Japanese companies like Roland and Sony (and also the hi-fi manufacturers of that era) really had a knack for very clean and classy designs that a lot of thought obviously went into. It's nice to see that something ultra mass-produced can also be really well made. I get the sense these days that mass-production is more about cutting cost to the absolute maximum possible extent.
Japan has always been prime in electronics manufacturing. In the U.S. I think the worst company is actually Peavey. But electronics in general have a very good culture everywhere.... everywhere Japan, Germany, England! the Nederlands, Brazil and the U.S.
Just stopping by to say thanks for the wealth of info! Looking at getting a Japanese 1080 and this promptly answered my questions about voltage conversion.
Nice one. I bought a 2080 with several cards. The same seller also had a faulty XV5080 which didn't work, I made him a good offer for the lot and effectively got the 5080 for £32. Opened it up, some moron had broken the smps board in half. Removed the psu, connected up a couple of bench psu's and it worked initially but after a few seconds the output sound would destort terrible. Seemed to be a warm up problem as it was ok once switched on/off so went round things with the freezer spray. Bingo, duff reg & caps. Just got to make a new pcb for the psu now.
I'm gonna order one from Reverb love this unit always wanted one. I wanted to applaud you on your videos very well done with alot of detail. I own a JV90 with an audio output issue I am gonna tear it apart give it a try I have some electronic knowledge. Anyway great job on putting out these videos
Wow, thank you so much for this video. I just stumbled onto your channel (because I am searching for guidance in order to try to repair my Roland MKS-30) but after watching a few videos I found this. I have a JV-1080 that I moved from South Africa (240v) to the US, and I have been using a step-up transformer. I feel like such an idiot that I never opened it up and took a look inside. Now that I have seen your video I am going to move the transformer tap immediately :-)
Maybe good to mention that the capacitors on expansion boards are notorious to leak and even burn out... The JV-1080 itself is great, but the SR-JV80 expansion cards might need some attention. Somehow Roland used better capacitors in their older equipment like the JV-1080. I had a few SPD-s sample pads, but all those trough hole capacitors were in miserable state. Even if they looked good, they had very bad ESR and were low capacity or even open circuit...
Hi! Thanks for doing such awesome teardowns, I have seen a few they are greatly appreciated. I too purchase vintage gear to teardown, clean up, and refurbish. This brings me to the reason I am contacting you. I recently purchased two Roland JV-880 synth modules from Japan. One was the expanded version and the other standard. When I opened them up, I noticed the extended unit had two capacitors (220uF and 100uF 16v) piggybacked together and soldered to micro resistors on the main board. To me this appeared to be some type of user modification, not factory. The other unit did not have this modification instead, there is a place on the main board for a 320uF 16v capacitor. My question is: Where there two versions of the JV-880 main board in production? Thank you
Hi! Your videos are awesome, thank you very much. I have already fixed my jp-8000's leaky C219 with the help of your teardown. I have a question. You mention in your video that replacing the encoder on this unit is easy. Unfortunately mine skips steps, I would love to replace it, but looking around online, I found that there are no replacement parts and of course the original is out of stock everywhere (syntaur too). I think it would make a really great video, if you showed how to replace or if not than repair (e.g. take apart and clean) the encoder. A lot of people have this synth and a lot of those synths have encoder issues, so the reach would be very wide. Once again, thanks for your informative videos. Cheers.
Hi! Thanks for the amazing teardown. You mentioned that in order to switch the JV to another voltage (220V for example) the only thing needed is to solder the black wire on the respective terminal of the transformer. Is that the only thing I need to do? My JV is 110V and I would like to switch to 220V. Thank you!
Hey Bradthx, cheers for this video. I've got a jv1080 that has no sound unless I quickly turn the power on and off to where the screen doesn't go black during power cycle, and some of the waveforms (not all) are distorted on playback. Inside looks really clean, but I'm about to inspect it. Any chance you could know what might be going on?
Very helpful, thanks. I just wanted to know what I was letting myself in for when changing the battery, which was dead easy and I could do without having the lift off the upper board.
Thank you for amazing video!! I want to ask you, what is the life span of these internals. I mean if you would have 1080 made in 1994 (but according to serial number mine was made in 1998) how long without any servicing or capacitor replacement, could his module work?
Hi there picked one of these up, it’s great but mine has an issue with some distortion and glitches when the effects/reverb are enabled. I’m going to open it up and check voltages first..then look at the solder points for any funny stuff there..Any tips for this type of issue? Do you have a link to the service manual by chance?
