Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By BJB-1991 Tue Feb 19, 2019 4:52 am
I'm considering buying an MPC2000XL but the seller is in France. Has anyone ever bought a European one? The on/off switch seems to block out a bit of the power rating in the photo, but it LOOKS to be the same 120V, 60Hz, 23W written on the back as any other MPC...There also appears to be a sticker on the side of the unit that says "THIS CLASS (B) DIGITAL APPARATUS COMPLIES WITH CANADIAN ICES-003" which to me sounds good, as I am located in Canada. I can try contacting them and see what their English is like, I was just hoping someone here would have some insight. I'd feel pretty bad if I got it and found out it won't work here! (Oh, it also has a Zip drive instead of floppy. If anyone has any opinions on that feel free to share!) Thanks.
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By JUKE 179r Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:27 am
Short answer... Yes.
The MPC2000XL has an internal voltage convertor to change input voltage range of 100-240VAC. I bought my first MPC2000XL in South Korea (it had a 120VAC sticker on it even though Korea is 220VAC) and used it in Korea, England, Qatar, Norway, US, and Germany without the use of a transformer.

If you get the XL, ditch the Zip drive and install a SCSI2SD card. You'll thank me later. :smoker:
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By richie Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:29 pm
It has what is called a 'switching power supply' inside so it can go between 110/220 just fine.

Also, the sticker on the side signifies that it has been approved by the Canadians further certifies that it can work in 110.
By BJB-1991 Tue Feb 19, 2019 6:01 pm
Hmm, this all sounds very promising...However based on that last post, the photo looks a little different than the unit I'm looking at. https://imgur.com/a/ZsohEFb
I'm guessing under the power switch it will say 120V, but should I think I'll message them and see if they can confirm that.
(And yeah, I figure I can ditch the Zip drive eventually with all the replacements out there, but for now the idea of saving samples to cartridges sounds pretty fun. I love retro stuff like that.)
Hopefully I end up with this MPC, as it's in really nice shape, I was just worried about the French-factor.
Are there any other things I should maybe ask them about before I buy it?
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By richie Tue Feb 19, 2019 8:41 pm
BJB, all the MPC 2000XL's have switching power supplies.

They have never been shipped with different ones for different regions. There is no need to get 25 confirmations about this, honestly.

Saving samples to cartridges that have a high failure rate is no novelty, nor is fun. Spend $10 and install an CF to IDE/ATA card reader and call it a day.
By BJB-1991 Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:04 pm
Okay, thank you all for the replies! My worries are now quelled. I've bought stuff that doesn't work before and it was infuriating so I wanted to be 100% sure, the difference between the two photos was kinda throwing me off. I look forward to getting to know this classic machine.
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By richie Wed Feb 20, 2019 2:06 am
I understand where you're coming from. On the front of your concerns, you are fine. Hopefully you will get to enjoy the instrument without any issues.
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By JUKE 179r Sun Feb 24, 2019 6:38 pm
oldskl1 wrote:weird

I live in the UK, I bought an mpc from america (mpcstuff) I plugged a UK power lead into it turned it on and it fried the motherboard

mpcstuff said it was because I didn't use a step down

If you fried the motherboard, you had bigger problems with your 2000XL.
Normally it'll just blow the fuse on the internal power supply which the fuse is replaceable.
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By richie Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:26 pm
oldskl1 wrote:weird

I live in the UK, I bought an mpc from america (mpcstuff) I plugged a UK power lead into it turned it on and it fried the motherboard

mpcstuff said it was because I didn't use a step down


That's complete bullsh*t.

It has a switching power supply, so it auto detects depending on the region you're in.