Soundcraft Ghost Mod's & Part's List

[JoeStrange]

So I bought a ghost...It was bashed in by UPS during shipping, Its still works but has some problems...Like the entire left side of the master section cutting in and out.

It's coming close to time to repair her and while im at it...Im going to attempt to Mod it too! (Master Section first) Channels Later.

I have the schematics to the ghost...and can read them good enough to find my way around, I have the tools to work on it...But what I dont have is knowledge of the modifications being done by people like sarge from C.A.L.

Im no electronic genius by any means but I feel if some people that know how to mod this board pointed me in the right direction I could find my way pretty easy.

I would be getting all my parts from digikey I just need to know what parts to buy, Which IC'S get replaced with what? Are there transistors,diodes and resistors that get replaced as well?

I know nothing about the mods being done to this board, Beisdes alot of ic chips being swapped out.

It would be really cool if we could get a parts list going here for people like me who want to take a shot a modding the soundcraft ghost themselfs, Along with the parts list...It would be great to have a general understanding and list of what mods are currently being done to the ghost and their advantages and (or) disadvantages.

I personally want to make my ghost work flawlessly and have the Preamps, Eq and Mix buss sounding better than stock.


Any information reguarding this subject is much appreciated and greatly needed.

[AndyZippy]

I too wanted to do this to my Ghost, and asked the guys at C.A.L for some details as i live in England, so it is by no means cost effective to send bits of my desk to the U.S. to have it done - But, understandably so they wouldn't release any technical info. I do understand their position on this, but it's frustrating in that no one in the UK seems to be doing such mods to ghosts. Maybe i wrong??!
It does involve burr brown ic's, i think. I too would be interested in any info anyone could throw on the mods, as i have a highly qualifed electronics engineer for a friend

[Farview]

In my Ghost, the channel strip chips were swapped with Burr Brown opa 2134 chips. All of the stock 5532 chips were replaced except IC 11 and IC 12 (as they are named on the circuit board)

The center section was rechipped with OP275 chips. I don't know the brand, but the logo looks like the symbol on the play button of a tape deck.

It was explained to me that the op275 chips were cleaner, clearer and less colored than the opa 2134's. Which seemed like the way to go with the master section for me.

The mod really brings the board to life. The channel strips become a lot thicker and the EQ is more musical. The master section is much quieter.

[DeadPoet]

Was there any alteration to power supply or other? Just op-amp switch?

I was thinking the same as the OP: I want my decent board better, but it would be impossible to ship it to the states (maybe it's cheaper to have a technician fly in??)


Herwig

[TAVD]

You still can do better than opa2134 & op275, imho, but I don't use a Ghost so perhaps that's subjectively best for that console. Personally, the opa2134 doesn't thrill me.

[Farview]

Originally Posted by DeadPoet

Was there any alteration to power supply or other? Just op-amp switch?

I was thinking the same as the OP: I want my decent board better, but it would be impossible to ship it to the states (maybe it's cheaper to have a technician fly in??)


Herwig

Nope, I had the power supply here the whole time. It was just the chip swap.

[JoeStrange]

So...Im going to start compiling a list of parts and mods based on all the info gathered in this thread.

I have uploaded the ghost schematics for anyone to download.

Download the Soundcraft Ghost Schematics here: RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting

So..After reviewing the ghost input schematic (Channel Strip) Here's what I have found.


Stock Ghost Channel Strip IC's.

HF (1)- TL072
LF (1)- TL072
HMF (3) -TL072, (1)- NE5532
LMF (3) -TL072, (1)- NE5532
Preamp - (6) - TL072 (4) - NE5532 (Unless im reading this wrong?,Like I said im am somewhat of a novice)
Path A Fader (3) - NE5532
Path B Fader (1) - NE5532
The rest of the channel strip seems to be riddled with this IC: 4069 (Which im not sure what its purpose is,So im unsure if replacing it would improve sound quality or reduce the noise floor)

---Farview---

In my Ghost, the channel strip chips were swapped with Burr Brown opa 2134 chips. All of the stock 5532 chips were replaced except IC 11 and IC 12 (as they are named on the circuit board)

The question here is, are JUST the 5532's getting swapped out OR are both the TL072's and NE5532's getting swapped out for the Burr Brown Opa2134 IC's?