I own both a jv880 and a jv1080 which I bought new in those days. I have my 1080 filled with 3 expansionboards. I used them extensively in my homestudio and later in my bands, mounted in a rack. Tonight I was playing the 1080 since a couple of months and it suddenly stopped and the display went black. I got on my knees to check it and picked up a perculiar smell, probably coming from the unit. Could this be a fixable problem in terms of the powersupply? I miss my JV, I would appreciate some advise. Thanks in advance
Same thing has happened to my JV-2080 last week. There is a thin strip-like heatsink on the main chip. A strange smell was there also. It smells like a rotten egg with metal. Screen goes empty (backlight is there) and sound' gone while playing it, in a sudden. Circuit is perfect including caps. I think main cpu/sound chip is passed away.
you want to trade devices? Mine turns on and the jacks from behind do not work only the headphone jack works. But the headphone jack produces only one tone and its very highpitched :( can you tell me or link me to something that will help me fix it? thank you!
Anyone ever had an issue with the stereo outputs on these? Both output jacks work but when both cables are inserted, only one channel comes out. [ Ive tried different cables, no matter what, only one channel will work.]
I have a Roland JV-2080 that won't get past the first screen. I added 2 expansion cards and was hearing a loud noise when attempting to play sounds that sounded like distortion so I took one of the cards out and now I can't make it past this screen. Any thoughts?
Same thing has happened to my JV-2080 last week. I think it's nothing to do with the expansion boards. I have three exp boards installed. The machine's LCD screen goes blank and sound's gone suddenly while playing a user patch. After that It won't pass the boot screen. When I power it up, a single horizontal line on the top of the screen, after a few seconds, a vertical line appears on the right. I tried several times with boards and without boards. Screen was still blank (vertical and horizontal line thing), button leds went crazy, flickering randomly and went off. I opened the case, the circuit board is just perfect, including capacitors. I think the main chip is burned up. Can't be repaired.
Super JV 1080 é um mostro no palco e estúdio, uso hoje diariamente, co excelentes resultados. ARNO MACEIÓ ALAGOAS BRASIL
JV1080 sounds better than the later models (except JV1010), and better than all VSTi. this is a real treasure.
"Unfortunately, it wasn't broken..." A man after my own heart. ;)
Japanese companies like Roland and Sony (and also the hi-fi manufacturers of that era) really had a knack for very clean and classy designs that a lot of thought obviously went into. It's nice to see that something ultra mass-produced can also be really well made. I get the sense these days that mass-production is more about cutting cost to the absolute maximum possible extent.
Japan has always been prime in electronics manufacturing. In the U.S. I think the worst company is actually Peavey. But electronics in general have a very good culture everywhere.... everywhere Japan, Germany, England! the Nederlands, Brazil and the U.S.
Just stopping by to say thanks for the wealth of info! Looking at getting a Japanese 1080 and this promptly answered my questions about voltage conversion.
Nice one. I bought a 2080 with several cards. The same seller also had a faulty XV5080 which didn't work, I made him a good offer for the lot and effectively got the 5080 for £32. Opened it up, some moron had broken the smps board in half. Removed the psu, connected up a couple of bench psu's and it worked initially but after a few seconds the output sound would destort terrible. Seemed to be a warm up problem as it was ok once switched on/off so went round things with the freezer spray. Bingo, duff reg & caps. Just got to make a new pcb for the psu now.
I'm gonna order one from Reverb love this unit always wanted one. I wanted to applaud you on your videos very well done with alot of detail. I own a JV90 with an audio output issue I am gonna tear it apart give it a try I have some electronic knowledge. Anyway great job on putting out these videos
Wow, thank you so much for this video. I just stumbled onto your channel (because I am searching for guidance in order to try to repair my Roland MKS-30) but after watching a few videos I found this. I have a JV-1080 that I moved from South Africa (240v) to the US, and I have been using a step-up transformer. I feel like such an idiot that I never opened it up and took a look inside. Now that I have seen your video I am going to move the transformer tap immediately :-)
Super informative video! Thank you :)
Very interesting video, thank you.
Maybe good to mention that the capacitors on expansion boards are notorious to leak and even burn out... The JV-1080 itself is great, but the SR-JV80 expansion cards might need some attention. Somehow Roland used better capacitors in their older equipment like the JV-1080. I had a few SPD-s sample pads, but all those trough hole capacitors were in miserable state. Even if they looked good, they had very bad ESR and were low capacity or even open circuit...
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Do you know where to get replacement LCD screens?
Hi! Thanks for doing such awesome teardowns, I have seen a few they are greatly appreciated. I too purchase vintage gear to teardown, clean up, and refurbish. This brings me to the reason I am contacting you. I recently purchased two Roland JV-880 synth modules from Japan. One was the expanded version and the other standard. When I opened them up, I noticed the extended unit had two capacitors (220uF and 100uF 16v) piggybacked together and soldered to micro resistors on the main board. To me this appeared to be some type of user modification, not factory. The other unit did not have this modification instead, there is a place on the main board for a 320uF 16v capacitor. My question is: Where there two versions of the JV-880 main board in production?
