Fixing a Benjolin

Hellllo, and I am sorry for my lackadaisical approach to bloggery as of late. I swear one day I will be a good boy and get back to posting on the Sunday every Sunday. 

I do still do get all synth-ey, all the time. I switched to Ableton recently, is that interesting? Enough about me though team, let’s talk about me and a Benjolin. More specifically, a little Eurorack Benjolin Fix.

Diagnosis, Murder

Murder by reverse power, in this case. The murder case, not the Eurorack case. Although the murder case did take place in a Eurorack case.

Here are the gory crime scene photos.

***WARNING. THESE ARE/WERE REAL TRANSISTORS, AND THE PICTURES ARE GRAPHIC.***

Exploded Transistor on Front Panel
Crime Scene Photo A.

With some solid gumshoe detective work we found the toasty part. The 79L09 transistor right by our power header.

Exploded Transistor on the PCB for Eurorack Benjolin Fix
Crime Scene Photo B.

Using the jaws of life, I pried the transistor and it’s neighbour out of the board.

But there is a sign of life from the board?!

Don't You Stop Runglin' On Me!

Replacement Transistors
We all have extra transistors, but to donate them to a stranger? A kindness indeed.

But there is hope yet! A young person at Banzai Music donated some of their transistors in return for me giving their business a small donation.

And it looks like the transistor is a perfect match! IT WILL LIVE. BENJOLIN EURORACK FIX.

79L09 Transistor beside Split 79L09
A perfect candidate!

Oh, we're Runglin' Again - Eurorack Benjolin Fix COMPLETE

After plugging the victim back in, it sprung to life with the new transistors. And THANK GOD BECAUSE BENJOLINS ARE SO COOL WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME.

No more diagnosis murder, it was a mistake. We all make reverse power mistakes. And now, we have a happy little module make silly noises again:

Fixed Benjolin
I need to rungle. I LIVE TO RUNGLE

On a more serious note, best to replace both the 79L09 and the 78L09 transistors if you reverse power on it. Not sure if future revisions of the PCB change the design at all, but this guy is feeling a whole lot better after getting his transistors trimmed and pampered.

Annnnyways. We’ve got lots more content coming down the pipe soon! One day. I’ve been streaming a little, and dabbling in video content. Hopefully one day we’ll have some real videos flowing out of the old blag.

As per usual, if you wanna peep some older delicious content check out the SMR Build Diary, that sure was a doozey, or maybe the beginnings of the Deckard’s Dream build Diary. It’s actually complete, spoiler alert, and we’ll get a little blog on that going one day. One day.

Have a beauty week out there team, and keep it samesies.

Quick links

Internet Archive Link to Benjolin Project Page on Epoch Modular

Wiki with all sorts of cool links about the Benjolin and other iterations.

(Check out forestcavers SMT benjolin, very cool!)

 

BYE CYA.

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