The center section was rechipped with OP275 chips

Any idea what chips the OP275 replaced in the center section?

It was explained to me that the op275 chips were cleaner, clearer and less colored than the opa 2134's.

Are the 2134's the stock chips that were replaced by the OP275 chip,Or were you just told that the OP275 was a better replacement chip than the 2134?

Nope, I had the power supply here the whole time. It was just the chip swap.

Im assuming you have CP275? So no modifications to the power supply were needed, It was just your board that was modded?


---DeadPoet---

Was there any alteration to power supply or other? Just op-amp switch?

This question has been anwsered, Thanks Farview!

Deadpoet could you please explain to me what exactly the op-amp switch is, Cause I have no idea?



---TAVD---

I think you still can do better than opa2134 & op275, imho.

This is a very vauge statement TAVD, Could you please elaborate? What do you think is a better replacement IC? Also, If you have experience in modding the soundcraft ghost please feel free to point out any mistakes im making in data collection and please share what you know about the modifications to this board with us.

[mplancke]

Modifications for the Soundcraft Ghost originally posted by Don Petty back in '95 or so.

<begin Don Petty mod text>

The mods that I did include:
Increasing the size of all the decoupling capacitors. They are too
small.
22uF 35V HFS most places,
47uF or 100uF 35V HFS series in summing, mic preamp and output areas.
Phillips NE5532AN chips everywhere. Phillips has gotten this chip
together.
MilSpec
Bipolar SU style Panasonic coupling caps were installed.
1000 to 2200uF 6.3V on summing inputs. (group, solo, stereo, cue,
echo,
220uF most coupling to outputs.
22uF to 100uF most interstage coupling.
470uF to 1000 uF 6.3 or 10V in the Mic Pre (feedback termination.)
Replacing 2 paralleled caps if I remember.
100 to 220 uF 10V in the EQ?
A Lambda power supply Bipolar 18 Volts 6+ Amps to power the chips, the
Soundcraft ps was used for phantom. It isn't good for much else.
The solo circuitry was modded to eliminate pfl and put all solos afl.
This
console is used for mixing. This mod consisted of cutting some traces
and
adding jumpers so that the solo source was at the after fade point. A
Dremel tool was used to cut the traces. 26 Gauge single silverplated
conductor teflon insulated wire was used for the jumpers.
Note to modifiers.
The paper based circuit boards in this console are fragile (VERY).
Traces and pads will lift if you get them too hot during soldering or
desoldering operations.
If a pad starts to lift. Add a length of thin insulated wire to
connect
the lifted pad to the next non-lifted pad on the same circuit trace.
24-26
gauge is thick enough. This is extremely important to reduce the
chance of
intermittents and dead signals. Use teflon tubing on leads for
insulation
as needed to prevent shorts.
If you decide to do this job. Purchase a pound of Kester alloy 62 non
corrosive flux solder (Newark has the best price for this solder.
Check
Digikey as well.) This solder is 2% silver and has a lower melting
temperature then Electronic grade alloy 60 solder. You will make much
better connections with this solder, with far less chance of a bad
connection. Multicore (a different brand) SN62 solder works well also
but
is more expensive. I only use SN62 in my work.


Mark

[JoeStrange]

Phillips NE5532AN chips everywhere. Phillips has gotten this chip
together.

Interesting, "Everywhere" Could be anywhere and that statement pretty much explains nothing except for a chip he thought was good.


Now, the capacitor swapping going on here is crazy, Sounds like this guy pretty much reworked every inch of this board...But it also sounds like he had a higher understanding of how everything worked inside a mixing board.

That being said, Most of us are simpletons when it comes to this kind of stuff...I understand what he did....But I dont understand why...Or the desired outcome of all his hard work.

See I started this thread to make it easy on people to understand how to mod a ghost like C.A.L. does it, And the post by don petty sounds like great information without VALUABLE DETAILS. Check out some of his quotes.

22uF 35V HFS most places

Most Places?