Thank you
Hi! Your videos are awesome, thank you very much. I have already fixed my jp-8000's leaky C219 with the help of your teardown. I have a question. You mention in your video that replacing the encoder on this unit is easy. Unfortunately mine skips steps, I would love to replace it, but looking around online, I found that there are no replacement parts and of course the original is out of stock everywhere (syntaur too). I think it would make a really great video, if you showed how to replace or if not than repair (e.g. take apart and clean) the encoder. A lot of people have this synth and a lot of those synths have encoder issues, so the reach would be very wide. Once again, thanks for your informative videos. Cheers.
Hi! Thanks for the amazing teardown.
You mentioned that in order to switch the JV to another voltage (220V for example) the only thing needed is to solder the black wire on the respective terminal of the transformer. Is that the only thing I need to do? My JV is 110V and I would like to switch to 220V.
Thank you!
Hey Bradthx, cheers for this video. I've got a jv1080 that has no sound unless I quickly turn the power on and off to where the screen doesn't go black during power cycle, and some of the waveforms (not all) are distorted on playback. Inside looks really clean, but I'm about to inspect it.
Any chance you could know what might be going on?
Thanks very helpful
Very helpful, thanks. I just wanted to know what I was letting myself in for when changing the battery, which was dead easy and I could do without having the lift off the upper board.
i know Im kinda off topic but do anyone know a good place to stream new series online?
@Nathaniel Matthias Flixportal
@Camilo Aarav thank you, I signed up and it seems like they got a lot of movies there :D Appreciate it !!
@Nathaniel Matthias Glad I could help :)
Thank you for amazing video!! I want to ask you, what is the life span of these internals. I mean if you would have 1080 made in 1994 (but according to serial number mine was made in 1998) how long without any servicing or capacitor replacement, could his module work?
Probably due for a service now. Capacitors could be near the end.
Great video! My JV-1080 has the same audio problem you described in your Roland JP-8000 repair video. Can I hire you to fix my 1080?
Hi there picked one of these up, it’s great but mine has an issue with some distortion and glitches when the effects/reverb are enabled. I’m going to open it up and check voltages first..then look at the solder points for any funny stuff there..Any tips for this type of issue? Do you have a link to the service manual by chance?
How do you assign each sound to outputs? The manual wasn't as clear.
Does the 5050 allow changing the taps? I opened mine up (Japanese model) but don't see the same transformer to get taps from.
I own both a jv880 and a jv1080 which I bought new in those days. I have my 1080 filled with 3 expansionboards. I used them extensively in my homestudio and later in my bands, mounted in a rack.
Tonight I was playing the 1080 since a couple of months and it suddenly stopped and the display went black. I got on my knees to check it and picked up a perculiar smell, probably coming from the unit. Could this be a fixable problem in terms of the powersupply? I miss my JV, I would appreciate some advise. Thanks in advance
Same thing has happened to my JV-2080 last week. There is a thin strip-like heatsink on the main chip. A strange smell was there also. It smells like a rotten egg with metal. Screen goes empty (backlight is there) and sound' gone while playing it, in a sudden. Circuit is perfect including caps. I think main cpu/sound chip is passed away.
Hi is it possible to mod the power on alpha Juno 2 from US to Euro like it is with this synth?
I’ve been told the noise floor on these aren’t the best by today’s standards... would there be a way to reduce it?
What is the battery model/size? I want to change my jv 1010 one. It must be the same.
you want to trade devices? Mine turns on and the jacks from behind do not work only the headphone jack works. But the headphone jack produces only one tone and its very highpitched :( can you tell me or link me to something that will help me fix it? thank you!
Anyone ever had an issue with the stereo outputs on these? Both output jacks work but when both cables are inserted, only one channel comes out. [ Ive tried different cables, no matter what, only one channel will work.]
I have a Roland JV-2080 that won't get past the first screen. I added 2 expansion cards and was hearing a loud noise when attempting to play sounds that sounded like distortion so I took one of the cards out and now I can't make it past this screen. Any thoughts?
Same thing has happened to my JV-2080 last week. I think it's nothing to do with the expansion boards. I have three exp boards installed. The machine's LCD screen goes blank and sound's gone suddenly while playing a user patch. After that It won't pass the boot screen. When I power it up, a single horizontal line on the top of the screen, after a few seconds, a vertical line appears on the right. I tried several times with boards and without boards. Screen was still blank (vertical and horizontal line thing), button leds went crazy, flickering randomly and went off. I opened the case, the circuit board is just perfect, including capacitors. I think the main chip is burned up. Can't be repaired.
How much was this unit brand new?
Ten-Eighty
can anybody help me, i cant play in patch mode, no sound...
I had the same problem, just do a factory reset should work.
HE DOESNT APPEAR TO REPLY TO COMMENTS. have a nice day with your broken 1080s 😂
We call it the “ten80”, not “onethousand80”
"We" being who? 1080 is definitely "one thousand 80" in Europe, and perhaps in Japan as well.