106 LED change

[asciwhite]

alright all,

Im new to circuit bending so if I ask a dumb question, please be gentle.. (c:

I've got a juno 106 and I've ordered the blue LED kit. I've already carried out a few mods, changing the battery for a pop out job and a little cleaning up but I want to change all the LED's to blue. On a score of 1 to 10, how difficult is this to do?

Cheers all,

a

[Gordonjcp]

Depends how good your soldering is.  Getting the 7-segment displays out will be hard.  You need a good soldering iron and some solder braid, and a lot of patience.  Make sure you get dim blue LEDs because normal ones will be much brighter than the existing red and green LEDs, which will be really hard on the eyes.



Blue LEDs are passé now anyway.  You should get white ones.

[Circuitbenders]

Make sure you get dim blue LEDs because normal ones will be much brighter than the existing red and green LEDs, which will be really hard on the eyes.

Tell me about it, i can't even read any of the lettering on the front panel of my Yamaha RM1X since replacing all the LED's. Its too bright to actually look at!

[Gordonjcp]

I'd like to change the backlight and LEDs in my Akai to white, but I'll probably just leave it alone - I'm glad it's working at all!

[asciwhite]

Cheers guys, appreciate the advice. And duly noted on the display. Yeah I know this idea is a tad dated, but it was the ten dollar kit from technology transplant and I like the look of it.

My soldering is pretty good. Like most things, if you're gonna do something best do it to a high quality so I'm gonna practice on a few things first. I need to get perfect at it anyway, my poor old 303 is in desperate need of new pots and buttons. Can't bring myself to sell it so I may as well get it back to full use..

On a side note, can't believe how much 106's are going for on ebay at the moment. Some people have more money than sense..

cheers,

a

[Gordonjcp]

Ten years ago I paid £120 for an HS-60 (Juno 106 with speakers) in the Aberdeen branch of Crime^W Cash Converters.  Even then 106es were going for upwards of 400 quid.  They had no idea what it was or how much it was worth.

[asciwhite]

Yeah I read about about the HS60 some years ago. I love the way roland would produce these things for home use just by adding a speaker. (c:  There's an HS10 up for grabs on ebay at the moment too. Still not that cheap mind.

I picked up my 106 for 300 quid around 8 months ago. The audio jacks were not working, all the sliders were missing, the battery was flat and it looked pretty bashed up. I managed to clean up the jacks and what do you know, they all work. One battery replaced with a clip in job, a quick clean of the case and she looks and sounds great again. I think the guy who sold it to me was less than pleased but hey, his loss...

[electoyd]

Paul i had to stick tape over the leds you installed on the freebass i got off you felt like it was giving me laser eye surgery every time i switched it on

http://www.lasermet.com/resources/classification_overview.php.

worth taking care with leds though they are almost lasers (in fact maybe Pauls are!) though i did get some nice violet/purple ones that look fetching.

[Circuitbenders]

Paul i had to stick tape over the leds you installed on the freebass i got off you felt like it was giving me laser eye surgery every time i switched it on

 

Yeah, those were the same ones i stuck in my RM1X. You can imagine what it's like with about 25 of them on a front panel! I've got some less ridiculous ones now so i'm going to open it up and swap them all again when i have a chance.

You could always open up the freebass, cut the LED leg and stick a resistor in line. I guess about 200ohm or so should calm it down a bit.