Phillips NE5532AN chips everywhere

Chips Everywhere?

220uF most coupling to outputs

most coupling to outputs?

22uF to 100uF most interstage coupling.

Most Everything!!????

Dont get me wrong, I think this guy is smart as hell, But I also think he's a real dick for not taking the time to spill the details of his work. Which leaves simpletons like me scratching my head wondering what chips and caps go "most everywhere".

Im sure you get my point. mplancke thank you for your post in this issue I know your trying to help and I greatly appreciate it...Some of the cap replacements he was more specific on I may add to the list of parts/mods and how too's im compiling for the ghost.

[Kadden Heart]

not to throw anyone off but:
this is a great little thread for thos eof us who know nothing about circuitry, i plan on buying a ghost in the next 6 months or so and am saving this thread just for when that time comes
what are the ideas of how much these upgraded chips and such are costing?

[mplancke]

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

Interesting, "Everywhere" Could be anywhere and that statement pretty much explains nothing except for a chip he thought was good.

[snip]

Dont get me wrong, I think this guy is smart as hell, But I also think he's a real dick for not taking the time to spill the details of his work. Which leaves simpletons like me scratching my head wondering what chips and caps go "most everywhere".

I'm not going to sit here and go blow by blow defending anything that Don said. I trust him and many people have done these mods over the years with great results.

Now, with that said, you've got to use some common sense when utilizing these suggestions. I understand exactly what he's talking about without opening the console because I've taken the time to understand the concepts of design he's talking about.

Everywhere means everywhere the 5532 chips are used in the current design. The Philips version of the same chip Don considers superior to what is used in the stock design. Output coupling means from the output of every amplifier stage & so on. His goal is simply to make the best sounding console from a rather lack luster starting point. Perhaps if you opened the board up these mods would make more sense. You've got the schematic, go through and look at what Don is talking about and try to understand how to apply it.

Or you could leave it to someone who is more comfortable with modding equipment. The people who already perform these mods, understand them, guarantee their work and make a living from it.

Originally Posted by Kadden Heart

not to throw anyone off but:
this is a great little thread for thos eof us who know nothing about circuitry, i plan on buying a ghost in the next 6 months or so and am saving this thread just for when that time comes
what are the ideas of how much these upgraded chips and such are costing?

IMO, you're asking for trouble throwing chips into an existing design willy nilly; if you know nothing about electronic circuitry or how parts interact in a circuit. What Don has laid out is a tested, proven way of upgrading this console, if you don't understand what he's talking about you probably shouldn't be doing it. As always, YMMV.

Cheers
Mark

[JoeStrange]

if you don't understand what he's talking about you probably shouldn't be doing it. As always, YMMV.

Ok man, You can leave it at that...Nuff said.


Funny thing is, Im trying to do the exact opposite of that quote. If ghost owners have the balls to open their board up and start desoldering components without any knowledge of circuitry,Then they probly SHOULD be doing it,For the simple fact that...If they want to take the risk on their expensive equipment than thats their choice,reguardless of anyones approval of what their doing. If we create a guide on paper here for people to go by they wont be going into this modification blind and will more than likely come out with a better board and not fry anything.

My goal here is to gather information and help others that want to try and mod their ghost and have a simple understanding of what parts come out and what parts go in,Simple as that.

[Kadden Heart]

Originally Posted by mplancke

I'm not going to sit here and go blow by blow defending anything that Don said. I trust him and many people have done these mods over the years with great results.

Now, with that said, you've got to use some common sense when utilizing these suggestions. I understand exactly what he's talking about without opening the console because I've taken the time to understand the concepts of design he's talking about.

Everywhere means everywhere the 5532 chips are used in the current design. The Philips version of the same chip Don considers superior to what is used in the stock design. Output coupling means from the output of every amplifier stage & so on. His goal is simply to make the best sounding console from a rather lack luster starting point. Perhaps if you opened the board up these mods would make more sense. You've got the schematic, go through and look at what Don is talking about and try to understand how to apply it.

Or you could leave it to someone who is more comfortable with modding equipment. The people who already perform these mods, understand them, guarantee their work and make a living from it.



