Antonym wrote:in short, i learned that there is more evidence that newer mpc1000s are built with more reliable pads, and that at some point there was a slight design change between old models and new ones - i presume nothing huge but we'd have to have a black mpc user open it up to prove it, i guess.
I gave in after relentlessly trying to fix my pads and bought newer replacement pads directly from akai just recently. They cost me $7 canadian each, and i decided to do all my own repairs to install them myself since i didnt want to pay somebody like 100$$ to do it. They came to me without any wiring attached, and i had to resolder the original wire connector from the original faulty pads. While i was doing this, i decided i wanted to inspect the new pads to see if there was any difference in build since i got 16 of them. When i did the only thing i noticed was the carbon seemed like it wasnt raised with that silicon rubber cement, but was pretty much flat against the contact but seemed more firmly in place. It appears that there really isnt much difference in the new ones, unless i got an old batch of pads sent to me
anyway, since i replaced them, my mpc is better than new...(and in my case when i got mine new there was problems with the pads out of the box)