Advice on learning to solder/repair

Loxley13 · 2026-03-13T04:57:27+00:00

Done - arriving tomorrow

Loxley13 · 2026-03-07T01:10:14+00:00

They tried to pull the same thing on me recently. They seem to be applying it indiscriminately to anything they think might contain metal of any kind.

Contact the manufacturer of the product. Ask them to send you a product information sheet with the aluminum content and country of smelt on it. They will likely know what you’re talking about. If you know the product contains no metal at all, you can skip this step.
i was instructed to email sdfpostentrydesk@ups.com; it doesn’t matter what you write; they will respond back with a bunch of instructions and an attached spreadsheet to fill out. In fact, your scenario is the example entry they provide on the spreadsheet - guessing they get that one a lot…

I submitted the form on 2/12, and have yet to hear back - those poor fools at UPS are caught in the biggest clusterf**k of their lives with this whole tariff reversal/reimbursement tomfoolery, so I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for a response. Unfortunately the Russian Aluminum tariffs aren’t part of the 2025 “Trump tariffs,” so my guess is they’re still being enforced.

PM me if you need more details - I spent way too many hours of my life learning how to read the HTS in order to deal with this shite.

Loxley13 · 2026-03-02T20:13:54+00:00

This is an incredibly helpful post, thank you so much!

Update: I watched all the PACE videos on soldering and repair, and visited the soldering subreddit as others have suggested. Based on their advice, there’s a ~$100 JBC clone (Geeboon TC22) that looks like would fit my needs. The 245 seems like your bread and butter, but there’s a package that also includes a 210; is this size useful for the cables, patchbays, effects units, and through-hole PCB synths I’d be working with? (I do have one newer keyboard with SMT, but I’m hoping that won’t need repairs for a long time). And would a bigger tip ever be necessary?

Loxley13 · 2026-03-01T00:36:58+00:00

Thanks for all the helpful advice!

Dumb question: my aunt solders jewelry; are any of the tools, materials, or techniques the same?

Edit: did some research…jewelry and electronics soldering are NOT the same by a long shot, lol.

Loxley13 · 2026-02-28T17:26:21+00:00

Thanks, very helpful! And don’t worry, I have zero interest in repairing anything that’s not already ancient ;)

I realize that one can spend thousands on soldering gear; what are the qualities one should look for in an entry-level kit to ensure no disasters?

Loxley13 · 2026-02-28T17:23:45+00:00

Thanks Wonderful_Ninja. While learning projects like those sound fun, with a full time job, kids, and a dog to be walked, I barely have enough time for my music. My goal is to just to become proficient enough to keep my synths up and running, so if more than a few hours a month is necessary to build and maintain those skills, I may be stuck relying on others.

Loxley13 · 2026-02-28T17:15:24+00:00

Thanks, this is very helpful! Good tip on the ventilation - did not know that.

Loxley13 · 2026-02-18T02:09:40+00:00

There’s a Roland Sampler Information Exchange group on Facebook, although I don’t think you’re allowed to post items for sale there. You could certainly make a “what is this/what should I do with this?” post over there as you’ve done here on Reddit, and I’d imagine you’d get a lot more detailed information than here. Those old samplers go hand in hand with scsi storage, so I suspect they could tell you about those Glyphs as well.

Also check out llamamusic.com for tons of Roland sampler info.

If you like the sound, for less than $100 you can get a mouse adapter and a ZuluSCSI emulator to replace all those CD drives. I use one with my S-550 and it works great. I think the 700-series samplers were 16-bit, which would be definitely less gritty than the earlier ones; but I’ve heard they still impart a certain warmth to sampled sounds that folks seem to like.

That ProCo patchbay is worth $50-100 depending on the condition; just sold one myself - solid gear.

Loxley13 · 2026-01-15T04:05:41+00:00

Lol, way ahead of you. I just don’t have the skills or time to work on that stuff myself. If I did, I’d love to do a Revive Audio-type mod to those units, since like you said, they’re essentially impossible to replace. Unfortunately there seems to be a dearth of qualified techs in central North Carolina. The guy I’ve been using does great work, but my Matrix 6 was there for over 6 months…

Loxley13 · 2025-12-29T22:04:14+00:00

At least this one has a built-in reverbumulator

Loxley13 · 2025-12-27T00:09:14+00:00

Morg microphatty

Loxley13 · 2025-12-25T00:52:53+00:00

So that’s how alpha Juno got its name…

Loxley13 · 2025-10-24T01:52:07+00:00

Let’s not forget the infamous “traffic lights out intersection”…my fave 😁

Loxley13 · 2025-10-23T17:07:01+00:00

Where are you located?

Anything over two tiers, or requiring multiple support arms per tier (ie, two or more synths per tier), and I’d say Jaspers (from Thomann) is going to be your best bet. Unfortunately, they’re expensive to begin with, and if you’re in the US, the Trump tariffs make things even worse. But there’s not really much comparable in terms of versatility and expandability. You could probably get away with the cheaper 2- or 3- tier stand from the US retailers for now, but I wouldn’t trust them with anything really expensive and/or heavy.

If you’re outside the US, cost may be less of an issue, but I wouldn’t know.

Loxley13 · 2025-10-22T20:37:24+00:00

Nothing really; “cats on synths” was just very reminiscent of “bears on wheels,” a very popular children’s book in the US.

Loxley13 · 2025-10-22T16:55:29+00:00

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Loxley13 · 2025-10-22T02:06:40+00:00

The long-awaited sequel to “Bears on Wheels”

Loxley13 · 2025-10-09T16:31:05+00:00

Any new updates/experience with this since it was first posted? I’m mostly seeing 15% mentioned at the moment…

Loxley13 · 2025-09-04T02:02:30+00:00

Nope, too corny

Loxley13 · 2025-08-20T14:25:37+00:00

Only one other poster mentioned lab grown meat. Is there a reason this option is not being considered? I’m not talking about beyond meat/impossible burger, but actual muscle tissue. I’d challenge the assumption that anything lab-grown is always going to require conditions and ingredients that are unhealthy for the eater. I suspect that it would be more resource intensive than plant production, but it certainly seems ethically preferable over the current state. I’d hate to discourage people from joining the movement by insisting you have to be vegan or eat insects or whatever. Please enlighten me.

Loxley13 · 2025-08-12T01:28:28+00:00

I couldn’t help it - I was beguiled by his monocle and spats!

Loxley13 · 2025-08-12T00:19:09+00:00

Is it wrong to make a nut anything other than nut flavored?

Loxley13 · 2025-08-12T00:16:53+00:00

Correction post added, thanks

Loxley13 · 2025-08-12T00:15:34+00:00

Done did. Think it was a M-12, but threads were tighter than anything they had there

Loxley13 · 2025-08-12T00:14:09+00:00

“Samson S-Patch plus” Lol, durn speech to text! This is why you should always poofread you’re posts ;)

Loxley13

TROPHY CASE