A peak inside my nickel MS 1000

[Johns98TA]

I bought this amp from Stereo Junkie recently. It is amazing to see in person. There are some signs of age and use, but overall its in great shape. The smaller caps have leaked a little, so I cleaned that up. It appears that somebody did some work on one of the boards at some point. It had the wrong isolator feet on it, and did not fit as well as the other board. The do match otherwise; both are revision E. So naturally I could not resist taking it apart to see what had been done. Anybody recognize this work? Anybody know what part of the circuitry was worked on? I have not hooked it up to power, nor do I want to for fear of ruining it. I really like just staring at it, LOL.
Enjoy!

[trickyricky]

Looks like the traces of an OP amp where cut open then jumped with a wire.

Are you going to look at it or use it?

Because you need to replace those filter ASAP, you can clearly see them leaking so underneath them there worse. The traces can get damage and the electrolytic juice eats up those pretty gold traces....so even if your going to look at it , it has to get the caps replaced.

[LowandLoud]

They are quite the thing to stare at. Just beautiful. I really like the way yours looks with the green terroids. Mine are red. Im not too sure what if any difference there is besides color.
Congrats on your purchase!

LL

[vwdude]

I agree with everything trickyricky said. I'm not sure that the caps have been replaced yet, if they were he person did a decent job soldering. Some of the fets appear to be replaced as some of that soldering wasn't factory looking.


Lowandloud...I don't believe that there is a difference between red and green terroids. They went back and forth on the ZPAs as well, the red being more rare. I think it came down to suppliers, they might have changed during part of the production run.

As long as the terroids match between the two boards it wouldn't bother me. It would drive me crazy if 1board was green and the other red.

[Johns98TA]

Lol, I know it kills some of you guys that I like to keep my amps original! As a collector, I prefer things that have not been restored or worked on. Since this board has already been worked on, I am strongly considering sending it in for service. Altser? AAMP? Other suggestions?

[vwdude]

Valeks, trickyricky...there are others too.

heck i could do it, but Im not "proven" yet and I have my hands full with a mcintosh amp, my zpa, a full time job, and a family.

but man, I would love to get my hands on this amp.

[LowandLoud]

More rare you say? I like the sound of that.

[zeropoint0.5]

I agree with everything trickyricky said. I'm not sure that the caps have been replaced yet, if they were he person did a decent job soldering. Some of the fets appear to be replaced as some of that soldering wasn't factory looking.


Lowandloud...I don't believe that there is a difference between red and green terroids. They went back and forth on the ZPAs as well, the red being more rare. I think it came down to suppliers, they might have changed during part of the production run.

As long as the terroids match between the two boards it wouldn't bother me. It would drive me crazy if 1board was green and the other red.

only the original ms2250 had green torroids....they are bigger then those of a ms2250TA (who are red)....also the green zerotorroid in the middle is bigger.


torroids on a zpa0.5 is another story............there it's probably just a difference of color...............although with alot of the red torroids you sometimes hear

a sharp sound coming out of them, witch disseapears by putting you're finger on the right spot.......... but soundwise there is no difference............


valeks or eric D are the guys who can do the job, but i would not ship that plexi with it.....so it can't get damaged......make a crate !!!!!!!!!

please do not power the amps up before recapping of the 12 ps caps is done !!!!!!!!!!


about the black wires on the back.... i have 4 original ms2250 rev E boards, haven't seen those on none of them.... if i was u, take out both boards and

compare them with eachother..........;

[Audiophiliac]

Get the thing serviced and install it already!

[LowandLoud]

So if only the original 2250 had green terroids, how many original MS2250's had the red terroids? My MS1000 has red and as we all know, it is just 2,2250's......
To be honest, i never really noticed while looking at pics. I just assumed they used whatever they had.


LL

[JK]

They are quite the thing to stare at. Just beautiful. I really like the way yours looks with the green terroids. Mine are red. Im not too sure what if any difference there is besides color.
Congrats on your purchase!

LL

I'll trade you... I have 3 of them with green.. I even have joerg nickel that has been completely redone... Let me know if your interested.. NOT TRYING TO POST DUMP on you john.. Thanks..

[JK]

I agree with everything trickyricky said. I'm not sure that the caps have been replaced yet, if they were he person did a decent job soldering. Some of the fets appear to be replaced as some of that soldering wasn't factory looking.


Lowandloud...I don't believe that there is a difference between red and green terroids. They went back and forth on the ZPAs as well, the red being more rare. I think it came down to suppliers, they might have changed during part of the production run.

As long as the terroids match between the two boards it wouldn't bother me. It would drive me crazy if 1board was green and the other red.

only the original ms2250 had green torroids....they are bigger then those of a ms2250TA (who are red)....also the green zerotorroid in the middle is bigger.

You are kinda rite.. The original 2250's did come in green.. The 2250TA's came in red.. In comparison with these 2 the green ones are wrapped more then the red.. When it comes to the original nickel amps where they have the red ones they seem equal to the green.. I put both amps side by side and it was clear.. Although I have yet to seen a original 2250 with red terroids aside from being in the nickel..

