NOMD

idsnowdog

Imperator of Indignation
New Old Mixer Day. Earlier this week I saw a curb alert for some free audio gear on Craigslist. So, I stopped by after work and picked up a Shure M67 4-channel microphone mixer, a Behringer crossover, and a Yamaha power amp. The power amp was garbage so I scrapped it and got dozens of transistors, diodes, resistors, and capacitors from it.

The M67 worked but the more I read about it they talked about it being noisy and low-fi due to its AC transformer creating a lot of hum and hiss. I opened it up and I could see all the components were original. One of the odd features is it could be powered from a 30V DC battery for concert use like this example at Woodstock.

People who used it with DC power didn't have as many complaints because the AC transformer is out of the picture. So, I studied the schematic and replaced the 57 year old electrolytic capacitors on the DC portion of the circuit with capacitors I salvaged from the Yamaha. I cut off the AC power cord and replaced it with a 29V DC wall wart that I soldered internally to the battery terminals.

Moving the transformer away from the main board and replacing the old capacitors did the trick and I think the people who say these things are useless are FOS. I did some recoding today and I don't think it's much worse than a lot of budget gear. My Line6 Toneport seems noisier.
 

Attachments

  • bill-hanleyjpg.jpg
    bill-hanleyjpg.jpg
    27.4 KB · Views: 0
  • 000000120630930-00-600x600.png
    000000120630930-00-600x600.png
    103.2 KB · Views: 0
  • Untitled.png
    Untitled.png
    157.2 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
hows it sound once you got it fixed up? some of those old mixers have "character" for lack of a better word, and sound great.
 
hows it sound once you got it fixed up? some of those old mixers have "character" for lack of a better word, and sound great.
I don't have much of a frame of reference as PA gear goes. I don't notice any hiss, hum, distortion or coloration after modifying it. The only thing I would like to change is the bulb for the VU meter doesn't light up when running on DC. Although I could probably rewire that since it is probably coming off the AC transformer. It worked before I cut the AC cable. Maybe they had it so it only lit when plugged into AC to save battery life?
 
The DC switchover was simple. I just cut the AC cord and soldered the wall wart to the internal side of the battery terminals.
 

Attachments

  • Untitled.png
    Untitled.png
    118.9 KB · Views: 0
Back
Top