No. It depends on how they've been stored, where, and if they've previously had new keybeds fitted or had their keys sorted out.

I've got 2 JD-800s now and the first one had red glue but hadn't melted at all (bought a couple years back) so shows you can get them without problem (though much like a Polysix original battery - if you do get one without problem that has the original glue you sort it out fast before it becomes a problem!).

If so you just pop the keys off and soak them in caustic soda for a few days which will melt the glue off (the weights will stay stuck with just a minimal amount of hidden glue that's not a danger). I did that with my first one, the second one had had a brand new keybed with the new black epoxy (no problems with this) and appears to be only a couple of years old.. well maybe 5+ but not 20+ years. This one is also whiter and the keys are much tighter. It plays like new!

JD-800's are an easy purchase if you check the history of the keybed (if known) and if any sticky keys etc. If all is working, no sticky keys, no obvious drips then buy it and remove the epoxy asap as above and you'll be fine after that. Or if that sounds like hassle, look for one that's had its keys already sorted out by the owner or a new (black glue) keybed fitted. You may have to pay a little more if it's sorted but it's worth it if you don't want to take a risk or don't have the time to do it yourself.

pretty much, but by now they've either all been repaired (like mine) or are dirt cheap because of it. no more excuses, go get one.

Are you sure the mainboard is dead? Mine appeared that way until I cracked it open and started poking around with the meter. It turned out that the 5V regulator in the power supply was only doing 3.7 V or so. A trip to Radio Shack, a couple dollars and some solder time later, and it was working again.

It's not a problem I've heard of other units having, but it may be worth checking out.

Mine has never had sticky keys, so I'm afraid I'm not much help there.

Had a local synth repair guy check it out. He removed everything and re-soldered it back...It was still dead.. Thanks for the advice though.. Man I wish that thing worked!!

The red glue problem will eventually happen to every JD-800 at some point unless it has been specifically addressed. Some things seem to make it happen faster, but ultimately, it's just the breakdown of a faulty adhesive.

Roland will sell you a new JD-800 keybed. They still make them, and quite frankly, they are worth every penny. They were somewhere between $300 and $400 as I recall.

You can clean them a number of ways if you'd rather, as long as the red epoxy hasn't seeped on to the aftertouch or velocity strips. Once that happens, it's just not worth it IMO.

I recently refurbed a JD-800 I bought on eBay late last year or early this. I forget when. You could see some very early red epoxy leakage, but no real damage yet. Nevertheless, replacing the keyboard is super simple, and you get brand new tight key action as a bonus. The new keybeds have block epoxy holding in the weights.

While cleaning and refurbing, I replaced all the switches as well. It was a really good price because some of the switches required real pounding to make them take. Took one evening and a couple bucks worth of parts to replace them all. You do need to know how to solder (and desolder) though.

Here are some pics:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/psychl...57654666830520

My original keybed:


New keybed:


Edit: Found the thread. The new keybed was $366 including shipping.
https://gearspace.com/board/electron...-question.html

Pete

Too big and heavy.

If it was more compact I would have bought it back long ago. Great synth, used it a lot in the 90's.

It sounds thin

Don't agree. Maybe a bit cold or digital (in a good way). But thin? No.

For me, it's a great balance for all my super huge sounding analogs and VAs.

It's big in its own digital way once you nuke those 80/90s presets.

Pete

The strings at the beginning of this track (and again later) are JD-800 with some Valhalla DSP sweetening.



Pete

I have two JD-800s, both of which have the red glue issue. As far as I can tell the glue hasn't affected the keyboard yet... which given the age of the synths isn't as horrific as some make it out to be. So far the glue is just starting to seep out from under the weights with only a couple keys being worse than others. I can't tell what's going on with the black keys, though.

I contacted Roland about purchasing a replacement key bed and the price is $452.03 and as of this posting they do have them in stock.

Unfortunately that price is making me think I now have a project to do it myself with sealing the red glue up behind some epoxy or something.

Anyways, just a heads up on the replacement keyboard assembly price.

Did you tell them about the red glue problem?
If not you might like to read post #58 and call them again.

Cheers,
Bert

When I called them earlier this year, the person was very nice, but was clear that this is not a free replacement.