IMO, you're asking for trouble throwing chips into an existing design willy nilly; if you know nothing about electronic circuitry or how parts interact in a circuit. What Don has laid out is a tested, proven way of upgrading this console, if you don't understand what he's talking about you probably shouldn't be doing it. As always, YMMV.

Cheers
Mark

i meant i have a pretty minimal understanding of most of this, i worked on the ghost for a while, and also another ghost that had a few mods to it (not sure what) so i got ot experience the differences and would like to do the best i can to get m ghost to what i'd like from it.
however, like you said, i wouldn't want to be randomly resoldering anything i'm not sure about of course.
this is a good start for basics though.

[JoeStrange]

Here's a very interesting thread I found on this subject and make's you wonder...Is the 5532 really that bad? But an ex engineer from soundcraft does admit that the OPA2134 may sound better than the 5532.

I worked as a design engineer on analog consoles at Soundcraft, once upon a time...

OPA2134s will sound brighter and more detailed than the original NE5532s. That is entirely v=because of the VERY HIGH HARMONIC DISTORTION IN THE UPPER FREQUENCY RANGE!

A faster slewing, high band width op amps might improve the transparency pf the mix bus, but it would need to be something like AD797s or Analog Devices new LME49720. Check out also the Analog LME49860.

I'll be honest, I do think the ghost sounds pretty damn good as is...Besides the Hi Eq and it is a bit noisy, To noisy for my taste...Or maybe only my ghost is like that because UPS punted it?


Sound On Sound Forum

[Kadden Heart]

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

Here's a very interesting thread I found on this subject and make's you wonder...Is the 5532 really that bad? But an ex engineer from soundcraft does admit that the OPA2134 may sound better than the 5532.



I'll be honest, I do think the ghost sounds pretty damn good as is...Besides the Hi Eq and it is a bit noisy, To noisy for my taste...Or maybe only my ghost is like that because UPS punted it?


Sound On Sound Forum

but does the 2134 necessarily cause BAD harmonic distortion? i mean, i use the PSP mix stuff a lot, it intentionally ads harmonic distortion, i like ot color my sound a little, so that might not be too bad.
however one of the ghosts i worked on for a while did have a rather "noisy" top end. come ot think of it,....it seems a lot of my low mids were a bit muddy,..maybe it was just the tracking though.

[Farview]

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

The question here is, are JUST the 5532's getting swapped out OR are both the TL072's and NE5532's getting swapped out for the Burr Brown Opa2134 IC's?

All the chips except for IC 11 and IC 12 were replaced with the Opa2134.

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

Any idea what chips the OP275 replaced in the center section?

No. The only reason I know about the channel strips was because someone happened to email me asking about the mod when I happened to have my board out to clean the switches. So I pulled a channel strip and looked. The master section is kind of a pain to get out, so I didn't bother.

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

Are the 2134's the stock chips that were replaced by the OP275 chip,Or were you just told that the OP275 was a better replacement chip than the 2134?

I'm not sure.

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

Im assuming you have CP275? So no modifications to the power supply were needed, It was just your board that was modded?

Yes. I started out with the PSM290 (because that's what came with the board), but the CPS275 made a huge difference all by itself.

[JoeStrange]

All the chips except for IC 11 and IC 12 were replaced with the Opa2134.

Thanks farview! Im going to take this statement as fact coming from someone who owns a modded ghost

Im still wondering about the 4069 chip in the channel strip, I was talking to a friend today about them and he said he thought they had somthing to do with "switching"

Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeStrange
Any idea what chips the OP275 replaced in the center section?

^^This is still a VERY important question that we need to find an anwser to^^

I feel like were making a ton of headway with the channel strip mods, But little to no headway with the master section...which for me personally is the first and most important thing I want to do.

Perhaps if you opened the board up these mods would make more sense.

This statement that mplanke made is SO true, I honestly wish I could gut my ghost right now but unfortuneatly Im in the middle of mixing a project and the gutting will have to wait untill im finished with this project. I figured this would be a good head start so when I do open my ghost up I'll have plenty of information to go by

Just looking at the schematics and trying to figure the mods out is hard. You need to be physicly looking at the hardware to get the best understanding of the circuitry.


