K2000 repairs, was Re: [sdiy] Andromeda A6 hardware questions

[Dave Kendall]

Hi all.

On Mar 4, 2010, at 15:46, Mark Pulver wrote:
> K2000's are only $250 these days? ooooo... :)


Are there any K2000 repair experts out there?. I've got a couple of 
K2000 keyboards (Janis board) that are slowly fading away and would 
love to hear some stories/tips/spare parts sources....

Here are some common faults I've found..
*	Apparently the PSU in the keyboard version is not very reliable, and 
can fail, as it is barely adequate for a fully-loaded machine (a 
bulging electro cap is the tell-tale)
*	The backlight eventually goes dim on all of them. I've seen a 
repair/upgrade on the web, but it needs some trace cutting, and also 
draws more power than the original from the +5V line, 	so an internal 
SCSI HD on the keyboard version is now not possible with the mod, which 
is a bit of a drawback if you want user samples.
*	The chassis/case on the keyboard model is made of quite brittle 
plastic, so the housings for the screws holding the two halves apart 
can fail over time. (this has happened to both of 	mine)
*	The mod/pitch wheel pots eventually get noisy - problem is, there is 
a non-standard pot in there, that would need some bodging to replace, 
as it's (from memory) a sort of bespoke 	"female" shaft.
*	output transistors on the separate outputs in the rack model often 
fail. (several times on my first Rack machine)

Also, a couple of momentary switches on one of mine have failed - the 
ENTER button + MIDI buttons sadly.... hmmm.

If you do go for one, get a V3.54 or V3.87 - the latter is much faster 
with SCSI loads, but is slighty more unstable (occasionally it will do 
a hard reset on boot-up without being asked to....)

FWIW, I installed a Fujitsu 230meg removable M.O. drive in the floppy 
slot of my K2000RS - it has run faultlessly for 12 years or so. I 
recommend this..... :-)

I once found a source of spare parts, but all the prices were extremely 
high, and were near to, or more than the second-hand value in several 
cases....

Having said that, they are still great machines, with some very 
advanced modulation options for the time (controller sources can be 
processed with algebraic and other functions - the so-called FUN 
section).
I only just recently retired my K2000J keyboard from gigging and 
recording, because of a MOD-wheel failure and a backlight that is 
nearly unreadable in dim lighting or at gigs. It was bought new in 94, 
and has been used regularly, and very hard over that time)...
My '95 K2000 rack is still being used regularly, as is the first one I 
owned before selling on to a mate. (the PSU is apparently a bit 
beefier)

Any tips welcome - I would love to get the 2 keyboards back into 
service again....

cheers,
Dave