When it comes to the other amps I'm not so sure.. I do know some had red and most had green in the ZPA's.. I think joerg tore a few appart and used them in a 2250 or MSK.. If I recall rite..


torroids on a zpa0.5 is another story............there it's probably just a difference of color...............although with alot of the red torroids you sometimes hear

a sharp sound coming out of them, witch disseapears by putting you're finger on the right spot.......... but soundwise there is no difference............


valeks or eric D are the guys who can do the job, but i would not ship that plexi with it.....so it can't get damaged......make a crate !!!!!!!!!

please do not power the amps up before recapping of the 12 ps caps is done !!!!!!!!!!


about the black wires on the back.... i have 4 original ms2250 rev E boards, haven't seen those on none of them.... if i was u, take out both boards and

compare them with eachother..........;

[iroller]

Dam that's pretty

[vwdude]

Look closely at the pathways that are "repaired".



there appears to be damage similar to my ZPA:


and these were done at the factory on purpose.

you might want to look further into those "repairs" as they might not have been necessary and might actually cause a problem. the factory disrupted those pathways for a reason.

in the case of the ZPA its because that capacitor had to be relocated because on the other side of the board it interfered with other items. the pathways that were disrupted were just not necessary in this case.

remember that the circuit boards are designed and manufactured in bulk. small revisions and updates can occur throughout the production run, but it would cost a lot of money to completely redesign the board every time this happened. as a result, they sometimes disrupt the pathways and redirect items. I highly doubt the factory would add in that extra wiring though.

[LowandLoud]

I'll trade you... I have 3 of them with green.. I even have joerg nickel that has been completely redone... Let me know if your interested.. NOT TRYING TO POST DUMP on you john.. Thanks..

I appreciate the offer JK. I would most likely take you up on it too if my truck werent red, lol. I think it will look a lot better in there than a green one.
As i said before, if i decide to sell you will be first in line.... right after Itchy.

LL

[freshkryp69]

Those red Wima's on the zpa are stock.. all my zpa's have them and 1 was new.

[itchnertamatoa]

I'll trade you... I have 3 of them with green.. I even have joerg nickel that has been completely redone... Let me know if your interested.. NOT TRYING TO POST DUMP on you john.. Thanks..

I appreciate the offer JK. I would most likely take you up on it too if my truck werent red, lol. I think it will look a lot better in there than a green one.
As i said before, if i decide to sell you will be first in line.... right after Itchy.

LL

[ByBlaZeD]

I love the High res pics man . I want one so bad! Thanks for posting those pics. I could stare at them for hours

[Johns98TA]

This is the display I slapped together.

[zeropoint0.5]

it looks just amazing, but.....did you replace the ps caps or not ??

[Johns98TA]

did you replace the ps caps or not ??

Nope. I decided to leave the originals. flame suit on.



In my defense, the amp is not connected to anything. It just hangs on the wall in the quiet glory of it's own beauty.

[trickyricky]

Its your amp, you can do whatever you wish with it....includes but not limited to bashing it with a sledge hammer.

All joking aside, those caps will cause serious damage (even when not in use) to the pretty gold board. May be in a couple of years the electrolytic may eat away the traces near them and the gold below them. Then its not going to be even worth half of what you paid, but hey you still get to look at it "WIN WIN".

[zeropoint0.5]

Its your amp, you can do whatever you wish with it....includes but not limited to bashing it with a sledge hammer.

All joking aside, those caps will cause serious damage (even when not in use) to the pretty gold board. May be in a couple of years the electrolytic may eat away the traces near them and the gold below them. Then its not going to be even worth half of what you paid, but hey you still get to look at it "WIN WIN".

X2 again..... i can show enough pics of "electrolyte that has already started to discolor or even eat away the gold of the board "......

be proud to own probably the most beautiful PG amp ever made.... but if i was u.... please replace or let replace those 24 ps caps rather today then

tomorrow..........

[Johns98TA]

Man you guys are relentless. I read the tutorial on replacing them and it doesn't look hard for me to do. Where can I get replacement caps that are of the same color and dimensions as OEM? I don't want it to look any different physically. The black and gold caps look perfect in there. When I checked the specs on mouser, it looks like those "same" capacitors now come in a much smaller physical package.

[trickyricky]

The Panasonic FC are DIRECT REPLACEMENTS for the HF and HFZ (which are the ones PG used as well as other companies).

The FC is blue and gold strip....so they are THE SAME . They have the same vent stamp on the top and use the same rubber seal on the bottom if that helps convince you, lol.


Here are the "leaky" HF/HFZ





Here are the replacements that PANASONIC RECOMMENDS.



So how can you say you don't want to replace those leaky caps with EXACT replacements (Both Panasonic, both exactly the same, except the new ones HAVE MORE CAPACITANCE )...sorry for shouting.


BTW I always use FC when replacing these caps, unless owner specifies otherwise.