RX-7 Continued....

[Somnium7]

Yes the Saga Continues....

I'll continue this older thread here.
http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthr...ht=rx-7+update

Here's Old Rex as of now - notice the purdy LEDs. Those are the completed modules. It helps me keep track of which are finished



Recently, I have obtained a Hakko desoldering gun. It FREAKING ROCKS! I can do this to a channel in under 15 mins now....



As compared to 2 hours or so.
And the ugly beasties just fall out of their holes afterward. Here they are on their way to the trash can... (notice clumps of old solder)



If anybody here is into DIY fuzzboxes you may have a use for the opamps I'm removing. JRC4558DX. I believe these are popular for some distortion units. I am able to remove these things without damaging them now with my new tool. During the process they barely even get warm to the touch because it is so quick.
I'm sure they are still good so if you need some of these vintage chips shoot me an IM. Free to a good home...

[antichef]

that's a lot of *work* -- looks great!

[timthetortoise]

Purely out of curiosity, how much did the desoldering gun run you? I'm thinking about recapping my Soundcraft board and think one would be a huge help

[Somnium7]

Originally Posted by timthetortoise

Purely out of curiosity, how much did the desoldering gun run you? I'm thinking about recapping my Soundcraft board and think one would be a huge help

http://www.tequipment.net/Hakko808.html

It is still on sale so grab it if you can. I highly recommend this thing for bigger projects. Saves a HUGE amount of time.

Easy to maintain also.

that's a lot of *work* -- looks great!

Thanks man! Not only am I swapping parts and modifying circuits but also disassembling everything and thoroughly cleaning all the gunk out. For it's age I would have imagined it to be much dirtier than it is...
After a nice bath of warm water and dish soap the top panels of each module are scoured clean of residues and marker ink. They come out looking brand new.
I still need to devise a good way of cleaning the knobs. They are troublesome. I'm thinking of putting them in nylon laundry bags and putting them in the dishwasher set to for cool cycle.

I finally decided to order some GainBloak DOAs (search Prodigy). The PCBs are here and now I am waiting for components again. I like that they can be built as 3 variations of the Bloak design. I want to try the FET input variant on mic inputs and the BJT variant on the output drivers.

1st I have another mixer channel project to complete....

[Somnium7]

Current stats on this project:

6 of 8 Program modules completed.
4 of 4 Group module completed.
10 of 32 Input modules completed.
2 of 2 Echo channels completed.
2 of 2 Aux channels completed.
Power Supply completely rebuilt and functioning even better than anticipated.
4 of 14 Meters re-lamped.

There's still a ways to go yet. But things are easier now do to new tools, on-hand parts inventory and established workflow.
I have enough of the machine running that I can actually do music projects on it again.

Almost forgot: Parts count for replaced parts per input module is...
50 resistors
28 capacitors
5 ICs
Not bad compared to the master section modules which were roughly twice as much components in the same space.

Also, I am making progress on wiring up the patchbays for this console. All balanced in and outs in the master section can now be patched to anything in my racks and the firewire interface. My DBX 162SL is patched normaled as buss compressor for groups 1 & 2. I wanted to do the same with the Triple C for groups 3 & 4 but that unit doesn't bypass signal when turned off

I love having all Aux and Echo sends and returns in the patchbay. So easy to set up any chain of outboard gear now. All FX devices output into a small submixer too which I can patch into the returns. In the event I want the FX output of a device separate I can use the direct out for it on the submixer.

For a live sound console it easily adapts to a recording environment with some simple patching.

[rayc]

I love to see old things made good again. It's almost my mantra.
Well done & keep us up to date please.

[Somnium7]

I've been itching for this moment. I finally got to record a new song through old Rex.
http://www.somnium7.com/

Track one. Compare it to tracks 3 or 4 which were done on Rex before the upgrades. I think I hear a difference....

[Dr ZEE]

Originally Posted by Somnium7

I think I hear a difference....

Yeah! The extreme gets extremer
Seriously, - cool extreme stuff!

keep up

[Somnium7]

Originally Posted by Dr ZEE

Yeah! The extreme gets extremer
Seriously, - cool extreme stuff!

keep up

Thanks Dr ZEE!

I very happy with the results. Even after being converted to mp3 the music still sounds half decent. But my God you should hear it right out of my monitors. I have the monitors patched in a pair of program channels. Yeah there is cleaner sound but what kicks my ass most is the punch.
I'm recording vocals and other mic-ed stuff off the direct outputs of the input channels too and these sound outstanding now. I can really hear the personalities of my different mics so much more defined than before.
All this effort is paying off at last

[antichef]

Didn't work on my browser the other day (probably a problem on my side), but it's working now.

I hear a difference -- more clarity -- nice!!

[MCI2424]

Originally Posted by Dr ZEE

Yeah! The extreme gets extremer
Seriously, - cool extreme stuff!

keep up

Like, WOW MAN, super-extreme...................IT ROCKS!
Rock'in-extreme-to-the-max-roll'in

[Somnium7]

Originally Posted by MCI2424

Like, WOW MAN, super-extreme...................IT ROCKS!
Rock'in-extreme-to-the-max-roll'in

Yes and it will get even more extremier
I am working on a dance remix of Sculpture of Despair

yeah huh? me making something danceable

Anyway, not much work done on old Rex lately. I am finishing another channel strip project now. I'll see about getting permission to post about that here too.

[Lt. Bob]

to clean the knobs ..... try one of those sonic cleaners ladies use on their jewelery. I don't think they cost very much.

[Somnium7]

Originally Posted by Lt. Bob

to clean the knobs ..... try one of those sonic cleaners ladies use on their jewelery. I don't think they cost very much.

Hey that is a brilliant idea! Thanks!!!

Here is that other project I mentioned.
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n...7/gear/neotek/

This is for a paying customer so I can't say a whole lot about it. The strips are Neotek. They have Jensen OPTs for balanced outputs.
They are almost done. So far I've only run sine waves through them so can't tell you what they sound like. Gonna put on the finishing touches and real-world test it over the weekend.

Oh I forgot to mention. The chassis is from surplus military gear. Built like a tank too.