The ETI/Maplin Update

Arddhu · Post by **Arddhu** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:58 am

Just got my 4600 today.

I think I've got some work ahead of me. I think it's been sitting in the bloke's garage for about 20 years and it sounds like it too.

From what I can tell, the keyboard doesn't track, the mixers now change the pitch of the oscillators, a couple of the oscs act as lfos even when they're selected as normal oscs etc etc. But the spring reverb works perfectly!

Hmmm. Could I have bitten off more than I can chew?

Any tips for general synth repair? I think I'll start with a can of contact cleaner and a duster.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:11 am

Hehe, good luck. As if it wasn't bad enough being hand-built 25 years ago, it's also been sitting in a garage. You probably need to replace every capacitator and who knows what else. Vintage synths can be very little fun to deal with.

KLAXON · Post by **KLAXON** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:14 am

Yeah, I would go through it and re-cap it and check all of the solder joints first. I don't know how hard they are to locate, but you probably want to try to locate the schematics for troubleshooting purposes too.

Arddhu · Post by **Arddhu** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:18 am

I think I was reading also that the Maplins were digital/analogue hybrids; such as the keyboards were digitally controlled as was something else, though it escapes me at the moment.
Should make things more interesting.

Arddhu · Post by **Arddhu** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:59 am

OK. I started the cleaning job today. Just working all the pots and cleaning as much of the exterior grime I could get to.

Also had an electronics guru look it over and he agrees testing the caps and replacing the dead ones but the verdict is she's all put together really well!! Hurrah!

Only problem now is the sticky keys. Waiting 30 seconds for some of them to pop back up after you hit them seems a bit much.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 11:32 am

Have him check if you got spiders in the spring reverb box

Maybe it's the spiders tingling instead of the springs.

Arddhu · Post by **Arddhu** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:05 pm

Will do!

gojira · Post by **gojira** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:23 pm

Any photos?

Good luck with the restoration.

P.S. You from Tassy Arddhu?

Arddhu · Post by **Arddhu** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:29 pm

I don't have a camera at the moment so I've only got the photos that the bloke selling it had.
She is one big beast though, 25 kg of modular love!

Yeah, I'm in Launceston actually. Don't tell me there's actually more than two synth nuts in Tassie?

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:03 am

She's pretty. But you might wanna consider using another picture upload site. This one spams with popups about poker websites, and even a "Do you wanna win $150? Yes/No" box when you close it.

Might be due to the fact that I'm browsing on a PC at work that might be full of spyware, but...check it.

Arddhu · Post by **Arddhu** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:17 am

Oops.

Sorry about that.

What's a better one to use?

Latest development is I'm thinking about getting new wood ends made for the beast as these old ones are pretty chipped. Shouldn't be too hard I imagine.

gojira · Post by **gojira** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:26 am

Nope, not in Tassie, I'm in Melbourne.

Its been long since I've seen any nice vintage synths come up for sale in Australia. I almost got myself a Jupiter 8 w/ Encore midi for $1650 AUD but the guy bailed on the deal the day I was to pick it up. Was a while ago though.

Again, best of luck with the restoration

Arddhu · Post by **Arddhu** » Fri May 04, 2012 7:31 am

Well this has been a while since updates! Five years later and here's some new photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bamshoot/7 ... /lightbox/

I might be actually able to work on it now after 2 years in the repair shop. I'd forgotten how massive the thing is!
It seems the knobs have all been relegated to the murky depths of Launceston so now I have to hunt down 4000 1/4" D shaft set-screw knobs. If anyone has any recommendations that would be most swell.
However the priority is still fixing up the PSU.

Fun fun!

synthparts · Post by **synthparts** » Fri May 04, 2012 8:51 am

Looks nice, good luck with it. I have a Maplin 5600S which was an updated 4600 that I need to work on myself...

Hybrid88 · Post by **Hybrid88** » Fri May 04, 2012 9:26 am

Awesome it's back!

Well the P/S shouldn't be hard, just need to replace the main capacitors, regulators, get a multimeter, test and calibrate it to what it should be.

hmm, if I was you I'd have another hunt for those knobs, I make it at 82? you need. Say you get 82 of these...

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.as ... rm=KEYWORD

That'll cost you $98.40, a tidy sum for just a few knobs. Something to consider.

The ETI/Maplin Update

The ETI/Maplin Update

Re: The ETI/Maplin Update

Re: The ETI/Maplin Update

Re: The ETI/Maplin Update