So back to the master section.

From looking at the schematics it seems that the ghost master section consist's of 4 Main circuit boards. (There are more than 4 but these are the main ones.)

1- The Stereo/Group Board
2- The Studio OSC PCB Board
3- The Main Aux Board
4 - The Master CRM Board

Simply enough, All of these 4 main master section boards contain the same IC chips as the channel strips.

There is a TON of: TL072 and NE5532 Chips in the master section, There's also alot of LM2901 chips which seem to just power the LED's in main meter and group meters. So going on what farview was saying about the TL072 and NE5532 being replaced by the same chip (OPA2134)

Im just asssuming that the TL072 and NE5532 get swapped out with the OP275 in the master section only. Do not take this statement as fact, Im just speculating here...But common scense tells me thats what might have happened in farview's master section.

I need more people with knowledge of the master section mods on these forums to chime in on this subject to be sure I am right and I will continue scouring the internet for information reguarding the mods to the master section.

[JoeStrange]

Oh man! No need to appologize!!! This is great!

I was actually just on the net searching around for some pictures like this,When I saw your post.


So i was wrong about the IC's on the channel strip, There are 10 chips that get swapped out and IC 11 (8 PIN) and IC 12 (14 PIN) get left alone.

So here's what they did, Pulled the 10 chips, soldered in the 8pin IC sockets, then put the new Burr Brown OPA2134 IC's in the sockets.

Great Stuff.

[JoeStrange]

what are the ideas of how much these upgraded chips and such are costing?

I didnt want you to think I missed this question, I did a price check for a full package deal from digi-key to mod 24 channels.

You would need 240 chips to upgrade 24 channels and digikey just happens to have a deal on 250.

Digi-Key Corporation - USA Home Page
Part# OPA2134-PA-ND $1.47 a piece if you buy 250 chips...For a total of $367.50 Slammin price!

So I was confused about the Burr Brown / Texas Instruments merge and sure enough! The chips are the same spec but just dont have the Burr Brown logo on them anymore, I also found out that TI moved alot of its manufacturing to the burr brown facility...and anything reguarding the company burr brown on the internet leads right to texas instruments. So they are the same company.

So at $1.47 a piece for the BB/TI OPA2134, Your looking at $14.70 a channel for just the IC's, If you want to do sockets I know you can get those in bulk for dirt cheap. So overall for just modding 24 channels your looking at ALOT of time disassembling the board,de-soldering and soldering, $367.50 in parts (250 IC's) and thats ALL 24 modded...Sure beats the crap out of paying five to six thousand dollars for CAL to do it for ya

Im guessing if you already have the tools and dont have to buy them you can mod a whole 24 channel board,master section included for well under a thousand bucks...Not bad!

[Farview]

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

So at $1.47 a piece for the BB/TI OPA2134, Your looking at $14.70 a channel for just the IC's, If you want to do sockets I know you can get those in bulk for dirt cheap. So overall for just modding 24 channels your looking at ALOT of time disassembling the board,de-soldering and soldering, $367.50 in parts (250 IC's) and thats ALL 24 modded...Sure beats the crap out of paying five to six thousand dollars for CAL to do it for ya

CAL also goes through the entire board and clean the switches, resolder all the rear cons, etc... and just make sure everything is right. (They also do the center section)

[Trancetones]

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

I didnt want you to think I missed this question, I did a price check for a full package deal from digi-key to mod 24 channels.

You would need 240 chips to upgrade 24 channels and digikey just happens to have a deal on 250.

Digi-Key Corporation - USA Home Page
Part# OPA2134-PA-ND $1.47 a piece if you buy 250 chips...For a total of $367.50 Slammin price!

So I was confused about the Burr Brown / Texas Instruments merge and sure enough! The chips are the same spec but just dont have the Burr Brown logo on them anymore, I also found out that TI moved alot of its manufacturing to the burr brown facility...and anything reguarding the company burr brown on the internet leads right to texas instruments. So they are the same company.

