Don't You Give Up That Ghost Yet...
- Jul 9, 2020
- 18 min read
Updated: Jul 21
How We Came to Know the Ghost
&
Other Hauntings
Creation Audio Labs was founded in Nashville, TN in 2003 by former Harman-Soundcraft employees. Harman's offices and service department were situated in Nashville at the time, but when the company decided to uproot and move to California, our crew decided to stick around and fill the niche of Soundcraft service techs in the area. Our own Vice President of Research and Development and Co-Owner, Alex “Skip” Welti, was the former national service manager for Soundcraft, and oversaw service and quality control for most of their pro level gear that circulated in North America. Our President, Gary "Sarge" Gistinger, worked directly under him (my how the tables do turn).
Skip and Sarge, along with a rag-tag group of other holy rollers, misfits, and ne'er-do-well, brought peace and justice back to the ailing world of Soundcraft customers. Like a sheriff and his deputy, big irons on their hips (soldering-irons, that is), they were the "circuit-wizards" assigned to lordship over Soundcraft repairs and service nationally. That being said: they know Soundcraft consoles! Like the back of their hand. And while the number of individual hairs on their knuckles or the length and circumference of their pinkies may be useless information (unless they need to pick their nose), their vast depth of knowledge on Soundcraft mixers has proven to be quite the heirloom. For nearly a quater of a century now, we’ve fielded enough calls, emails, and impromptu, backstage and studio alleyway interrogations about Soundcraft gear to sink a battleship… or float it, depending upon whether we’re full of hot air or not… I personally think we’re pretty cool ;).
So the question that keeps coming back to us, time and time again is: which console is the best to purchase and modify? Sometimes I've wondered if we're too stubborn to change or ways, or are simply burdened with excellent opinions, but the desk that’s maintained the consistent lead in our minds over the years has remained the Soundcraft Ghost!! (wish I could underline that twice)
Ghost History and Features
The Ghost was originally released on the market in 93’ to supply a demand for a large-format mixing consoles that fit within a smaller footprint and had a price-point to match the wallet-restrictions of smaller studios. For a little under $10K, you could take home a brand-spanking-new Ghost 32 channel mixing console, complete with LED meter-bridge and power supply, and still have enough to buy groceries and rent a movie from Blockbuster at the end of the day. On the slightly-more-than shoestring budgets some engineers and production studios were on, this made the Ghost a no-brainer, not to mention the Ghost’s features are pretty astounding.
The Ghost features an:
a very transparent, transformerless mic preamp
inline design with reversible channel and monitor pathways
4-band EQ (HI & LO boost/cut, LO-MID & HI-MID are fully parametric)
8 auxes (2 of which are full stereo - Aux 7 [mix A] & 8 [mixB])
8 groups (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8)
4 FX returns
2 Studio Foldbacks and Talk-back mic
Oscillator
2 sets of switchable control room monitor outputs, etc
separate Mix A and Mix B summing pathways (you essentially had 64 individual signal pathways in one board).
The Ghost was made with enough “bells-and-whistles” to necessitate a workflow for music production, audio post-production for TV & Film, and anything in between, all the while putting a state-fair or swanky carnival to shame. You could also purchase the 24-channel variety if you were tighter on space. The Ghost LE (which is essentially the lower-end model) was made available a year or so after initial production, and came without the computer options.
Now a little more about the this board’s “goodies.” The mic preamp on the Ghost was masterminded by an engineer whom Harman “scalped” from Neve to bring their studio game up a notch. It’s a very sharp design that some might even compare to an API in terms of sonic quality, although being transformerless. The EQ circuit was pretty much a carbon-copy of the Soundcraft 3200 and Europa consoles, flag-ship models for their day. The master section featured slew of computer-based machine control and mute automation controls derived from Soundcraft’s own flying-fader classic, the DC2020. So you essentially had all the best parts of a bunch $60k-$100K consoles copy-and-pasted into a board sold for a mere fraction of the cost - tons of bang for your buck. Soundcraft was able to successfully “mill” about 22,000 or so of these puppies between 93’ and 03’, which means there’s ample supply of them out there, hiding in closets and Disney mansions.
