaha SPX-90, Roland SDE-3000 and SRV-2000, etc.

All of these units are fine except for dead or faulty power supplies.
Roland and Yamaha don't even have replacements to sell and when they
did they were astronomically priced.

Power supplies are generically the bete noire of all Japanese
equipment of the 1980's. Somehow the manufacturers fell under
the spell of their number-crunchers and allowed things to be
pushed to (read: beyond) their limits.

On the upside, if the transformers are intact, replacing *all*
of the electrolytic caps, any damaged or threatened pass xstrs,
RESOLDERING, and maybe adding some heatsinking, can revive lots
of old power supplies.

How handy are you in this area? IMNSFHO (thanks, Fletcher x)
anybody who's confident making his/her own cables can repair
a power supply. And, just remember, you've got a whole newsgroup's
worth of kibitzers to oversee the job. What's to worry?

So, where do we start?

Chris Hornbeck
"This has been an account for those who don't keep them"
J-LG, _Tout Va Bien_ 1972

James Reynolds wrote:
I am wondering if any of the seasoned studio pros or techs here have
advice for me regarding all the 80's outboard gear I own that has given
up the ghost as far as their internal power supplies are concerned.

I have a Yamaha SPX-90, Roland SDE-3000 and SRV-2000, etc.

All of these units are fine except for dead or faulty power supplies.
Roland and Yamaha don't even have replacements to sell and when they
did they were astronomically priced.

What's wrong with fixing them? Most of that gear just use brute force
linear supplies, and even the stuff that uses switching supplies use
pretty simple ones that are built with off-the-shelf parts. Find a
competent power supply tech and get it fixed.

Can anyone recommend a good source for new supplies that will work in
these units or a way to repair them that is not equivalent to the cost
of the units themselves.

Why do you want to butcher stuff? Component level repair isn't that big
a deal with power supplies.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."