So at $1.47 a piece for the BB/TI OPA2134, Your looking at $14.70 a channel for just the IC's, If you want to do sockets I know you can get those in bulk for dirt cheap. So overall for just modding 24 channels your looking at ALOT of time disassembling the board,de-soldering and soldering, $367.50 in parts (250 IC's) and thats ALL 24 modded...Sure beats the crap out of paying five to six thousand dollars for CAL to do it for ya

Im guessing if you already have the tools and dont have to buy them you can mod a whole 24 channel board,master section included for well under a thousand bucks...Not bad!

Yeah, well you could.... but I just had my Ghost 24 done at CAL. First, they were great to work with all the way through the process. Second it didn't cost six thousand, it cost $3600- So what did I get for $3600?

• Stripped the Console to the Bone
• Cleaned every inch inside and out
• Cleaned every fader and knob in a bath
• Resoldered EVERY SINGLE solder connection on the board
• Sourced and installed 202 Burr Brown IC's
• Sourced and installed 202 Sockets
• Replaced the CR master pot
• Replaced all insert jacks with Neutrik Gold
• Replaced headphone jack with Neutrik Gold
• Cleaned and lubed faders
• Cleaned and lubed all switches
• TESTED on a PRO BENCH with Oscilloscope and AudioTesting, then tweaked, then retested.
• Trimmed Power Supply to handle new IC's

They also give you a disk with the before and after (so think re-sale value) What I paid for was peace of mind that it was done right for a reasonable price and I didn't have to touch a soldering iron, or find a missing screw. And while they did all that, I was here at the studio tracking my album and building a beautiful desk on which to place it!!!!!

[JoeStrange]

CAL also goes through the entire board and clean the switches, resolder all the rear cons, etc... and just make sure everything is right. (They also do the center section)

I know that they do alot more than IC's far Im just starting with the IC's first and I have talked to sarge on the phone in the past week.

Hahaha! Thats great stuff trance!!!

Hey man, Im in no way trying to compete with this company or sarge and im in no way putting them or the prices they charge down...I know they have a great reputation and I know they do great work...Just so im clear on that

So I was off on their prices,I just know I cant afford to pay twice what I payed for my ghost to have it modded and I have experience in electronics, So im going to fix my board and mod it at the same time on a poor mans budget.


The information you gave was also good stuff....Is that off their website or did you write that out? Im also curious if you have the anwser to some of the unanwsered questions here,Being a modded ghost owner.

Do you know what chips in the master section where replaced by the OP275? Or do you know if they even used a OP275 chip in your master section? Interesting about the power supply too...I have had a few guys say that CAL modded their board and didnt touch the P.S. Do you have any details of what they did to it?

Im just asking because im not sure if your against what im trying to do here on the forum or for it. I kind of got mixed signals from ya.

[Farview]

Originally Posted by JoeStrange

Interesting about the power supply too...I have had a few guys say that CAL modded their board and didnt touch the P.S.

You have to realize that, depending on when you bought your Ghost, the board shipped with a couple different power supplies. Some needed help, the newer ones did not.

[Guitfiddle]

This is a great thread...Does this mod also increase stereo width in the monitor section? Farview, are the pre's usable w/ the mod? I listened to some of your work, was that with some of the modded pre's or before you had the mod done on the Ghost? I am almost ready to do this mod...thanks again.

[Farview]

Originally Posted by Guitfiddle

This is a great thread...Does this mod also increase stereo width in the monitor section? Farview, are the pre's usable w/ the mod? I listened to some of your work, was that with some of the modded pre's or before you had the mod done on the Ghost? I am almost ready to do this mod...thanks again.

Yes, the mod gives better imaging and a greater sense of depth. The preamps are much more 'solid' sounding.

All of the stuff on my site was recorded after I got the board modified. But, I have some outboard preamps that I also use, so not everything went through the board. The drums always go through the board, sometimes bass, some guitars... It really depends.

If you have a ghost, this is totally worth it. It brings the whole board up to that next level for a fraction of what it would cost to get a board from that level.

I do want to recomend the guys down at Creation Audio Labs. Even though you could do the mods yourself, these guys really go through the mixer with a fine tooth comb. They also know about all the little things that tend to go wrong with them and fix those things before they happen. At the end of the process, you wind up with a much better mixer in almost brand new condition.

