Soundcraft 200B and grounding mod

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iomegaman

Well-known member
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Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
867
Location
Tucson, Az
So I picked up a 32 channel Soundcraft 200B with sweepable EQ's and the power supply this weekend for $50.00 (seller had for years but never had the proprietary cable link between the board and the psu so he never even turned it on)...at any rate I've read several recommend doing the Ciletti grounding mod...

But as I take this unit apart (to clean and inspect and Ciag D5 all the pots/sliders) I find that each of the XLR module groups (running 8 line outs/inserts/inputs back panel boards each) ALL have a soldered green grounding cable that runs to the star ground bracket next to the EIC...and each of these panels in turn are essentially star grounding the modules that plug into them...

Now before I go cutting and soldering ribbon cables to do essentially the same thing, am I looking at a unit that someone has already done their version of the star ground to?

I mean $50.00 was a steal, and I'm tempted to do some of the capacitor upgrades, but in all honesty my listening environment could use more love than spending hours modding opamps and resistors considering I already have a pretty decent arsenal of outboard gear and rarely need more channels, it was just to sweet a deal for a gear junkie to pass up and I had a cable made in about an hour and everything on this board works fine.

But I've heard the star grounding mod is pretty much SOP on having one of these, my question is, has someone already done it here or will cutting ribbons make that much of a difference?

My plan will be to use this as a summing bus and setup a sort of "go to" recording monitor situation that I can just leave set up, sort dumb down the patchbay approach...

I'm sure there are guys here who have done the mod I just am wondering if this unit (which had a church sticker on the bottom of it, and it is one of the larger more "band oriented" charismatic churches in town that probably has paid on staff real sound engineers) has already been modded sort of?

I haven't had a chance to REALLY listen to it...its like 105 here in Tucson and I am NOT turning off the AC so I can listen to a $50.00 bargain at this time...but what I have heard thru Grados and closed back headphones already seems rather quiet...we owned a 1600 in the studio in San Diego years back and I really got to liking the sound of it but we had modded the hell out of it and rebuilt the power supply/etc...I have no intention on growing a studio to that level again...and this board seems pretty quiet for an analog console....
 
iomegaman said:
But as I take this unit apart (to clean and inspect and Ciag D5 all the pots/sliders) I find that each of the XLR module groups (running 8 line outs/inserts/inputs back panel boards each) ALL have a soldered green grounding cable that runs to the star ground bracket next to the EIC...and each of these panels in turn are essentially star grounding the modules that plug into them...
Actually, the modules are  "star-grounded" via the connector boards; they are simultaneously hierarchy-grounded via the ribbon cable. The Ciletti mod replaces the hierarchy ground with a second star grounding.
Admittedly, the grounding via the ribbon cable is sloppy, so it works somewhat, but it's not as good as reinforcing the grounding where it matters most, i.e. at the module's reference ground, i.e. at pins 17, 18 & 19 of the main connector, where the loom connects. It involves running a garland of Faston connectors, that mate with a Faston-terminated wire soldered on the module, the end of the Garland being connected to the same pins on the Master module.
You don't have to cut the ribbon and you can do the mod on the modules without having to take off all the modules.
The concept of star ground is terribly misunderstood; what is good for meat puppet safety is not necessarily optimum for audio signals.
 
Thanks for that, I am always grateful and kind of surprised at the level of expertise and civility that happens on this forum...it has not been my experience on other online communities, far from it.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond, thanks!
 
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