LCD replacement for Axe II Mark 1

felken

Inspired
My axe 2 works great along with my mfc 101. But the contrast on the LCD has gone low even with contrast set to max. Fractal has no LCD s for these and the LCD is a custom part so I can't order a replacement from the LCD mfr.

Is there any PC based software that allows us to see all the settings in the Axefx that are shown on the LCD?

Does anyone have a mark 1 that has died and is willing to part with the LCD?
 
Axe-Edit doesn't allow seeing ALL the settings but does allow the ones within the presets and selecting presets. It does not have access to global settings.
 
My axe 2 works great along with my mfc 101. But the contrast on the LCD has gone low even with contrast set to max. Fractal has no LCD s for these and the LCD is a custom part so I can't order a replacement from the LCD mfr.

Is there any PC based software that allows us to see all the settings in the Axefx that are shown on the LCD?

Does anyone have a mark 1 that has died and is willing to part with the LCD?

Have you tried cleaning the ribbon cable connectors etc (you might get lucky)?
 
Have you tried cleaning the ribbon cable connectors etc (you might get lucky)?
Yep, contact spray and reseated it a few times. I have been in contact with Fractal support and given the symptoms they think it is most likely the display itself. I can still read it but it is not like it was before. I wish axe edit had access to all the parameters. I rarely change anything live.
 
There's also the FracPad for iOS/Android, though it also has most but not all the params.

So, no different but compatible displays you could hack up the front panel to use?
 
There's also the FracPad for iOS/Android, though it also has most but not all the params.

So, no different but compatible displays you could hack up the front panel to use?
Good ideas, I will install FracPad and check it out. Did not consider a different lcd, worth looking into though, thanks for the ideas, really appreciate the help.
 
Good ideas, I will install FracPad and check it out. Did not consider a different lcd, worth looking into though, thanks for the ideas, really appreciate the help.
Did you find any alternative to a 3rd party screen. Mine has a dark cloud area and seeing if I can use an alternative also. Yea a shame fractal doesn’t have these screens anymore
 
I also have an Axe II Mark 1 with a faded screen. With the contrast at the lowest setting I can read the display pretty well when viewing it from above but it is hardly visible when looking directly from the front.

LCD Faded.jpg

I tried removing and cleaning the LCD contacts pads after looking at a few videos on YouTube about LCD repair.
Do this at your own risk !!! Unfortunately that did not work for me.




I was planning to replace the LCD later on when it got worse but didn't think they would run out of parts... :worried:
 
That's hugely disappointing... From what I've read, Cliff's philosophy is to have things "last forever," so to speak. To already have no replacement for these is a shocker to me (even if it was the Ultra, but ok...). It may make that these don't last longer than other products, but less long...

Knowing this, it's harder to sell a II with a clean conscience, as I will be holding back, "If the display fails, you're screwed... :p "

OTOH, maybe this is a 1 in 10,000 occurrence? Or maybe they are out of replacements because it occurs frequently?

I wonder if it is caused mostly by use, or by age... Or more specifically: if it was used under 200 hours, should it still last a long time?

Anyway... Hopefully some kind of solution turns up... (a better one than waiting for a second hand II to cost $500)

(Oops, noticing the thread is kinda old...)
 
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What I've been wondering about from the start, but have never voiced...

Could an option be made to turn off the display of current gens if you're the type that is always using Axe-Edit...?
 
You're always at the mercy of your suppliers. If a part you choose in your design goes end of life, there's very little you can do about that. You don't always have the luxury of having a compatible replacement when it comes to custom designs.
 
You're always at the mercy of your suppliers. If a part you choose in your design goes end of life, there's very little you can do about that. You don't always have the luxury of having a compatible replacement when it comes to custom designs.
Someone here said it's a custom made part...

Maybe they handled this more intelligently now by using the same screen in all units, and maybe it's not a custom part this time.

I suspect there are all kinds of ±40-year-old units out there with working LCDs. Just saying it's a little sad to see quality devices possibly having to die out between age 10 to 20. Very unexpected...
 
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I suspect there are all kinds of ±40-year-old units out there with working LCDs. Just saying it's a little sad to see quality devices possibly having to die out between age 10 to 20. Very unexpected...

I actually just purchased a FX II Mark II with a bad display thinking it would be an easy fix. Whoops. I had checked the parts section of the support site and thought I saw that the LCD was available, but I think it was actually for the XL+ which is a different display. Support has confirmed that it's not available.

I've replaced displays on old FX and preamps before, most recently a 30yr Digitech 2101. Most of those used common character displays that are very popular in the Arduino world, so they are cheaply available, but requires soldering.

I wonder if it's just a custom assembly or if the LCD panel itself is custom. I have found some similar resolution LCDs on AliExpress, but it's just the panel, not the whole assembly, so some soldering disassembly would be necessary.
 
I forgot if you can tweak the contrast, and if setting it at its lowest will help prevent some probs...

Even if it would work with another screen that you have to stick outside of the unit, at least it would be fine in a studio — or do a tweak to Axe-Edit so it can change all or most parameters w/o the screen.

Anyway, I was planning to probably sell mine, but now I feel an a-hole if not mentioning it to the buyer. OTOH, as I don't have 150+ hours on it (I think), it might be fine for much longer.

Seems crazy to be proud of the many quality components and then have it unfixable so soon... IF they will all fail between, say, age 10–20, I would do the right thing: sell the Dumble and have another LCD production run to enable fixing all older generations ;)

OTOH, maybe it is not occurring all that much, but the fact they are out of LCDs makes me doubt that.

Re. 2101, we too have at least one independent tech in our country that still services them. Of course, I'm not expecting any fault to be fixable, neither in 2101 or Axe. If a CPU dies, that's less unacceptable, but seemingly much less common.
 
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