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Nord Electro 5d 61 key sad story repair problem

Postby leonzak » 18 Aug 2021, 23:57

I purchased an Electro 5d 61 key shortly after they came out with the drawbar version. I used it maybe 6 months and loved it. So I dumped using Hammond SK's and purchased the Electro 5d 73 key version and have been using that as my main keyboard on jobs. I would bring the 61 key as a backup - just in case. The last time I used the 61 was the fall of 2019. Covid hits and like everyone else I didn't play out for a long time. The 61 sat in the closet.

Two months ago we started playing again and I got the 61 out - figured I move the setup I was now using on the 73 to the 61. I turned it on and the display never came on. Also the reverb was very noisy. Everything else seems to work - I just need to remember what everything was set for because of no display.

I contacted the U.S. distributor and got the name of a couple repair places. Sent it off to the one with all good reviews and just got a call back. Each problem - display and noisy reverb - are on separate boards. There are two boards in the 5d - so both need to be replaced - Cost - just over $1200. U.S.

What would you do? I'm open to ideas.

leon ...
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Nord Electro 5d 61 key sad story repair problem


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Re: Nord Electro 5d 61 key sad story repair problem

Postby pterm » 19 Aug 2021, 00:32

Sorry to hear of your problem.
The noisy reverb I find perplexing: All the audio gets created in the same chain of DSPs, so I find it odd that only the reverb exhibits a problem. The only explanation I can think of is the potentiometer (knob) used to set the reverb level (or its accompanying measurement circuit) is faulty and is causing the noisy behavior.

The OLED display is a third-party assembly. I recall another forum member replacing theirs themselves. I will search later for a link. <edit> Searched for 20 minutes, but didn't find what I recalled.</edit>

If I recall correctly, the potentiometer and the display reside on the same "Front Panel" board so I find it odd the repair shop recommends replacing multiple boards... unless they count the OLED assembly as one of the boards. It might help to find out specifically what boards they recommend replacing.

Unfortunately, the easiest path to repairing Nord electronic issues is to replace entire circuit boards rather than repairing specific circuits on them.
Last edited by pterm on 19 Aug 2021, 04:02, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nord Electro 5d 61 key sad story repair problem

Postby leonzak » 27 Aug 2021, 07:46

pterm - I had seen a post somewhere where someone replaced the OLED themselves but If I remember correctly it wasn't a 5. On the 5 it's surface soldered to the circuit board. I've used OLED in my electronics projects but a surface mount its way past my capabilities. There are basically two boards in the 5 - the one on top with the knobs, OLED and drawbars and then the one mounted on the bottom with the DSP's and such.
I just talked with the tech from the repair place and he had talked with Nord because he also thought it was an over the top repair cost. So he talked directly with Nord and what he got back was replace the top board - that was their only way to fix the display problem. The reverb was in one of the DSP chains and only effected the "long" reverb so I could if it was something I could live with I could do just one board. I've chosen that route - I can live without the long reverb on my backup unit.

Hlaalu - For all but 3 months the 5D was in my studio - air conditioned, heated - living environment - along with all my other things. For the other 3 months it was in my RV in a storage area on top of blankets and sheets (so no bouncing or jarring to say) and along with my new AX Edge that I bought just before Covid. The Edge works just fine. So I don't think it was environment.

I've not seen any evidence in my searching that there is any particular problem along this line and neither did the tech from the repair place come up with anything notable.

If I had to come up with a reason for the problem based on my experience with electronics - was once the Hammond organ, Fender amp repair guy and now build all kinds of Arduino and Raspberry pie things, I say it was some type of surge from being finally turned on after years off. I know it shouldn't happen but I ran an electronics lab at a large company where longevity and stability were more important than efficiency and we always left the test equipment running 24 hrs - stayed way more stable and things just hardly ever broke.

thank you both for you comments.

leon ...

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Re: Nord Electro 5d 61 key sad story repair problem

Postby Blueguitar007 » 04 Nov 2021, 02:47

I'd get a second opinion from anyone that works on keyboards. I know Samsung came out and replaced two boards on my TV then the problem arose again (no wifi) and they told me over the phone "oh ya it glitches on 5ghz, use 2.4 those boards didn't need replacing before. So there ya go... Swapping boards is a common fix all. There are a few talented tweakers lurking out in the world that can replace chips even with fine soldering tools. I agree, sitting in a closet wouldn't blow out two different " boards". Open it up and look for burn spots. Good luck
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