Help With Diagnosing/Fixing My Technics

[Redcon1]

Hey everyone, new to the forums here, so if this is the wrong place for this topic, mods please move it to wherever it belongs.

I have three Technics- 2 MK2's, and 1 M3D. One of the MK2's is giving me an issue, and the M3D has a seemingly more serious issue.

The MK2 I am trying to calibrate. There is not a double-zero as far as I can tell. The problem is that I lined up the 6% dots when calibrating, and now the 3.3% dots line up at about 2%. In other words, if I calibrate to the 6% dots, then the 3.3% dots are off, and if I calibrate to the 3.3% dots, then the 6% dots are off. What do I need to correct here?

Here is a video I took of the M3D: http://youtu.be/8mckgvW8AxE I've talked to a few people about the M3D and the consensus seems to be that I need to start with replacing the pitch control and seeing if that fixes it, but I was just curious to see if anyone had any other insight.

I appreciate any responses. Thanks ahead of time!

[Xonetacular]

Hey everyone, new to the forums here, so if this is the wrong place for this topic, mods please move it to wherever it belongs.

I have three Technics- 2 MK2's, and 1 M3D. One of the MK2's is giving me an issue, and the M3D has a seemingly more serious issue.

The MK2 I am trying to calibrate. There is not a double-zero as far as I can tell. The problem is that I lined up the 6% dots when calibrating, and now the 3.3% dots line up at about 2%. In other words, if I calibrate to the 6% dots, then the 3.3% dots are off, and if I calibrate to the 3.3% dots, then the 6% dots are off. What do I need to correct here?

Here is a video I took of the M3D: http://youtu.be/8mckgvW8AxE I've talked to a few people about the M3D and the consensus seems to be that I need to start with replacing the pitch control and seeing if that fixes it, but I was just curious to see if anyone had any other insight.

I appreciate any responses. Thanks ahead of time!

This should probably be in the Vinyl/CDJ subforum for future reference

Anyway I watched the video and that stutter is not a calibration issue and I have dealt with it many times fixing techs. That is either a dirty or worn out pitch fader and is pretty easy to fix.

Usually you can fix this just by opening the pitch fader and cleaning all the gunk and deposits off the contact board by wiping it down with some rubbing alcohol.

The pitch fader isn't too hard to open up, you have to de-solder the actual metal fader from the board it is attached to. then there are 10 little bent metal tabs you have to pry up to open the pitch fader itself. I have done this like 20 times and I'm always afraid they will break off but they are durable and you can bend them back down no problem.

Then just clean out the inside of the fader well with some rubbing alcohol and make sure the brushes/contacts are in decent shape and clean and chances are it will work good as new when you put it back together. It didn't look bad from the vid and this should fix it but if not a new pitch fader is cheap.

let me know how it turns out

I actually have to do this on a couple tables I have sitting around and have been lazy

[bumtsch]

On the mk2 it sounds like you could try fine-tuning the pitch fader range on top of adjusting the zero...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCEf4CArTCk
edit : if you're using timecode records with Traktor you can display the current pitch % in the deck details and see how your fader range looks like. You may find that it goes down further than +-8%

[Redcon1]

Yeah, this is the video I was using. The problem is that the 6% dots are stationary at 6%, but now the 3.3% dots are stationary at about 2% on the pitch control

[Xonetacular]

Yeah, this is the video I was using. The problem is that the 6% dots are stationary at 6%, but now the 3.3% dots are stationary at about 2% on the pitch control

Did you see my post above? Responding to the stuttering dots going crazy you need to take apart the pitch fader and clean it or replace the fader.

[Redcon1]

Did you see my post above? Responding to the stuttering dots going crazy you need to take apart the pitch fader and clean it or replace the fader.

Yeah I saw that; much appreciated. I will be away from my decks for the next month, but I will try and clean out the pitch fader, and if that doesn't work will order a new one.

I was referring to bumtsch's comment re: my other deck, the MK2 that has the pitch dots stabilizing properly at 6%, but the 3.3% dots are steady at about 2% pitch

[herlsy]

Willing to bet that the brushes inside the fader are messed up rather than the contact board, over time the dirt/debris that gets in the fader will do a right number on them. Almost always it will cause issues on the '+' side of things.

Did you attempt to calibrate the pitch gain on the actual fader?

$20 bucks for a mk2 pitch fader on ebay, i've replaced both of mine, well worth it.

[J5k]

For about the same price you can get m3d faders and remove the zero-click at the same time.

[Hippie]

Thanks for the infos, I gotta do my M5Gs in the new years.

I'm gonna drop the fader in an ultrasonic bath with isopropyl alcohol after brushing.

Should I add any lube or anything after cleaning? If so, which 1 pls .... there's sooo many deoxit products, I'm a bit confooslated by the differences between them.