I know it's been quite a while, but i haven't given this up! Life just gets in the way, i'm sure you know how it is... Regardless, this time we'll be taking a dive into yet another "as faulty" acquisition - an utterly pristine-looking Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 gen2.
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Sunday 24 March 2024
Thursday 11 November 2021
#81 MOTU Traveler teardown & upgrade
As a follow-up to the recently posted MOTU Ultralite teardown, i had to grab this as soon as it popped up in my search results, because it had a price i couldn't ignore or refuse, and it had the ideal feature set for recording my band's jams and rehearsals. While the former had most of the features i needed in the 828mk2 i had been using, but in a smaller form factor, this Traveler packs more of the features i need (two extra mic preamps, while retaining the -10dBV/+4dBu line inputs with optional 6dB boost), in an intermediate form factor, as well as having a full 53dB of gain available on the mic preamps, but without weirdo custom potentiometers to wear out. Just about best of all worlds, really, especially for the paltry 85e this cost me. And as the cherry on top, it even has a separate battery input - hello, fully mobile recording sessions...
Monday 8 November 2021
#80 MOTU Ultralite teardown
In an interesting turn of events, i actually did NOT get this one as faulty. It was more to relieve one of my 828mk2's from rehearsal-place-recording duty, and on the other hand, i managed to get it for quite cheap. In the context of, faulty ones had similar asking prices, so there's that.
Tuesday 7 September 2021
#77 MOTU Ultralite mk3 Hybrid part one: teardown
Yet another score from the "morgue" - this time around, a feature-packed little bundle of audio joy, namely a MOTU Ultralite mk3 Hybrid. This was up for sale as "no longer powering up", and for a two-figure price, i couldn't pass it up.
Sunday 22 August 2021
#76 Fractal Audio Axe-FX II teardown and repair
A couple weeks back, an acquaintance contacted me about his Axe-FX II suddenly not powering up anymore. I saw this as an opportunity to at the very least take a peek under the hood of one of these things (still selling for four-figure amounts), so why not?
I had neglected to snap photos of the outside of the thing (because other priorities), so you'll have to settle for some "stock" shots. Not that there's anything overly interesting to see anyway.
Monday 16 August 2021
#75 Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 (1st gen) teardown & repair
Perhaps a bit anachronistically, only *after* getting my hands on the previously-torn-down 2i4 gen2, i also came into the possession of a 2i4 gen1, that was no longer being detected completely / correctly by the computer. But hey, better late than never, right? I also grabbed a working one (because the price was near-irresistible), to have a known-good source for the firmware, in case that was the issue.
Saturday 24 July 2021
#72 MOTU 828 mk3 teardown
Yet another eBay score - caught this one with a blown power supply. Blown, as in, skidmark inside the casing, circuit board scorched, tracks vaporized. But maybe i'll make that into another article on its own, someday. In the mean time, let's take a peek under the hood of one of these arguable "classics".
Thursday 22 July 2021
#71 Shure 55SH Series II "Elvis mic" teardown & repair
The practical side of this one was performed and documented a couple months back, but since i've had this back-log to work through, the text is only getting written now. But good things come to those who wait, right? Or so i've heard...
Regardless, i couldn't not grab this deal when i saw it. A shure 55SH "Elvis mic", with allegedly low(ered) output, for 75eu shipped (considering it retails around 160-ish). Now, granted, i HAD peeked around the interwebs beforehand, and it seemed that, at least in some cases, the on/off switch could be a suspect. But on the other hand, even IF the capsule itself turned out to be a dud, i could still MacGyver another capsule in there, one way or another (possibly from a Grundig GDSM-202, but shhhhh!...). Aesthetically it was in good shape, so why not?
Tuesday 20 July 2021
#70 MOTU Audio Express teardown
This summer's "already" been quite fruitful, gear-scoring-wise anyway. This find cost me a colossal 86eu, with allegedly none of the outputs working. This, in the context of it retailing for a somewhat eye-watering 500eu(!!!) or thereabouts, brand new. On the bright(?) side, it came with the original packaging, manuals still in their plastic bags, as well as a USB and a Firewire cable to boot, both also still factory-packed. So why not?
Monday 19 July 2021
#69 Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 (2nd gen) teardown & repair
For a little while now, i've been thinking of "upgrading" from my old-but-modded M-Audio Fast Track to use as an in-ear monitor amplifier, and the Scarlett 2i4 caught my eye. The mono/stereo direct-monitor selection, as well as the hardware-switchable pads on the inputs made up just the right feature set, in addition to it being usable as a mobile recording interface. As it happens, just the other week, mere days after having saved an eBay search for 2i4's, an email notification revealed a 2nd gen allegedly-faulty unit being up for sale from Italy. I quickly asked the seller about shipping costs, and ended up sealing the deal for an even 50e.
Saturday 27 March 2021
#68 Alesis M1 Active Mk2 rehabilitation, part one
Over on the Badcaps.net forums, a thread was started all the way back in 2010, about power supply issues in these arguably "classic" low-cost active studio monitors. It even ended up being stickied just this winter, so it's been quite active and useful. It served as motivation for myself, to take up hunting for faulty ones - not sure if i had gone through three pairs, but at least two pairs i revived and sold off to a couple friends, some 7-8 years ago, and to this day i've yet to hear back about any further issues, so i take that as a good sign. In the mean time, i still contributed with thoughts and advice there, which helped lead to several successes.
Recently, a fellow forum member there got fed up with his failed attempts to revive his pair of monitors, and got himself a pair of new ones. In that context, we struck a deal for the Alesis'es, and a few weeks later, here they are.
Thursday 4 February 2021
#66 Audient iD22 teardown
Despite having hoped to nab an Audient interface for some time now, only quite recently did i manage to get my hands on one. Since i'm a cynical... [ahem] person, after having heard several notable(?) audio engineering channels over on Youtube ranting and raving about these, and the "Audient console preamps", and the "discrete JFET DI" and whatnot, my curiosity was indeed itching to see if and how the reality lives up to all the hype and marketing.
Friday 18 September 2020
#63 M-Audio M-Track 2x2M C-series teardown & repair
Boy, that's a lot of M's up there... But yeah, here's another eBay score, bought as faulty. Basically, because it was too cheap to pass up, even if it's unrepairable - a paltry 30eu. The ad said it will no longer power up, save for the phantom-power indicator LED, and won't be detected by a computer. But before troubleshooting, it warrants a thorough inspection, inside and out, wouldn't you say?
Monday 25 May 2020
#61 MOTU 896 mk3 Hybrid teardown (post-recap)
without further ado...
Monday 30 March 2020
#60 MOTU 8M teardown
Sunday 29 March 2020
#59 MOTU 828 mk2 teardown
Tuesday 24 March 2020
#58 Behringer FirePower FCA1616 teardown
Monday 4 November 2019
#56 Apogee Ensemble Firewire teardown
This came up on eBay the other week as faulty - inputs 1/2 and outputs 1/2 seemingly dead. First instinct was, 'obviously', look up photos online in the hope of finding some internal shots. A few minutes later, bingo: four CS4272's in there. Now, what're the odds one of them is handling the bad pair of ins & outs? Quite a bit higher than the analog input of one, and the analog output of another to be bad, wouldn't you say? But let's not get ahead of ourselves (too much), and take things one step at a time...