[SOLVED] Mystery E55 mod board, plus penthouse status lights inop

[The-Greenhouse-NH]

Hey all,

I'd been posting here as subspacesound for a while, and for webhosting reasons I don't have access to that account or that email anymore. (I know this account is from 2018 - had trouble logging in to it for a long time and the old account was already registered) Regardless, my console is a 1985/86 6056E. That's kind of thrashed.
 
The console was pulled out of the studio in April, and after no luck brokering it, I've started reconfiguring it to 48ch and fixing a ton of "small" problems. Number one is the mess that is my E55 card.

Here's my dilemma: The meter distribution card seems to mostly work, with the exception of the penthouse status lights. HOWEVER, there's this horrid mod board frankensteined to it and I can't figure out its intended function. Does anyone have experience with a board like this and what it does? Why is it bypassing parts of the original card? I guess more importantly, is it integral to some part of the metering distribution, or would it be smart to remove it and put E55 back to factory? The console is being completely rebuilt, so there's no point in keeping old hacks around if they aren't mission-critical. (you can also see the mod board is broken and E55 is cracked - just a few of the many joys of this console)

Thanks!

[horizonsound]

Buffering from the patch bay to the Cue meters.
I was about to build one myself.

The unbalanced feed from the 651 via S18E is cut at the ribbon cable coming off the monitoring cards, and is (I believe) fed direct from the patch bay instead.
Common mod.

Anthony.

[The-Greenhouse-NH]

Oh! Very interesting. is it modded in just to take the signal from a later part of the Cue signal chain, or is there a deeper reason for adding it? Either way, if I keep it I'd probably have to rebuild it on a new board.

[horizonsound]

The original design fed an unbalanced, unbuffered signal from the 651 via S18E to the 55E distribution board, then from the 55E to the meters. All unbalabced / unbuffered.

The mod allows for a balanced signal off the patch bay, which is then buffered via that custom board.
Otherwise it is a considerably long run which could introduce noise directly on to the buss.

You'll note that the latter 237E meter distribution board has on board buffering, via Conn1 and Conn2.

Anthony.

[The-Greenhouse-NH]

Thanks Anthony. I'll have to package it up a little more nicely so I can put the metering distro gear someplace safer.