Herby's attemt @ SS Mod, Noise Mod, MDRT Mod

[herbyguitar]

I was running #6 in stereo. The MP1 was mono but the 1101 was stereo out. After I do the mods I'm going to put a gate behind the 1101 and run #6 again.

[edit] I changed the title of the thread to reflect the mods I'm attempting.

[herbyguitar]

Parts are in! I'll be starting on it shortly. Hope I can do this...

[Soloist]

 

[MarshallJMP]

Hey  Herby if you have any questions just let me know, big or small.

[herbyguitar]

I'm wanting to start with doing the noise mod. It seems to be the best place to start because the ribbon cable from the main board to the back board needs to be removed for easier access to the big caps and then before I put it back in place I'll do the transformer mod, then the tube board mod last.

My question is: The ribbon cable that is in the way. The long narrow plug is held in, I think, by small clips on both ends. How do I unplug this without breaking the retainers on both ends? I'm afraid to put too much pressure on them.

[edit] Well... I managed to get the clips to release and found out that all they do is hold the ribbon in the socket. The plug doesn't seem to want to come out of the socket. I've dealt with ribbon cables on hard drives but they were never this tight. This is new to me. How the hell do I deal with this? Do I just keep prying on it? I'm afraid I don't know what I'm dealing with.

[MarshallJMP]

Sometimes they can get stuck and hard to get out, but I never had one that I couldn't get out. Try to rock it from left to right and see if it comes loose.

[herbyguitar]

OK. Just wanted to make sure that I didn't break something.

[herbyguitar]

I'm having an extremely hard time getting the old IC socket out. This seems impossible without wrecking something. My solder sucker does not work on this. I'm afraid to get things too hot. Any advice?

[MarshallJMP]

What IC socket?

[herbyguitar]

The one you sent me in the noise mod. I finally got it out. I had to cut all the legs then pull them out one by one while heating them

[edit] I think I've ruined the board where the IC socket goes... A couple of the solder grommets are gone. I'm afraid I've made a very expensive boat anchor. If it wasn't for this one piece this whole mod would be a piece of cake.

[edit] I'm going to keep going. I've installed the IC... maybe it will still work...
The next piece is the 270pF cap. The one in the kit says 250 +- 5% v SM500 ??? Does it matter which way it goes in?

[edit] I installed the cap and hope it doesn't matter which way it goes. Diode is in correctly. Main board noise mod is done... hope the IC works...

[edit] With this all in place can I plug it in to see if the MP1 still works? I haven't done the SS mod or the MDRT mod. If the MP1 doesn't work I don't want to waste the SS or MDRT mods.

[rnolan]

Hey Herby, can you post some pictures of the IC socket from top and bottom of PCB, if the pads (I assume you mean by solder grommets) are lifted, you may need to run a couple of wires but MJMP will need to see whats happened.

[herbyguitar]

I can't show the top because the socket is covering it. The top looked OK before I seated the socket. The bottom doesn't look so good. It looks like I may have to run 2 jumpers.

[MarshallJMP]

The cap has no polarity, as for the opamp, well many people struggle with it. Even I lift a pad sometimes. Now it's good that nothing has lifted on top, so if it happends on the bottom just run some small thin jumpers.

Say if you have questions, just email me, this will go faster.

Yes you can try it out without the MDRT and SS mod, no problem.

[herbyguitar]

I looked it over on bottom and there are 2 traces that lead to pins but those two still have the pads. I'm going to plug it in and see what happens. I'm sure I'll know pretty quick if there's something wrong. If I need to connect a couple of top traces I'm pretty sure I can do this. I ran into trouble trying to clear the grommets of solder. Can someone tell me the best procedure for doing this (for future reference)? All other mods are simple except for IC's. These are extremely difficult because of the compound desoldering and evacuation of the grommets.

[herbyguitar]

It doesn't work. I get a split second flash of one red LED when I turn it on. Looking the socket over I've come to the conclusion I should have never tried to do this. To remove something this small and with 8 different contact points is almost absurd. I ran into trouble not from removing the socket but in trying to clear the holes of excess solder so the new socket could be inserted.

With the new socket in place and the areas around the socket are so tight and I'm too inexperienced to attempt any kind of fix. 'WAY' above my pay grade.

For anyone contemplating any future mods that incorporate swapping out an IC socket. DON'T attempt it unless you are a professional. You're chances of failure are extremely high.