2488, MKII, NEO Mods and repair

[Dominik]

Hey guys,

I would like to show you some modifications and repair hints for the 2488, MKII and the NEO.

SWITCH REPAIR:
First of all, I did the tactile switch repair. So I bought some switches from ebay.
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Microtaster...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

The desoldering of the original switches was very easy. I meassured the old switches and they had really really bad continuity! So, fixing it with contact spray would be only a temporary solution.

MORE LIGHT:
Next thing I did was to light up the faders. I saw this feature on some other mixer and I liked it. So, I decided to add a LED stripe on the PCB behind the faders. (see picture).
As you can see, the faders are lighted up when moved.
I also changed some LED. The Mute-LED now flahes red and the HD LED is much more brighter.

LCD:
I also tried to change the LCD backlight to white. But the semi-transparent reflective foil behind the LCD is too green in order to let it shine bright.
So as you can see in the picture, the LCD is more bright green as original. But for MKII color I have to remove the foil... I will do this in future. A replacement LCD would cost around 50 €. :-O

HARD DRIVE:
I changed the HD for a bigger one. So I found out that not only Seagate will work. Also, I made a new IDE cable because mine damaged after un-plugged it too often. No problem...

FOR FUTURE:
- I want a blue/white LCD... So I will change the polarization foil.

 

[Ajax]

That looks awesome! I have to replace the tactile switch under the right arrow. The link to yours is gone. Any idea where to get this part? Thanks!
Love this machine and will fix everything if it comes to that!

 

[Dominik]

Hey,
I'm back again. Now I own the neo and I did also the switch repair.
I bought them on Amazon. Important thing is to buy 6x6mm switches with 2 pins. Not the most common 4 pin ones.

 

[Dominik]

Today I did the next mods

The button for the phantom power has got a neighbor. A 3mm green LED. Now you can also see visually by means of an LED whether the phantom power is switched on or not.

Also, I placed the headphone jack and guitar jack (H) front to back (parallel). 2 additional sockets are now at the back, under the display on the housing.
has the advantage that the device is completely free of cables at the front. In addition, my headphone output leads to a 4-channel amplifier.

Furthermore, I installed a small red LED above the stereo fader and built a clipping circuit including a potentiometer for adjustment.
Now I don't have a VU display for the stereo sum, but I can set and see the clipping range without having to look at the display.
You can also see from the LED whether, for example, the kick drum track is too loud.