soldering new pads in

i gotta fix my faulty pads cause i use 16 levels...

so could anyone who has fitted the new pads explain what kind of soldering is required... what exactly gets soldered... anything to look out for

i've barely used a soldering iron in my life but i've dismantled plenty of hardware and feel ok 'bout it...

could these pads... or components inside be sourced elsewhere... maybe they are generic components that Akai by from some f**k'd up pad manufacturer

i dont think anything get soldered...? i think you jus plug a new pad in somewhere...??

can anyone calrify?

VST told me they require soldering (ihope they're wrong 'bout that)... they also said i can't buy the whole pad bank assembly..

I'm in Australia so shipping is $50

you can switch each individual pad out without having to do any soldering.

http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=42133


and each pad is sold seperately, rather than all 16 pads being sold as one unit..

i'm kinda wondering why Akai's authorised service center thinks the pads need to be soldered in??

that is scary. people r idiots.

coniption wrote:i'm kinda wondering why Akai's authorised service center thinks the pads need to be soldered in??

Maybe, because that way - they can make more money of it!

I smell shady business.

Isn't there any other company in the u.s. where you can order mpc parts other than vst?

I'm getting the feeling that it might be cheaper to get those pads elsewhere, because it really is a modular system.

I opened it myself out of curiosity and it's really easy - if you just exchange a pad.

you just have to unscrew a few screws and then every single pad is connected with one small cable.
just unpluggin - nothing more.

even opening the pads is easy - if you are careful.

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I still think it's a rip-off what VST does to Akai customers.

I would take a look on the AKAI webpage and find out which retailer is responsible for Australia and then get the single parts from them.

the Australian authorised dealer (new since numark took over) told me that pre-Numark parts are not available yet..

they said wait till after Namm when they will have an answer.. because they haven't been advised about availabliity of pre-Numark parts at this stage

interestingly they were fully aware of the pad problem and said it was a common problem with the MPC1000's...

The new pad assemblies do not come with the two attached wires. You just have to desolder the two wires from the old pad and solder them to the new pad. Should take about 2 minutes for someone with minimal soldering experience.

If you do not like soldering or for some reason think it is unethical to repair your own equipment then you are more than welcome to send it to a repair shop at $80/hr to replace a $16 part.

yo coniption, I'm in australia too, and I also have a dead pad [bottom left corner], I'm using a M Audio trigger finger in conjunction with the MPC pads but would like to fix mine too, I have pretty good soldering experince [ex Telstra Cable Tech] lemme know how ya get on with it parts/repair etc I'm interested
peace

thanks for clearing that up MPC 3000... I'll do it myself cause i wanna learn anyway...

I'll let you know how it goes bassics

yo, i just ordered a few new pads, if i have to solder anythin im gunna be vexe,d i thought this ish was straight up plug and play

bump

mpc3000 wrote:The new pad assemblies do not come with the two attached wires. You just have to desolder the two wires from the old pad and solder them to the new pad. Should take about 2 minutes for someone with minimal soldering experience.

If you do not like soldering or for some reason think it is unethical to repair your own equipment then you are more than welcome to send it to a repair shop at $80/hr to replace a $16 part.

WHAT - you pay 16 DOLLARS for a small replacement part - AND they cut down a few pennys on a little cable and connector

PLEASE - tell that this is not true

this IS LAME.

"this IS LAME"

You have to change the oil in your car every 5000-7500 miles, or pay someone else to do it.
You have to replace the roof on your house every 20-25 years or pay someone else to do it.
You have to plunge the poop out of your clogged toilet or pay someone else to do it.
You have to run an anti-virus on your computer or pay someone else to do it.
You have to actually solder a simple little connection when you have to replace a pad on your MPC or pay someone else to do it.

Welcome to the real world where people do not allow petty little hurdles get in they way of their goals. Sure I originally did not like repairing equipment, but I found it in my best interested to either learn how to repair simple things myself or develop a close relationship with a shop that does. In fact I did both.

I'm not really the smartest person in the world, and a little bit of soldering is not exactly rocket science. It is pretty obvious that most of the people complaining have never owned other "real" instruments that require "real" expense in maintaining, say regularly tuning a Grand Piano, or replacing all the contacts in a midi controller. Either of which can be done if a user is willing to learn, or else shell out the bucks to have someone else to do it. A simple solder is a walk in the park.