Sounds like the price went up a little.

If you really like your JD, though, it can still be worth it. The new keyboard is like new life in the JD.

Before deciding not to replace it, take the current keyboard out and look at the PCB and the sensor strips. The black keys can have it worse (some of mine were getting bad).

Or you could just play it into the ground and then sell it cheaply when the keys go

Pete

i had mine replaced under warranty back in 2004. sorry that they aren't replacing them since it is clearly a manufacturing defect.

To be fair, it's (at this point) a 25 year old manufacturing defect.

Pete

why people waited i have no idea

They might not have known, although this issue seems to be so prevalent, Roland should be selling these replacements at or near their cost. If they were nice.

Or that the USD <=> JPY rate has changed!

You can route anything to a pedal that you could route to aftertouch (as discussed further above), of course including filter cutoff.

Cheers,
Bert

I did this setting more than 25 years ago, so forgive me if I can't remember it exactly, but if you route your TVF cutoff to aftertouch, and route aftertouch to expression pedal, you have it.
I'll check tomorrow for the exact routing.

Cheers,
Bert

No, anything formerly assigned to aftertouch is now assigned to expression pedal instead of aftertouch.
But you don't seem to like the JD-800 anyway, so I think it's of limited use to discuss details of editing. Good thing that we all like different instruments, isn't it?

Cheers,
Bert

That would be me!

I've too learned the trick in the meantime. Set Tune/Function -> External Control -> AFT. Move A-Touch fader in the TVF section up. Connect an expression pedal into EXT CONT jack. And that should work.

Greed is the new rock and roll , some people have it really bad with money and just how much they are slaves to it

The JD-800 keyboard's aftertouch is so freaking hard that you'd hardly set it off by accident anyway. Because of this very early on I assigned aftertouch to an EV-5, so since about 1994, so it can definitely be done.

I don't have my JD to hand so can't confirm if it bypasses the JD's aftertouch, but I never used it as the amount of weight needed to trigger aftertouch always scared me that I'd damage the keybed. I trust what Feinstrom says in that it becomes pedal-only.

Hi
Have you all discovered the trick of copying the current slider positions to the current sound to generate totally new weird sounds.

Select a patch in single mode, then press the manual button, the display shows TMP> A... Y/N press the patch/layer buttons for patch ABCD so the display now shows TMP>ABCD Y/N . Press Y , this now alters the current patch with all the current settings of the sliders. Now play about with any of the sliders as the new patch is the current slider positions, as you alter any slider the sound changes.

To get back to the original sound just re select the original patch number or save your new patch if you come across a great new patch. Use this trick with different starting patches and different starting slider positions, it comes up with some weird sounds (watch you ear drums if using head phones)

Also check out the aftertouch mod on google (you need to be good with a soldering iron), fixed mine a treat.

It looks the business but it flatters to deceive. It's essentially a rompler with hands-on control so synth tricks like PWM, Sync, Ring Mod or FM are out. I may have kept mine (I've had at least three) had the sliders outputted CC data. Nice keyboard but aftertouch is hard to engage. It's basic sound was good for pads.

All in all I think it is Roland's best-looking synth but it lacked where it mattered.

I had a JD-800 and I had to press the keys with an excessive amount of force to get even a tiny bit of AT response.

The dropping out keys and bloody Red Glue

If you're considering one today, you may be better off with a JD-Xa, Jupter-X or something similar. The Xa has very similar voice structure and also hands-on controls. AFAIK, it doesn't have the fancy envelopes the 800 has, but almost nothing does these days. Or you can go a different route with an Iridium or Quantum.

If you really want the JD-800 sound, there's the JD-990, which is a nice rack module that is like the 800 with some additions. Doesn't have the hands-on controls, though, and like the 800, can be largely replaced with Roland's later offerings. Still a nice unit.

The prices folks are asking for the JD-800 and the more popular waveform cards, just isn't worth it IMO. The really good deals tend to have the red glue problem which, without new keybeds available today, is just a massive pain to deal with. Also, those aftertouch strips get pretty janky over time, making it hard to control.

My JD has that nice new keybed, but given how much space the synth takes up, I don't find myself keeping it on the stand much these days. Space is limited.

Pete