Neve V3 condensors

[Q-lab]

Hi there

We would like to replace the condensors in our NEVE V3 console.
Is there any specific brand considering the condensor quality, that have to buy? Or can we buy just standard condensors?

Regards

D

 

[SSLtech]

The main problem with the capacitors in the V-series is that they were under-rated in terms of volts, and unbiased. Whatever you get will die fiarly quickly, some brands do seem to manage to survive a bit longer. unfortunately, the crowded layouts (with resistors stood upright to crown everything onto the board) means that there's no room to uprate the caps.

The factory-authorised re-cap jobs were using Panasonic and Philips capacitors... If the board has been re-capped already, the traces and pads will be more likely to lift. USE A POWERED DESOLDERING TOOL.... NOT a soldering iron and solder sucker... I know they're expensive if you don;t have one, but the damage to the circuit boards will be even more expensive if you try to do it without a proper desoldering station.

If you are having the "Noisy EQ" problem, you'll find that the caps won't fix it... you have to re-pot the EQ. Do it at the same time. Trust me.

Keith

Keith

 

[aurt]

I've had good results in a VRL with the 105 deg. Panasonics. The axials are tough to find in anything but the original BC/Philips. For the master section, there is often room to upgrade and often radials will fit where an axial had been, but sadly the channels themselves are tight. Current generation 'lytics are smaller for a given voltage/cap. rating than they used to be, so you may be able to spec a slightly better rating replacement.
While you're in there, be sure to check if any electrolyte has leaked on to the boards. This can cause some really wacky logic problems. It can take years to eat through the resist and bridge traces, causing much hair pulling and plaintive moaning.

 

[Guest]

Get ready for fun. We used the BC/Phillips electrolytics for all of the 100uf at 6.3 volts(the same as AMS used for the SECOND factory recap), and for the others we used all panasonics at the highest rated values we could get that would fit(and still be relatively cost effective in large quantities). You absolutely must use a vacuum desoldering station as recommended by Keith. The pads are tiny(as are the traces) and the boards are very tight. Also be extremely careful with the ribbons that connect each section to the main board. They rip like paper if you aren't gentle with them. Definitely check for leaked electrolyte as recommended by Aurt, that stuff will terrorize you if you don't catch it. It can be difficult to spot sometimes, we found it helpful to use a flashlight up close and at an angle. Also, consider recapping the input section at the same time. It was shocking to sweep the modules and find them all down by a ridiculous amount below 300 cycles or so. Replacing the 3 or 4 caps in the signal path of the input section solved this problem.

Good luck!

Zach

 

[Q-lab]

Hi everybody
thanks a lot for quick answers.
That will help.

 

[SSLtech]

Q-Lab,

Which boards are you considering doing? The second AMS/Neve warranty refit only addressed the small fader block. The first was the entire module.

Has your board ever been done before?

How good are you with a desoldering tool?

It sounds like SPG and aurt have done this before, and I think that they would probably agree with me that it's not a good project for someone just starting out... you definately need to be reasonably experienced. -If you're well used to doing it, you'll be fine, but if this is your first project and you think it'd be clever to save some money by doing it yourself, I think we'd all agree you might be likely to cause more damage than you realise...

The small fader section in particular does contain a lot of CMOS logic, and old leaked electrolyte causes all sorts of wierd logic states. It tends to 'weep' from the old caps as they are heated up for removel, so frequently a module that was just re-capped can misbehave for completely 'invisible' reasons. I recommend Q-tip and alcohol for every location where a cap has been removed, before replacing it.

I only mention this because you're new here (welcome, by the way!!!) and we don't know if you're very good at this or new to teching....

Keith

 

[bovox]

My experience of the Philip´s caps, are that they sound´s nice
but the main problem within the V-series,is the heat. I have
a pair of Prism (V)-modules that after about 10 years works the
same.But they are fitted fairly open. I even use the same cap´s
at few places with small level´s (around -12dBu) and even use tantal´s
at same level (-yes they have a sound,that I like!) unbiased.
My point was that just a few console maker´s
bias the caps, and some use NP in some places but not in the whole
soundchain. Cheer´s Bo

 

[SSLtech]

The prism modules were essentially balanced add-on versions of the input/dynamics sub-module, and the EQ sub-module.

By far the worst offender of the sub-modules (Routing, input/dynamics, Aux send, EQ and small fader) was the small fader one. The Prisms tend to last a long time due to less heat buildup, but the console small faders die comparatively very quickly, less so in consoles which are switched off when not in use.

Keith