Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
By HabitualMusic Wed May 04, 2005 4:12 pm
As the heading states I just recieved my broken sp1200 from the post offfice. Bought it off ebay. Plugged it in and it sound like there a grounding problem. when i adjust the volume it crackles like you wouldnt belive and also when i hit the kick button its distorted as shit. Damn thing wont even sample alls i get is a faint distorted signal. Any suggestions what these problems might be? I think im convinced i need to take it in somewhere but dont know where. maybe i should just smash it to pieces with my 2Kxl then make a beat with no problems :twisted:
User avatar

By DJAndreas Wed May 04, 2005 4:14 pm
How much did you pay for it?

By elmacaco Wed May 04, 2005 4:24 pm
you might want to return it to the seller if it wasn't sold as broken.

If it was, volume crackling is a dirty pot, just twist it back and forth a bunch of times and it should get better.

Maybe try opening it up and reseating the ribbon connectors and stuff.

is there a level switch on the sampling input? Did you check your gain when sampling?

By HabitualMusic Wed May 04, 2005 4:37 pm
I paid 950 for it. If you even touch the knob withought moving it it crackles tried checking all the connections in side and im sampling at +40. Ive used sp's before and this ones is definatly not operating as it should be.

By elmacaco Wed May 04, 2005 4:41 pm
+40 is way too high, that will distort severely, it is meant for a passive mic input, if you're TT is going through a preamp or DJ mixer you should be setting the gain at 0 or a few up or down from there.
User avatar

By DJAndreas Wed May 04, 2005 4:48 pm
By the way, there is no way your 2000xl can smash the 1200, the 1200 is a tank. Have you ever f*cked with the 60?

By HabitualMusic Wed May 04, 2005 4:55 pm
At 0 there is no signal at all i know at +40 its high but even then there is barly a signal I have a sound clip that i sent to the guy all my levels are set right if anyones intrested i can send it if not no big deal

By elmacaco Wed May 04, 2005 5:14 pm
yeah, post the clip as a yousendit.com file.

what are you sampling from? turntable? is it through a preamp or mixer of somekind?

By HabitualMusic Wed May 04, 2005 5:16 pm
through my turntables im posting it now thanks for lookin at it

By elmacaco Wed May 04, 2005 5:17 pm
you got a preamp for the Turntable?

By HabitualMusic Wed May 04, 2005 5:19 pm
out of my mixer

By elmacaco Wed May 04, 2005 5:21 pm
nah just put whatever email address, make one up, then when it's done you get a link, post that here.

+40 is pretty hot on the emax, did you watch the VU bar as it goes across the screen to check your level? It should be maxing out before the end of the screen, not at the end of the screen, or you'll get distortion.

By elmacaco Wed May 04, 2005 5:28 pm
So it just gets noise at random like that? At the end is it pickin up radio signals? You're not moving any knobs when the noise is happening are you?

yeah, sorry, that's not a level thing. I'd open it up and with the unit off and a can of compressed air just clean out the inside of any dust and push in gently the ribbon connectors. it could also be your audio jacks.

But the First thing you should do is excersize all the controls, move all the faders back and forth, a bunch of times, all knobs, especially the main volume knob back and forth, you'll hear that noise a lot but as you keep doing it you will notice it starts to go away.

try that before opening it, but opening it is a good idea.

This kind of thing happens when n S sits around without being used for a few years, well, it happens to all gear that sits around really.

By HabitualMusic Wed May 04, 2005 5:32 pm
thanks for the help im taking it in right now the radio signal is when i switch to sample mode