70s Soundcraft Series 2 Console

[Denyle Guitars]

- My inputs/outputs are at more of a 90 degree angle from the top of the board (directly in behind)... not anywhere near as accessible as W DeMarco's looks... bummer there.

That's how mine was configured too. From what I can tell, they were "semi-custom" made and there probably aren't any two the same, especially after 30+ years. BTW, the guy I got mine from claimed it was originally owned by Fleetwood Mac. There was one in CBGB's for a while too.

 

[man-bot]

Interesting... I wonder just how many of these consoles were produced.  Yours had a much more glamorious pedegree than mine.  The seller told me that mine was originally bought by Harry Belanfonte then was purchased from him by Anne Murray at which point he purchased it from her roadie...  it has some of that Snowbird mojo haha.

Well right now it has no mojo until the busses work!

 

[W DeMarco]

This is great, we picked one of ours from Lou Grahms private studio, apparently it was the monitor board with foreigner. 

 

[man-bot]

Sweet Foreigner!  Now that is some mojo  ;D

Put 15v to the buses and they are indeed working - good news!  However the VUs don't respond  ... not sure if I don't have something switched properly or whether they aren't hooked up correctly.  Time to go to the manual and schematics...  The good news is it's 90% working.

Can anyone reccomend a good +/- 18v power supply to build?

Mike

 

[W DeMarco]

Theres some switches above the vu section, one will switch between mains and groups, the farthest to the left should be switched down to view groups, up to view stereo mix.  All the rest should be up. 

 

[man-bot]

Cool - thanks for the tip, I'll try it tonight.  The manual is a little unclear at points (maybe its just me).  I'll try that and I'm also going to run through all of their console checking procedures.

Thanks again!

BTW - checked your studio site, nice place!

 

[W DeMarco]

Thanks, its in a barn out in the countryside.  We're gonna upgrade that site soon, those pics are ancient now.

BTW its not you, that manual blows.  But its a real simple console to use, luckily...

 

[man-bot]

Good news - got the channels audio being measured on the output VUs... some of the output channels are a bit messed up, but for the most part all is working well.

Now to get to cleaning it properly to get the noise down... probably have to fix the PSU as well.

Thanks for the help!

Any suggestions on where I can find 2 replacement VUs?  The soundcraft guy told me no dice from them...

 

[CJ]

Eddie Sphaghetti , his article, it is still

here>

http://www.tangible-technology.com/articles/200b.html

 

[madswitcher]

Hi again Man-bot

IIRC the VUs are standard SEW types, although mine was fitted with PPMs

Did you manage to get a manual for the wee beasty?  I might have the circuit diagrams somewhere if you haven't got them. Let me know and I could scan them in and pm them to you.

Mike

 

[W DeMarco]

Hey Mike,

There is a console online at soundcrafts website.  And can you believe it includes the schemies.

 

[CJ]

this 8 channel looks clean, sat at 150 for a while,

but now the vultures are starting to circle the meat>

 

[moneypit]

Hi i have a series two power supply minus the enclosure if you want it. pcb is good no burnt traces 2transformers ,heatsink, 3 filter caps (probably should throw those out) and a voltage selector switch. do you want it?......................................Frank

 

[analogguru]

Maybe I missed something, but I would suggest, that the 200b is a completely different to the series 2.

analogguru

 

[moneypit]

yeah, i was kinda wondering about that myself. series two runs on +40 and 48 volts not +/- 17 rails

 

[man-bot]

Hey Moneypit - I would be interested as my PSU board is in rough shape... in fact the whole thing is a bit rough!  Working right now, but who knows for how long.  Let me know how you would want to do it!

Seems like the whole board is working but with some issues... buss 4 works only on some channels and buss 3 seems to show buss 4's signal on occassion.  I'm hoping this is a connection issue only as the board is pretty dirty.  Could be the rebuilt output boards though - I'll probably have to pull those and check them.

The other issue is VU 2 and 5 are gonzo... have to look into the schematics to try and figure out if they are salvageable as the only supplier I found with the Sifam RAF22VU has a price of $160 USD each... ouch.  Basically as much as I paid for the whole thing!  Any ideas how to approach this one?  The manual does have schems for the VU circuit...

W DeMarco & madswitcher - I do have the manual and noticed it did have the schems... I only saw the block diagrams at first, but of course the schems are there which is good!  How much hiss do you notice on your boards?  Seems that there is quite a bit on mine... not sure whether its cause I have the montior volume cranked or if it is just noisy... when I have it hooked up properly to some speakers and not to some crappy headphones I guess I'll have a better idea.

 

[W DeMarco]

Moneypit I need that supply in a bad way, where are you at? 

Oh I see you want it too man bot,  If you don't need it I really could use it.  2nd dibs I guess. 

As for hiss,  yeah If you crank it there will be some. 

 

[man-bot]

Hey W DeMarco - after reading back I see you need it more than me to get your other board working so I'd be willing to forgo it.  My transformer is fine its the PCB that is having a hard time!  If you only need the transformer than perhaps we could work something out?

Otherwise I'm more than happy to step aside.

Mike

 

[W DeMarco]

Awesome Mike,

It could be the tranx but from what I understand now the 317 regulators that were used in this non original psu might be my problem.  Im hoping that the board will be the fix I need.  If not I'll part it to you.  Many thanks,

Will

 

[man-bot]

Well I've had a chance to put the whole console though the paces and have found inconsistencies throughout... mostly its working but in some cases some busses won't work or some EQ here and there.  So at this point I've decided to open it up section by section and get it clean (on the surface it is disgusting). I have a few questions though:

- Best way to clean the pots,spray deoxit or contact cleaner down the shaft?  Should it be aimed at a different part?
- Best way to clean the push button switch (I think this may be why some busses don't work... deoxit/contact cleaner again?
- Should I recap the electrolytics?  If so should I go to a higher capacitence value?  What effect will it have on the overall tone?
- Should I consider changing or upgrading the ICs?  If so to what?

I have put some links to the new pics as well as the shots are pretty big...

http://home.cogeco.ca/~michael.lett/whole-board-front.JPG
http://home.cogeco.ca/~michael.lett/whole-board-back.JPG
http://home.cogeco.ca/~michael.lett/ic-closeup.JPG
http://home.cogeco.ca/~michael.lett/buss-switch-front.JPG