Repair Roland MKS-80 Vintage Analog Synthesizer Reparatur Service

1. November 2020

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Repair Roland MKS-80 Vintage Analog Synthesizer Reparatur Service

Roland MKS-80 vintage analog synthesizer. This one was sent in to do a complete check and to take care whatever this lovely snthesizer needs to stay well.

First thing I spotted was a leaky electrolytic capacitor. Since there was one leaky one found here I suspected more caps to be bad. And yes, indeed, there were a lot of these bad caps in here. Everybody can clearly see in my pictures that these did leak substance (pissing electrolyte) out of their legs. This substance is an agressive one. Over time this will damage the traces and damage your synthesizer. You should take care of it and go to a tech (like me) and let it check. Now it`s still an easy fix and more than worth it. Once there is damage it's way more things to repair if even possible. Check my other repair stories such as the Korg PS3200 for more details.

Repair Roland MKS-80 Vintage Analog Synthesizer Reparatur Service

Usual thing I do in such restoration is to renew the thermal compound under the regulators. These dry out over time like you can see in the picture, so it no longer can fill the tiny gaps between the cooler and the regulator to promote thermal conductivity

Customer also wanted to have a new display installed since the old display was jsut barely readable. What a nice, bright, high contrast new display. I like!

I also took care of the Roland MPG-80 programmer that cam with the MKS-80. Nothing too special here. Electrolytic Caps replaced and also the slider dust cover. Every single potentiometer (and switch etc.) was cleaned with my method (no contact cleaner).

There are lethal voltage exposed in electronic devices. Unless you know what you are doing, don’t try this. If you following along, you doing so at your own risk.

I’m documenting repairs for my reference and yours. I do synth restorations and repair with a specialty in vintage synthesizers, drum computer and other vintage gear, based in Düsseldorf, GER. Get in touch about your synth situation!

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