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djpenguin
07-29-2013, 08:06 PM
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/djpenguin/VMC002mod4_zpsf108b4a6.jpg

I've been working on this mixer off and on for the past year or so. In addition to the snazzy artwork by my younger brother and the blue LEDs, I removed the mic circuit from the original mixer and built a booth output circuit to give the mixer a function it didn't have before. I've toyed with the idea of making the level meters switchable from channel meters (which they are now) to master meters, but I haven't done it yet.

Here's a better shot of the artwork. I gave the stripped and primed faceplate to my little brother and let him paint it. He decided to do a drawer full of robot parts as his concept. After I got the faceplate back, I put clear coat on and sanded it so it has a smooth finish. The paint texture is still visible under the clear coat.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/djpenguin/VMC002mod2_zps66f73955.jpg

Here's a view of the back of the mixer, with the extra jack I added for the booth output just to the right of the original mic jack
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/djpenguin/VMC002mod3_zps96bc573a.jpg

I didn't take very many in-progress shots, but here are a few that might be interesting.

The booth output circuit (a copy of the one used for the main output circuit, no engineering done on my part) as a prototype. The pot came from another old Vestax mixer I had laying around, a PCV-03 I think (I also used the mic jack from that mixer for the booth output.) The op-amp is the one that provided amplification for the mic circuit I removed from the VMC-002.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/djpenguin/VMC002mod5_zps30eaee4f.jpg

All the circuit boards and parts laid out ready for assembly. The pot and circuit board for the booth output are in the upper left. On the lower left corner of the main PCB you can see the area where the mic circuit used to be, along with a hole I drilled in the PCB for wire routing (through unneeded mic traces, no other circuitry was broken.)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/djpenguin/VMC002mod6_zpse2318ada.jpg

The main PCB with the level control pot for the booth output installed using a hot glue gun.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v128/djpenguin/VMC002mod7_zps3dac579b.jpg

alazydj
07-29-2013, 08:31 PM
This is freaking incredible! I love the faceplate art!

DTR
07-30-2013, 03:31 AM
Very impressed, especially the way you reused parts from the redundant mic circuit. Love the artwork too :tup:

Mark_Spit
08-02-2013, 02:44 PM
Your brother did a sweet job on the face plate and it was a great idea for the booth out.

I'm sure I've said it before, but I wish I had your tech skills :(

djpenguin
08-04-2013, 01:19 PM
Thanks for the comments! I re-used as much stuff as possible when making the booth output circuit; the capacitors are all from the mic circuit and that PCV-03, and the two-conductor cable/plug set that carries power to the booth out PCB used to be the connection between boards for the mic signal.

Mark: I've had very little formal training (so far...I'm in school to become an electrical engineer now, but haven't yet gotten to any circuit-related classes.) Most of what I know has come from tinkering around with things. The VMC-002 pictured here cost me $25, so if I had wrecked it doing the modifications, it would not have mattered much to me. Keep an eye on ebay/craigslist and you can snag a few older bits of gear for cheap to experiment with.

contra
08-05-2013, 12:27 PM
I agree with Mark, I wish I had the skills to pull something like this off. Great job penguin!