[Guitfiddle]

Great...thanks for the quick response. I also use a lot of highend outboard, however I am in some more upgrade stages with room mods and outboard gear...I have to wait a little while longer, due to the improvements I am making. I want to hear how the room and board sound before I make the move on the Ghost, so I can really hear the changes I have made to the board. I'm sure I will notice right away(I have owned the board many years), however I don't want to make too many changes on the sound of my room and equipment all at the same time. I can't believe the overwhelming positive response from people that have had the mod done. I have to get this mod done. Nice work, Thanks again.

[JoeStrange]

So here's another interesting post I read about disabling the ghost computer (CPU) to further reduce noise in the buss outputs. This is for original ghost owners only...This does not apply to the ghost LE.

This post did mention Jim Williams as knowing some things about this mod, I have read a few posts by jim williams here on gearslutz and he really seems to know alot about the ghost and modding it, So if you see this post Jim your reply's and more than welcome

Disabling the CPU sounds good to me as I dont use anything involving it anyways (At least I dont think I do).

Im still currently doing research and trying to gather information on mods to the ghost master section,So any replys reguarding that are also very needed.

This is just another mod in the growing list


Re: FS: Soundcraft Ghost 32ch $4000/obo

[rufus13]

I had no idea that Soundcraft had dropped the circuit board quality on their biggest/most-expensive advertised mixer to lower than a Pioneer 1970's SX-xxxx receiver. They used to use FR4 fiberglass boards with thick copper traces, like in the 3200 or 6000 "made in UK" boards.

Even smaller/cheaper/older Soundcraft mixers like 200B have fiberglass pcb.

Thanks for the update.

Cheers.

[CAL]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to clear up a few things (all of which we would happily tell you if you called us up at the shop).

We do use a compliment of OPA2134's, OP275's and LME49860's in the audio path of the Ghost circuitry. We also don't have a set compliment for all Ghosts. This is because the compliment we install is dependent upon the revision of the ghost circuit board. There are 7 issues that we are aware of and Soundcraft could make a new one anytime they feel it is necessary. One compliment of IC's will work flawlessly in one Ghost but will result in major oscillation in others. Obviously and for reasons I hope you guys all understand, I cannot tell you what an exact compliment is as it changes depending on the Ghost frame itself. I also can't stop anyone who has had the mod installed from sharing that information. However, I can tell you that a mod done in 2004 is not the same mod done in 2008. This is because we are continually finding new and better ways to make gear sound great! And what works in one ghost won't necessarily work in another.

Due to the fact that we are in a constant state of RnD for our own product line (please check out our MW1 Studio Tool *shameless plug*), we are finding better ways to enhance the quality of all our modifications and standard repairs. In addition to changing the IC's we thoroughly clean and lube switches, fader packs, I/O jacks and potentiometers. We install buffering caps to help eliminate potential oscillation. We tweak the power supply to optimal specs. We replace the known bad nickel plated insert jacks with the new factory standard Neutrik Golds (not readily available in the US). After all that, we bring the desk to complete spec using our knowledge of the Soundcraft factory specifications and the use of our scopes and Audio Precision testing software and hardware. We like to think that the services we offer are very reasonable, and we take pride in all our work. We also stand behind it with our warranty.

As for the capacitor upgrade, you can improve the audio quality by replacing the eletrolytics with higher values and lower ESR values than the stock caps. But be aware that those pads and traces are very fragile. It is very easy to end up doing more damage than improvement, and unless you plan on thoroughly testing every channel that you do, you may not realize the damage until much later after you have preformed that mod.

All in all, we welcome these discussions and enjoy reading them. Feel free to email or call us at the shop. Oh and btw, Sarge has moved on to take on the role of President of our growing business. So please direct any questions to me as I do most of the console repairs and mods.

- Brandon Arora

[DeadPoet]

Cool! Thanks for that info Brandon.

Now if only shipping this from the EU to the US wouldn't be so costly.. Again, I was thinking that flying a technician in and having him stay in a hotel for a few days could be cheaper..


Herwig