Eurodesk MX2442A Restoration: Prologue

During my daily cruise through the Craigslist, Musical Instruments section, I stumbled upon an ad for a 12 year old Eurodesk MX2442A. The seller was asking $50, because the mixer no longer had any output on the mains and they didn't want to invest in fixing it.

I can completely relate to the cost of repair / replacement. She might have spent a few hundred dollars in repair for a mixing board that is only worth maybe that in working condition, so it is a slippery slope. With that being said however, I have had decent luck in repairing Pro-Audio equipment in the past, especially pieces that are out of warranty and aren't a necessity to the studio. In this case, the mixing board was definitely NOT a necessity; more of a side-project. So my confidence was high, having just repaired an Alesis RA-300 studio power amp (also bought off craigslist), I thought I'd give this a go.

Now some background on the unit. It is a 24 channel Behringer Eurodesk MX2442A. It has 16 XLR inputs, 4 stereo inputs, 4 sub-groups and a Main out. It came with an external rack-mountable power supply and the original owner's manual (which has no value as far as repairs go). The chassis is in good shape and all the faders seem smooth. The knobs and plastic pieces are a bit worn, but if the repair is successful, they can be replaced for little cost and really give the board a fresh look.

So here is the initial diagnosis. I set up the board on a keyboard stand I had in the control room, plugged in the power supply and flipped the switch. All that happened was the clip and signal lights (red and green respectively) for channels 17-24 stayed illuminated, no matter what buttons were pressed, or knobs turned. Next I plugged in a microphone to channel 1 to see if I could get any signal on the channel. Nothing. Moved it down the line from channel 1 to 2 and repeat. Nothing. 3 to 4; nothing, and so on down the line. So no signal on any mic channel. So next step is to open this thing up and take a look at what surprises await inside.