Soundcraft 2400

[dale116dot7]

I just bought a Soundcraft 2400 and it needs a bit of help. The patchbay is a bit flakey, the faders a bit scratchy, and the switches are also a bit scratchy. Not terrible, but noticeable.

I've fiddled with mics and preamps and compressors, but never really have gone through a console like this before. It's not really overwhelming but....

The faders are no problem. P+G faders clean up really nicely and then they're quiet. The patchbay is more of an issue. Many of the cards have been re-wired with wire-wrap wire where the connectors solder onto the board. The board is single-sided so there's not so much support for the connectors that way.

Other than totally replacing the patchbay (and please, no debate on longframe vs. TT) I was looking at etching new patchbay boards and moving the existing connectors (which are actually still quiet and work well) to the new PC boards. The thing here is that if I am going to do that, should I look at putting the proper balanced I/O on this board? The whole board's I/O is unbalanced and I'm not too crazy about that. Should I glue down the jacks to the board so they put less stress on the solder joints?

I've tried different op-amps in one of the channels and it sure makes a difference - mostly to noise. The LM833 seems to work quite well in place of the TL072's but I do need to look at some of the circuit details before going any further on that. I would guess at least a 6 to 10 dB drop in noise on that channel. I know about the power supply issue - I have two of them.

I gotta say that things seem to gel better with this board than my previous unit (Tascam DM24). I know in theory digital summing is perfect but this sounds quite a bit better to my ears, even though there is more hiss and probably a bit more distortion. The bass, especially, seems to sit better in the mix, even without the radical EQ I was having to do on the Tascam.

Not a specific question but any comments out there?

 

[43hertz]

Dale,

Any particular reason you chose the LM833 over the more commonly suggested, but more expensive, Burr-Brown chips? I'm about to embark on re-chipping a 40-channel TAC Scorpion, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on this cheaper alternative.

 

[nrgrecording]

Hi Dale.
Oh.. a 2400? I like this desk soo much... that I bought two of them :roll: :green:
My 2400 had some problems, too. There was a loose connection because of the ribbin cable. I used a new ribbon connector and everything was fine. I checked every connection on the tt patchaby and all others were fine. Maybe your 2400 has some more... "experience"? :wink: New pcbs is a good idea! I don't know why the pcb manufacturer don't use big-as-possible solder pads when there is so much space at the tt jacks!? By the way...I cleaned my tt pcbs in a ultrasonic bath, seems to work good. I have some spare TTs, if you need some - let me know. :wink:
I cleaned my P&G without problems, too. My 2400 has preh pots - they're so cool! Not even one pot makes noise or is scratchy. My switches aren't scratchy somehow? Maybe someone recapped my 2400 before - I don't know. Have you checked for leaky caps?
Regarding the psu's... Are your psus paralled at the desk connectors or how is it done?
Balanced I/Os... good idea! Thought about that before. There is some space between the channels and the bottom plate of the console.
Some people like to change the grounding of the console. There are some pins at the ribbon connectors for the ground. Later 2400s have cable lugs and a bigger wire size. Eddi Ciletti did has an article on his site about that.
What about a 990 or neve summing mod? :wink: Or a flying fader automation? There are some panasonic faders available which has a log and lin taper. So I can save the automation files to cubase via mide. I really want to try this at some channels... when I have some time and the consoles are installed in the year 2007/2008? :wink:
I had to replace some 4016 and 4011 (nand and analog switch ics) which were broken, resolder one or two pots and had to change one input opamp and all vu meter bulbs to leds... but other than that everything was fine with my 2400s. A very nice desk!

Frank.

 

[dale116dot7]

I was looking at the balanced I/O option and it looks good. I was planning on attaching a 'daughter board' to each channel strip with the balancing/unbalancing amps right there, attaching to the existing patchbay connector, and having its own connector for either a ribbon cable or possibly a set of shielded cables.