Found a broken Roland SH-101 on Gumtree. Couldn’t believe my luck!
I was hoping for a simple fix, maybe a dodgy power switch or something. When I started to investigate it soon became apparent that someone had been there before me. The T1 transformer, which does DC-DC conversion from the 9VDC plug pack to the various analogue stages was missing! Also, the surrounding components had been lifted out of there solder pads. This wasn’t going to be a quick fix!

Searching around the net and it was becoming obvious that this problem was fairly common but with no one having fixed it! Also, the T1 transformer is not available for purchase anywhere. Continue reading →

Recently bought a Mackie Onyx 1620 off of Ebay “for repair or parts only”. It’s been keeping me occupied!

Advertised as having the “Mackie Helicopter” problem, I knew I was in for some PSU recapping. It wasn’t in too bad shape though, 3 caps and it was working again. Continue reading →

Been playing around with a couple of new SiliconChip kits.  The Multi-Function Active Filter KC4580 and the Bridge Adapter for Stereo Amps KC4569.

After a friend mentioned that he wanted to run his subs using his amps in bridge mode I thought I would try it myself. This is what I built (click pic).

You can get a Lepai TA2020 amp off Ebay very cheaply. They sound good straight out of the box but to get the full potential a little hot rodding goes along way 🙂

Marked on the PCB are all the component values. When I started to look at the components they didn’t match up, i began measuring with my multimeter… Then I started replacing things……… (click pic).

Finally finished my TA3020. A few hurdles in the build. Had some grounding issues and managed to drill through one of the electrolytic capacitors 😐 Is all done and powering my compression drivers now in my tri-amp system, sounding sweet as. (clic pic)

It’s not often I get to put up some photos of someone elses DIY project but when I saw this my first thought was “Thats a gawd damn Minirig if I have ever seen one!” Presenting the Buckapound BoomBox.(click pic)

The last build of the year. A good amp for a NYE party 😉

A fairly straight forward build. All up took about 3 days. It uses a pair of Hypex UcD400st amp modules, Antrim 500VA 40-0-40v Transformer, a pair of 35A 400v bridge rectifiers, 4 x 10000uF 100v Jamicon filter caps and a SKA-Audio soft start. (click pic)