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Synthchaser #061 – ARP Fender Rhodes Chroma Dual Footswitch Pedal Servicing

The pedal is for sale if you are interested, please contact me.

It’s not just your vintage synths that need love from time to time, it’s also their accessories. I service a Rhodes Chroma dual footswitch by replacing the damaged plug, cleaning the switches, recapping the switch, and polishing the brass. Result is a pedal someone will be proud to plug into their Rhodes Chroma.

 

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Synthchaser #050 – ARP 2600 Grey Meanie Troubleshooting & Power Supply Rebuild

I begin the restoration of a very rare (one of ~35 made) ARP 2600 Grey Meanie. I bought this ARP totally dead and intend to do a full restoration of it before I sell it.

Its previous owner thought the power supply was broken, so we check it out and locate the real problem. But, as should be done with every vintage synth, we rebuild the power supply.

If you’d like me to make more videos as I repair and restore this ARP 2600, please let me know!

 

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ARP Omni 1 Restoration Video Series

Join me as I restore a broken ARP Omni 1.

In this first part, we evaluate the state of this Omni 1, and I discuss a little bit about what’s under the hood and my plan of attack for restoring it.

In the second part, we replace the aged tantalum capacitors in the synthesizer and visually inspect the boards for other signs of damage.

In this third part, we repair the power supply which had a few components go up in smoke, and we correct shoddy wiring left by the last person who worked on this.

In this final part we do a lot.  We replace the old and gross sliders with blindingly bright blue LED sliders, perform an enhancement on the voltage controlled filter (VCF), replace some faulty switches.  We also repair the strings not sounding stringy with a fix to the Phaser board.

Restored Omni synthesizers, parts, and repair service are available through my website.  I’m also happy to answer any questions you may have about fixing your own synth.

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Yet Another ARP Omni 2 Repair Video

Jeff had done a great job of recapping and replacing ICs in his ARP Omni 2, his soldering skills looked like a pro, but there were a few persistent issues that I fix in this video.  The Violin, Cello, 4′ Synthesizer, and 8′ Synthesizer Bass voices weren’t working, and the release for the string was always long, regardless of the position of the release slider.

Join me in my favorite late night game of “Find The Short”.  Seems like I get to play this game with every ARP I meet.