Vintage Synth Repair

> > Back on track, one popular thing to do with old gear is to recap the
> > power supply and other electrolytic caps.  Panasonic has 
> > discontinued a lot of their good replacement caps (HF/HFS I 
> > think).  What are people using now when they do a recap?
> > -- 
> > 
>                              
> This is high on my list of priorities
> for my Arp 2600.   I can't decide if I 
> should recap the PS or just go with
> a Power-One Linear +/-15v .8A supply.
> 
> Does anybody have experience replacing
> a PS in an Arp2600 altogther and if it 
> is better or worse than rebuilding the 
> original?
> 

I recapped mine after a cap shorted on powerup.....

Make a note - if you smell something electrical, power down immediately.  :-)

If you replace the power supply, you have a few things to consider --
form factor, heat dissipation, current draw.  You can put your DMM
in-line with each voltage and see how much the 2600 draws (don't forget
to test with speakers and spring reverb and everything else going at
once), so that's relatively easy.  The Power One's tend to be mounted
on a metal 'L' that is used for stability and heat dissipation.  I
haven't looked at how to mount that in the 2600 and if it would be
in the way of other stuff.  Also, which way to orient the 'L'?

I know with consoles, a beefier power supply tends to improve the sound,
although I don't know how much difference it would make in a synth like the
2600.  Does the 'net folklore indicate that the 2600 PS is running at
(or past) it's design limits?
-- 

_______________________________________________________________________
Tom Moravansky                                    tom@...