repairing a mackie 1202

[Sonarcade]

I had googled "mackie disassembly" to no avail. I removed the bottom plate and found that the main pcb is soldered onto the top plate in around six places. Is the only way to get access to the capacitors through desoldering these points or is there a special screwdriver that can remove the non-phillips/non-flathead screws that seemed to have bolted the pcb to the top plate?

Before I proceed with disassembly, I think I may have located the source of the problem. Oh right, I should probably mention what the problem is. The mixer gives off a faint sine tone that occurs persistently. I think the other signals also come out significantly muted. My guess after having glanced at it is a problem with the transformer or whatever it is that the pictures below are of. It's directly related to the power jack and I noticed a build up of crud around the plates. I'm thinking that something leaked around that area and whatever it is, it needs to be replaced. Pictures complete this and more can be taken upon request:

and here are the solder points/bolts

Also, I hope this is analog enough to stay in this forum. If not, I understand. Thanks.

 

[dementedchord]

those are hex head screws... hexkeys also known as allen wrenches are needed... if the crude you are talking about is that brown shit like on that one transformer... forget it it aint the problem... also no big deal but the diy forum would be more appropriate... also dont know if you're up to this... mackie used whats called surface mount technology om these... it works just like the old chips but way smaller and a bitch to solder if ya aren't prepared...

 

[Sonarcade]

Thanks dementedchord. I didn't suspect these as being hex keys since the holes seemed a bit too rounded. With your help, I managed to finally take a look at what going on. Also, yeah, the crud I was referring to was that gunk around the plates that looks like old rubber cement. Aside from that, from what I could tell, there really isn't much else going on. But maybe others may beg to differ:

I was a bit concerned about the last picture above, since I found the plastic "enclosure" around the tape in and out module broken in pieces. Perhaps the plastic itself served little to no function but perhaps it's also a sign of some trauma the mixer endured with its previous owner. Any thoughts would be appreciated.


I also didn't realize that there was a DIY forum. Would it be too much for this thread to be moved to that one or should I start up a new one over there?