Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Next weekend, I'm planning on doing an "annual maintenance" project 
with my kit.
I'm switching out all the cables, changing the heads on all the 
Pintech cc101, and, yes, I'm going to hit the factory reset button 
and rebuild all my kits.
Can anyone think of anything else I should do while I've got the 
monster down on its knees? 
Stephen

>  Can anyone think of anything else I should do while I've got the
> monster down on its knees?

Label your cables end to  end, so that there's no guesswork as to what end 
goes where.  I'm in the habit of leaving the cables and the pads on the rack 
and taking the brain off and putting it into a nice, soft bag when I go from 
place to place.  Eventually, when I make the mesh head pads to replace some 
of the rubber pads, I will have to take the pads off the rack. 

Stephanie

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, Stephanie Ellison 
<deafdrummer@a...> wrote:
> >  Can anyone think of anything else I should do while I've got 
the
> > monster down on its knees?
> 
> Label your cables end to  end, so that there's no guesswork as 
to what end 
> goes where.  I'm in the habit of leaving the cables and the pads 
on the rack 
> and taking the brain off and putting it into a nice, soft bag when 
I go from 
> place to place.  Eventually, when I make the mesh head pads 
to replace some 
> of the rubber pads, I will have to take the pads off the rack. 
> 
> Stephanie

i agree with that - usally after swapping my kit around i need to 
pulg each one into the snare and then hit all of them to find the 
one thats plugged in.. then connect it up to the right one - quite a 
time consuming process.

i would also recomend buying somethign spiral wrap and 
wrapping the wires to the frame - it makes it much neater and 
prevents people tripping up.

i am not sure how far you plan to go when maintaining your 
system - but recently a few of the peizo's in my kit have decided 
to stop working (my kit is over two years old and has had 
constant use) but it may be work replacing them all to avoid this, 
unless you think it creates more hasstle then it is worth.

i would also recomend getting better cables to connect the 
triggers to the brain - i oftern get cross talk if the cables are too 
close togeth and one of the cables has now stopped working as 
well - a 20m lenght of microphone cable and a few 1/4inch sterio 
connectors should fix the problem. but again you may stand by 
the idea that if its not broken it dosn't need fixing

Steph:
Thanks for the advice. Believe me, I've already learned about cable-
labeling. With two modules and 15 triggers, I've developed a color-
coded system that helps me set up the kit in short order.

Feezesus:
Yes, I'm replacing EVERY cable and EVERY head whether it needs it or 
not. It's better to be safe than sorry. I'd rather do it all now than 
in the middle of gig. The cables and heads that are still serviceable 
will go into the emergency repair kit that I hope I never have to use.


As far as other maintenance items go, I know that guitar players 
often 'clean thier pots' on amps and guitars. Should the same be done 
for pads and modules? What does this involve? Maybe Q-tips and 
alcohol?

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "brown8700" 
<brown8700@a...> wrote:
> Steph:
> Thanks for the advice. Believe me, I've already learned about 
cable-
> labeling. With two modules and 15 triggers, I've developed a 
color-
> coded system that helps me set up the kit in short order.
> 
> Feezesus:
> Yes, I'm replacing EVERY cable and EVERY head whether it 
needs it or 
> not. It's better to be safe than sorry. I'd rather do it all now than 
> in the middle of gig. The cables and heads that are still 
serviceable 
> will go into the emergency repair kit that I hope I never have to 
use.
> 
> 
> As far as other maintenance items go, I know that guitar 
players 
> often 'clean thier pots' on amps and guitars. Should the same 
be done 
> for pads and modules? What does this involve? Maybe Q-tips 
and 
> alcohol?

it may be a good idea to clean the plugs with a contact cleaner - 
but appart from that i would not bother as the pots are enclosed 
and cannot get dusty