Snagging and Bagging a Ghost in the Wild
You don't need a proton pack or ghost trap to harness one of these bad boys, but you can typically find them in the $1500-$2400 range on the used market (eBay, Reverb.com, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist), and as low as $500 depending upon where you look. You'd be surprised how many schools, churches, and woodsheds are haunted by these boards. But before you pull the triggers, here's a few details that'll help you in your search, or at the very least help you filter, which Ghost you want to befriend. Ghost production underwent six basic waves (issues 1-6), all of which are virtually identical except for a few minor changes like parts swaps, service updates, and the addition of corrosion-resistant, gold-plated jacks on the inserts. The non-gold ones tended to get grody over time and cause signal “roll-off” or drop-out due to stray capacitance caused by the corrosion. After all, when you place something non-conductive like corrosion between two metallic contacts like the normally contacts on the Insert jack, you've satisfied the conditions for what makes a capacitor.
There were no changes to the frame or layout of the Ghost all throughout it's many years of production, and the PCB modules from one version to the next were virtually interchangeable. The only difference, apart from the "goldie-jacks," was the regally colored “gold” (or mustard) knobs they had on the first couple of issues... which apparently didn’t “cut the mustard” as far as cosmetics went. They were upgraded to slightly more neutral colors, which didn't seem to ruffle any tail-feathers for anyone either looking for fuller chromatic expression or for mustard ("Pardon me, but do you have any..."). Apart from these tell-tale knobs, you could also tell which Issue of Ghost you had (1 thru 6) either by taking the bottom panel off your console (being careful to unplug the headphone jack internally before lifting away panel) and checking the issue ID# on the silk-screen printed on the edge of input channel PCBs. You could also use a flash-light to check the insert jacks and see if they were gold, as opposed to the normal silvery ones that were used on the Tape-Send/Direct Out, Tape-Return/Mix B, or Line Level 1/4" jacks. If inserts are gold, you've got a later version Ghost, and are either sitting on an issue 5 or 6, and can check that problem off of your list of possible concerns.
Serviceability: Don't be scared
Regardless of the Issue or state of the Ghost, serviceability has always been a concern for lots of folks considering purchasing one. While the Ghost does feature a modular design, whereby individual input channels are situated on their own removable PCB cards, the board itself, is not a modular “top-loader,” in that you cannot remove the modules from the top of the frame quickly if they're causing an issue for one of your sessions. This would’ve made for easier repairs overall, but there's no need for concern. The Ghost is still built like a brick ****-house, so you don’t have to service them very often... I should note: it's a haunted brick ****-house at that... only it's haunted with pure, audio goodness and rich studio vibes that'll cross your eyes. And that ****-house, my friends, don't stink!
Luckily though, if you did run into any issues, getting the bottom panel off the Ghost and dropping out one module at a time requires very little leg-work, and can be done with only one additional set of hands. Be sure to check out our Ghost Disassembly video for step-by-step instructions in how to get your Ghost apart without exploding yourself or your mind. Once you’ve got modules out, the Ghost PCBs are populated with all thru-hole components and can be very easily repaired or upgraded, with little else than a few soldering tools. The input modules and rear connector cards are all single-sided PCBs and easy to solder/de-solder on with the master section and group modules being double-sided, making them slightly more resilient. The pots, switches, connectors, jacks, and other components are all readily available (from us at least), and even pots like the Mic Gain pots and Master Control Room Monitor Volume pot can either be replaced or rebuilt if they're popping and scratching like a Michael Jackson skat solo while you're mixing. Here at CAL, we've been simply rebuilding persnickety pots that resist exorcising (I mean cleaning) without issue lately, restoring these Ghost parts back to life... basically like the premise to the old movie"Ghost Dad" starring Bill Cosby, except without the stigma of all the bad things he did in life attached. And hey, if all else fails, you can always buy a cheap “parts-console” to harvest souls from… I mean parts. We've harvested many souls... I mean parts, from donor consoles over the years and have a sizeable stock-pile to draw from. (All these Freudian slips are making me hungry from a soul! I kid...)
Dressing your Ghost Up for Prom: Mods that Tame the Savage Beast and Make it Purrrrrr....
