Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
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By kebzer Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:26 am
Well, before someone goes on and do the mod with the inverter, please bear in mind that you need to be EXTREMELY careful with any pressure you will apply on the screen itself.

Also, please make sure that you install the El-Foil with the most gentle way back inside the screen. This thing should fit with no force AT ALL.

I am afraid that this one is the most dangerous mod of all, even though it is the easiest looking.
By oldgearguy Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:57 pm
It took about 30 to 45 minutes to -- disassemble the MPC 3000, unsolder the old foil, install the new foil, and reassemble the 3000. It took another 15 minutes of tracing the backlight to realize that the CPU board was f**ked and not sending the +5v to the inverter board, so: the foil wasn't bad, the inverter condition is unknown, and now I have to debug the CPU board to figure out why the +5 is not there. I also have an extra backlight if someone needs one.

Interestingly, a previous owner had taken the MPC in to get this problem fixed (or maybe they tried it themselves) and installed the metal plate holding the LCD in backwards so that the display was shifted down in the window. So, you had an MPC with a dead display and shifted down so that you can't read the soft key values in the window. Not too usable I'd say.

Anyway - the point being -- there is a world of difference between a backlight that's still working but faded and a completely dead backlight (either the inverter or something else). It may be hard to spot from an eBay photo, so it's best to ask the seller if there's a difference in the display when the press the contrast pot on and off. If there's no difference, the display is dead and the problem *may* be the backlight, or it may be something else. If you're not a tech yourself, figure on paying someone for 2-4 hours of their time to get it back to 100%, so that's somewhere between $200 and $400 on top of the $33 backlight and $xxx price of the MPC.

Just 2 cents from someone that's been repairing gear for 15 years or so.
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By kebzer Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:44 am
_Stilo_ wrote:
kebzer wrote:I am afraid that this one is the most dangerous mod of all, even though it is the easiest looking.

Which mod are you talking of? Replacing the EL foil? ???


Well, you can either call it a "mod" or a "repair", lol!
By danieldrums Thu Dec 11, 2008 12:53 am
man, i lucked out! i went into GC and came across an mpc3000le! super mint condition, 1yr warranty 1700 out the door including the warranty... i had a regular mpc3000 and sold that for 1800, i regret selling that one but i guess it was for a reason sense i always wanted an le... thank God i found one!!!
By jazzroom Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:39 pm
Hi to all MPC3000 gurus ,

I am workin MPC1000 + JJOS2XL
fancy adding vintage vibe to my beats n samples.

Found MPC3000 on Ebay for 850 euros ... with SCSI not working well ( sometimes yes sometimes no?) but floppy proclaimed to work well...
the seller is willing to go down to 700 euros..

Can i leave without SCSI ... what needs replacement and where to get it?

is 700 euros a good deal for MPC3000 + 32MB OS3.1 ( no working SCSI)?
By jazzroom Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:00 pm
MPCHunter wrote:It's possible that the SCSI fuse is blown from someone trying to hot swap a drive. If you can solder, the replacement fuse is pretty cheap and is not hard to replace.

700 euros? Price only matters to what your wallet can afford.


i am OK with soldering but how do i test if its a blown "fuse" ...
than why the seller says that SCSI works sometimes sometimes not.. how can it be if something is defenitely blown?
maybe its some bad internal contacts or something?

700 euros is alot for me... i am even not sure i would like the "old school" slow workflow with no visual sample view ( numbers) on MPC3000
since my 1st MPC is MPC1000 ....
but maybe i will b able to get over the learning curve and get into MPC3000?

donno.... 700 goddamn eurobucks is alot for just experimentation .. :(

but how is the reselling value of MPC3000 with no working SCSI ,

do u think could i re-sell it for the same price

in case i will not get into it?
By jazzroom Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:23 pm
Deta!L wrote:^don't do it


i kindah start really dig MPC1000 with JJOS2XL and
feel that its a way to go - still lot to learn and JJ is constantl
breaking new grounds with each new update ....

just got sucked into all the hype about the "better" sound of MPC60/3000

Hey , but i've never touched any other MPC's than MPC1000 - and i love its sound so far :)