Recapping recording console

[beasleybodyshop]

It takes recapping to a whole 'nother level! Been working on my good friend's vintage MCI 600 series recording console in the last few weeks. it has 140 caps per channel strip, and its a 36 channel board. What a difference a recap makes! we AB'ed a recapped channel versus an old channel, and it was like night and day.

Getting the caps off the PCB was a real bitch, but i discovered if I would heat up the joint, and blast it with a fresh can of compressed air it would blow off all the solder on the joint - worked a helluva lot faster that desoldering braid!

[Leo_Gnardo]

What a difference a recap makes! we AB'ed a recapped channel versus an old channel, and it was like night and day.

I can think of a couple 'experts' who claim there's no difference between caps. You're repeating claptrap you read on the interwebs, or making up stories to fool the public, or having a hallucination.

Does the recapped channel sound better, or just different?

BAH! LONEY!

Trust your ears. If it sound good it IS good.

Will you be done with this project sometime this century? 140 caps per channel, holey moley.

[beasleybodyshop]

True Leo, all things tone are opinions. I was worried that it would be snake oil when i did this, and the owner brought out his veteran mix engineer and his in house remastering guy to do a listen.

When i recapped a channel strip. i focused on one area at a time, as in I recapped the mic pre only, then the EQ section, VCA, etc then we dropped her back into the board. The mix engineer and the in house mastering guy did a blindfold test after each recap.

Recapping the EQ made a big difference. his board has a sweeps for treble/middle/bass freqs. when you moved through the frequencies and would cut or boost, there was very little range or response. recapping that section made drastic changes in the level of cut/boost and sweeping. it definitely brought back whatever range it used to have.

Recapping the mic pre improved the clarity of that channel versus 5 or 6 of the other original un-re-capped ones.

Recapping the VCA also did a bit of the same thing.

All said and done, recapping a channel brought much more low end clarity back above all. you could really feel the sub when you boosted 30hz by 15db!

[beasleybodyshop]

Another thing is that these channels are very well designed - each section (EQ, Mic Pre, Buss switching, VCA) was a separate module that could be unscrewed from the main board. if you had a bad mic pre, you could rob one off a channel that you werent using and get back to work. All the IC's are socketed as well, so if those go bad or you want to do a little bit of swapping around thats ok too. Very fun project, and the recapping is really fun now that I know it makes such a big difference. The owner was pleased as punch when he heard the difference!

[xtian]

Sounds like job insurance! WOw!

[Reeltarded]

This is how I got good at soldering. Consoles and patchbays!

That guy I pointed to your pictures does this service work on the unobtanium end of the console world. Strawberry Helios belongs to him. I would kill for that console, but don't tell the cops if I turn up with it!

[beasleybodyshop]

This is how I got good at soldering. Consoles and patchbays!

That guy I pointed to your pictures does this service work on the unobtanium end of the console world. Strawberry Helios belongs to him. I would kill for that console, but don't tell the cops if I turn up with it!

lol. if you could manage to physically steal that console, you deserve a gold star.

[Reeltarded]

Takes 6 people to lift and about 3 days to remove. 10 days to install.

Won't fit in a small car.

Safe.

For now.

[M Fowler]

Sounds like I should make a road trip and help you Myles.

[Reeltarded]

I don't recap consoles anymore. We stopped using them just after music started sucking.

Awww

[randalp3000]

I will never be without one of these solder suckers. Well worth the investment.

Sounds like a tedious job, I don't envy you.

[IMG577]http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff388/randalp3000/IMAG0457_zps2a3e6966.jpg[/img]

[beasleybodyshop]

What is that thing? looks wicked. I want one!

[Reeltarded]

damn there is the reason our power keeps going out

Unless that gold ball is some kind of flux capacitor.

[randalp3000]

Here's the website http://www.hakkousa.com/detail.asp?CID= ... 466&Page=1

I got my first one, a Pace solder/desolder station, from Jon at Cusack music. Totally spoiled me and the hand piece finally pooped out so I got the Hakko. It's available with or without an internal pump if you have an air compressor in your shop. You can clean out a Fender eyelet instantly.

It would really make a project like yours a lot easier, works killer on circuit boards.

good luck on that console

[Leo_Gnardo]

This is how I got good at soldering. Consoles and patchbays!

That guy I pointed to your pictures does this service work on the unobtanium end of the console world. Strawberry Helios belongs to him. I would kill for that console, but don't tell the cops if I turn up with it!

Wow I'm impressed! I thought everybody forgot about Helios. Used to work for a guy who had a eight (!) Helios stereo parametrics in his rack. Verrrrry cool stuff! He wound up selling a bunch of them to Guy Charbonneau - owns Le Mobile.