Mojoworkin
New Member
A Mac 4100 fell into my lap. (Serial BY 8862) Plugged 'er in and no sound. Then I noticed it's missing the pre in/out jumpers. Patched it with RCA cables and it started singing. Sounds fantastic! I'd characterize the sound as "authoritative." Takes whatever you give it, and it seems to say, "I got this" Just a little crunchy pots and switches here and there. Woohoo!
I'm just dipping my toes into going under the covers of my gear, but I quickly got myself elbow-deep into this beast. Disassembly is pretty easygoing, and most stuff is in easy to access modules. I got the switches all cleaned up and reinstalled, but now the Mono switch won't latch. Grrr. Have to look into that. Selector switch is open in back and cleaned easily. EQ pots came out on a module. Couldn't get the Volume/balance module out. (tool issue) but looks easy enough.
I'm pretty impressed with the overall condition. Inside was remarkably clean, and nothing looks suspicious to my untrained eye. The case is a little funky. I bet some new contact paper would straighten things out
The worst news so far: There are some RCA jacks in the "Recorder" section that are pushed in and the wafer to which they are mounted is cracked. Also the #3 speaker jacks were loose on one side. Once I got inside, I found the mount was broken into several shards right at the rivet. (from the gorillas at Salvation Army no doubt) I guess carefully drill out rivets and replace? All the other RCA jacks are corroded. I'm sure there is an AK approved way to spiffing them up.
The inside of one of the knobs is a bit bodgered. Do the plastic doohikeys come out? Can I replace?
The faceplate is in good shape but a wee bit crusty. Doing this work in my cushy storage space, so I almost never have what I need at hand I would have tried windex if I had it, but it did not clean up with isopropyl alcohol, so now I'm worried that's as good as it gets. I'm wary of getting too aggressive with scrubbing.
All the lamps work, but was contemplating replacing just because it's it's open. Are there good LED equivalents that look right? Is that heresy? What's with all the colored cellophane? The color seems a bit too warm. Is that an aftermarket thing, or is that how it is?
Anything you'd recommend I do while it's cracked open?
Thanks in advance!
I'm just dipping my toes into going under the covers of my gear, but I quickly got myself elbow-deep into this beast. Disassembly is pretty easygoing, and most stuff is in easy to access modules. I got the switches all cleaned up and reinstalled, but now the Mono switch won't latch. Grrr. Have to look into that. Selector switch is open in back and cleaned easily. EQ pots came out on a module. Couldn't get the Volume/balance module out. (tool issue) but looks easy enough.
I'm pretty impressed with the overall condition. Inside was remarkably clean, and nothing looks suspicious to my untrained eye. The case is a little funky. I bet some new contact paper would straighten things out
The worst news so far: There are some RCA jacks in the "Recorder" section that are pushed in and the wafer to which they are mounted is cracked. Also the #3 speaker jacks were loose on one side. Once I got inside, I found the mount was broken into several shards right at the rivet. (from the gorillas at Salvation Army no doubt) I guess carefully drill out rivets and replace? All the other RCA jacks are corroded. I'm sure there is an AK approved way to spiffing them up.
The inside of one of the knobs is a bit bodgered. Do the plastic doohikeys come out? Can I replace?
The faceplate is in good shape but a wee bit crusty. Doing this work in my cushy storage space, so I almost never have what I need at hand I would have tried windex if I had it, but it did not clean up with isopropyl alcohol, so now I'm worried that's as good as it gets. I'm wary of getting too aggressive with scrubbing.
All the lamps work, but was contemplating replacing just because it's it's open. Are there good LED equivalents that look right? Is that heresy? What's with all the colored cellophane? The color seems a bit too warm. Is that an aftermarket thing, or is that how it is?
Anything you'd recommend I do while it's cracked open?
Thanks in advance!
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