Wizwars
Offline
Los Angeles, CA

So I played a show last night and (in my mind) it was a tad bit on the disastrous side, because one channel of my Game Boy (I think left channel) decided to keep cutting out, resulting in serious volume fluctuations throughout my set. I bought it from Nonfinite around September last year, and it's always had problems. If you use the volume dial, the sound will go in and out on one of the channels til you fiddle with it and make it come back. When recording, the left channel is always more quiet than the right channel. And weirdly enough, the WAV channel sounds fucking weird. It sounds somewhere halfway between the way it should, and the way it does when emulated on a DS. Lots of clicking, and lots of distortion, especially when using samples (hence why I never use samples).

I got a new Game Boy last night and while I couldn't use it for the show (no backlight or any real proper light to use with it) I decided to see how my songs sound in it, and the difference is completely insane. The wav channel sounds smooth, no distortion, no unwanted noise or clicks. I might make a recording in the next couple of days for comparison, but I'm wondering two things...

1) Is it possible to fix the volume switch on a Game Boy? Has anyone had a similar problem and been able to successfully resolve it?

2) What can cause the wav channel to sound like total ass on one Game Boy and great on another? The electronics starting to die? I should note that they're both DMGs, one clear, and the new one is a damn near mint condition Grey boy.

Trash80
Offline
Los Angeles

Contact Nonfinite

Sycamore Drive
Offline
East Kilbride, Scotland

I had a very similar problem with a Game Boy I bought from Nonfinite actually. Even when I touched the volume switch it would strangely start cutting out the stereo signal to mono, I got a full refund for mine.

If it has always had problems, why have you kept a faulty product for so long?

an-cat-max
Offline
astral cat

is this happening through an added taco mod jack?

Last edited by an-cat-max (Jan 25, 2010 2:54 am)

smiletron
Offline
Nashville, Tennessee

if you cant figure it out, and dont want a refund: replace dmg guts. just unscrew it and pop in a different one that you know works

Wizwars
Offline
Los Angeles, CA
Sycamore Drive wrote:

If it has always had problems, why have you kept a faulty product for so long?

Because since I bought it I've pretty much constantly had shows booked and it was (until last night) my only Game Boy, so I didn't want to chance sending it off either to get fixed or replaced and having some sort of delay in getting it back that would force me to cancel a show. Before last night it wasn't too much of a problem, the sound could easily be fixed by messing with the volume a bit, but last night it completely took a shit on me during my set. And it happens just as bad (if not worse) with the pro sound mod jack...I guess I'll contact him and see what's what...

NeX
Offline

i prosound before the volume control and let the mixer do the volume. one less thing out of the loop. the gameboy is from the 80s the brushes on the pots have a life span and they are probably running out now.

TmTgr
Offline
Melbourne, Australia

The sound of one side  goes quieter on my cgb as I change the volume, maybe I will change it to go before the pot too smile

pixls
Offline
Philly, PA, USA
NeX wrote:

i prosound before the volume control and let the mixer do the volume. one less thing out of the loop. the gameboy is from the 80s the brushes on the pots have a life span and they are probably running out now.

Do you have a how-to on this? or a diagram/picture? that sounds nicer for recording/performing purposes (not that i think i'll pre performing any time soon...)

NeX
Offline
pixls wrote:
NeX wrote:

i prosound before the volume control and let the mixer do the volume. one less thing out of the loop. the gameboy is from the 80s the brushes on the pots have a life span and they are probably running out now.

Do you have a how-to on this? or a diagram/picture? that sounds nicer for recording/performing purposes (not that i think i'll pre performing any time soon...)

i have a picture on my computer, which i didnt do, so i cant post without permiton...

but if you open the gameboy you have 5 solder points in a line next to the volume control they are ordered like this:

0---Right, before volume control
0---Left before volume control
0---Left after volume control                       ---> volume control is here right side of the gameboy
0---Right after volume control
0---Ground

i am not at MY computer at the moment so i cant confirm that but i am almost 100% sure thats right. so just wire the wires to the top solder points instead of the bottom ones

TmTgr
Offline
Melbourne, Australia
TmTgr wrote:

The sound of one side  goes quieter on my cgb as I change the volume, maybe I will change it to go before the pot too smile

Done but I didn't expect it to go right, left, left, right so now my output is backwards sad

pixls
Offline
Philly, PA, USA

cool, i'm gonna try this, maybe another (RCA?) output?

EDIT: found this picture
it has a link when you zoom, so it's ok to post, right?

Last edited by pixls (Jan 25, 2010 11:20 am)

NeX
Offline

thats the picture i was refering to,

the reason is goes right, left, left, right, is because there are two loops, the contacts loop around the pot from one side to the other, to do them right left right left, would mean they would have to cross over inside the pot which is impossible.

chipocrite
Offline
Philadelphia, PA
Wizwars wrote:

2) What can cause the wav channel to sound like total ass on one Game Boy and great on another? The electronics starting to die? I should note that they're both DMGs, one clear, and the new one is a damn near mint condition Grey boy.

I noticed that this happened to one of my DMG's also after I did a pro-sound mod myself. I did the standard extra jack modification using nonfinite's kit. It definitely exhibits the same symptoms you describe... horrible samples, clicking, distortion. You might even notice that if you're playing a song and mute the wav channel, you'll still hear the clicking. That, to me, is the worst part about the problem. I was emailing kitsch back and forth for a while about something else and threw this question out there during the exchange, and he said he's had this problem at some point and couldn't find a way to fix it. According to him, he even tried soldering an output jack directly to the IC and still got the same effect. He believes it's something in the DMG-CPU that causes it, and he suggested the only way to fix it is get a different gameboy :-/ It's a bummer, but that's all I know about it so far.

I should note that I only *noticed* it after I did the mod... It could very well have been there before, I'm not sure...

On the other hand, you could use the unique sound to your advantage somehow. Weren't the first distorted guitar amps basically just broken? smile

TmTgr
Offline
Melbourne, Australia
pixls wrote:

cool, i'm gonna try this, maybe another (RCA?) output?

EDIT: found this picture
it has a link when you zoom, so it's ok to post, right?

Wishing i saw this before I modified my modified cgb and got them the wrong way tongue
I suppose it doesn't really matter since I hardly use panning anyway.