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Roland JX-3P
The refurbishment project
This series of videos shows how I approached the refurbishment of a Roland JX-3P Synthesiser that have been loaned to the channel.
Background:
I have been talking to a DRUM and BASS artist / producer / record label owner for several years following a video that I made relating to how to setup your Roland MX-1 (https://youtu.be/g0cHfT74K3w). The artist / producer / record label owner is known professionally as @TheDeathBeats or Gary Robinson publishing music through the DEATHRAY music label.
Late last year we got onto the subject of DRUM and BASS pioneers and the instruments that these pioneers acquired to produce their music. Instruments like the ROLAND TR-909, ROLAND W-30 and ROLAND JX-3P. These instruments were the backbone of acts that inspired Gary to create and publish.
The conversation turned to the fact that Gary had a number of these instruments that needs some Tender Loving Care (TLC) and were in storage with his parents in the UK while Gary is currently living and working in Mexico.
One of these instruments was the JX-3P which I agreed to look at and is featured in this series of videos. The main issue was that the memory was not holding tones or sequences following a power cycle.
This video series follows the steps undertaken to diagnose and then fix the issues with Gary’s presious Roland JX-3P.
The key issues identified were:
JX-3P memory.
The pots particularily the volume pot were scratchy.
a series of keys on the keybed were dead.
The Roland JX-3P synth from 1983 has arrived in the goldfish bowl for investigation as to what might be wrong with this iconic synthesiser.
The JX-3P was the first in a line of 3 JX synths, adding more functions on each iteration. The synth was re-imagined by Roland in the form of the Boutique JX-03 in more recent years with the later two synths being released as the Boutique JX-08.
While the synth is an analogue synth it uses 2 digital oscillators to generate the tones, and following the swap to digital synthesis in the late 80's and early 90's the prices of these synths on the second hand market made them very appealing to many EDM and synth acts that started to form around this time.
This is part 1 of a series of videos that will hopefully restore one of Gary's workhorse tools back to rude health for use in future compositions.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Before any work can be undertaken on the JX-3P I need to workout how to get inside the synth. I often see people not correctly work out how to access a synth and then break a socket through it being forced.
This episode goes through which screws need to be removed to safely open the synth to start the restoration work.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
In this episode we start by removing the rubber contact strip, which is what the keys make contact with to generate the tone. The underlying key bed circuit board in then cleaned (using warm soapy water). A n inspection of the key bed circuit tracks is performed to see if this is the cause of the JX-3P Dead Key issue. The contact rubber strip and circuit board are then cleaned with IPA to removed any contaminates.
At the end of the episode the circuit board is ready to start reassembly.
Click anywhere on the image or title to see the work undertaken on this synthesiser.