A lot of the mods out there that you’ll see offered for the Ghost, or any other console for that matter, are based around op-amp and capacitor upgrades. For us, we like to add new, high-performance op-amps and low impedance electrolytic capacitors on ALL analog signal pathway. From the mic preamps to the mix outputs - everything gets upgraded! We also install spring-leaf IC sockets for easy, solder-free replacement of op-amps in the future. The spring-leaf designs typically maintain their tension over time and even with pulling and replacing chips non-infrequently, like a fat kid in a 711, they keep a tight grip on their chip "all the way home" baby.
Op-Amps Op-Ed Regarding the operational amplifiers, or simply "opamps," in the Ghost, these were all originally TL072s and NE5532s. Not even the best that were available at the time of production for the Ghost. Nonetheless, those chips were work-horses, and we should pay them tribute as they're escorted out to pasture. I don't think they'll be getting a stud-fee from us anymore, but we'll definitely throw them some oats from time to time as we're passing by. Something to consider while replacing these TL072s and NE5532s though: All chips are not created equal - Certain chips function better in the mic preamp as opposed to working well as a pan-buffer. In like manner, certain chips are better as line-drivers (like before an insert/tape send) than they are as an line input or tape return buffer. Regardless of the chip or leg of the circuit it's going into, we did our homework on these chips, studying a veritable library’s worth of info on specifications for these, as well as running our own tireless diagnostic tests using Audio Precision test equipment and our ears to determine which chips got the best results in each leg of the circuit. Our favorite assortment of opamps, in recent years included the Burr Brown OPA2134 for mic pres, Texas Instruments LME49720 & LM833 for summing amps and output drivers, as well as the Analog Devices OP275 for pan buffers. These all have much lower Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise (THD+N), less crosstalk, potential for more headroom, lower DC-offset after-the-fact, among other herbs and spices which make them tasty Ghost upgrades. They're simply, specter-tactular (that's right; I haven't run out of puns yet).
However, as of 2020, we've begun using a newer chip in our "cocktail," which happens to perform as well, if not better than our previous favorites in most positions across the entire board. The Texas Instruments OPA2209 and OPA2210s are like a secret weapon, tucked in our shoe, ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. To rob an expression from a Tiger I know: "They're GREAT!" (it's cool, he and I are old school pals). In fact, these chips sit so well in the circuits that previous high-frequency (HF) oscillations - sometimes in the Radio-Frequency (RF) spectrum - are no longer a concern. All that, thanks to a slew-rate that is more optimal for the circuits. Slew-rate is a measure of how fast the chips can reproduce a swing in voltage, measured in Volts per Nano-second (V/ns). Faster slew rate typically means less stability in the circuit, and HF/RF oscillations. Slower slew rate mean's less instances, but compromises to how quickly the chip works. But when you find that "sweet spot" for slew rate, folks: pure sonic bliss, all the good stuff without the noise (it's like TV without ads). As a result of what we'd consider to be an "Optimal Slew-Rate", these new chips allow you to begin removing compensation caps from the circuit, which are otherwise there to tame these HF and RF oscillations by filtering out unwanted noise. Here's the big kickers. As you begin to remove filtering from unnecessary caps, you'll notice the negative impact those caps made on the phase response of your audio signal across the audio spectrum, starts to disappear. You'll have much punchier low-end bass response and much tighter high-end treble response. Cleaner, more intelligible transients across the board. So will the newer chips in place, you can effectively "ghost" most of your compensation caps in the circuits without any regrets or blow-back in your personal relationship with your board. Your ears will thank you for this. Less means more! Just ask Napoleon.
Popping Caps
As far as capacitors, all of the electrolytics in the signal pathway get swapped for ultra-low impedance Nichicon or Panasonic caps, which have a very low Equivalent-Series-Resistance, lower self-noise, and provide for better tone (especially in the Lows and Low-Midrange), along with a much tighter phase response. In the instance of the Groups and Master CRM module, we actually remove and "Jumper" a few of the coupling caps out, which tightens up the phase response even more and lowers the noise a bit more. We're able to do so because the DC offset specs of the newer chips we install provide enough wiggle room to chop some caps from the equation. Even lesser, is even morer! I laugh about that sometimes, because a Ghost taught me that...)
An Offer that you CAN Re-FUSE
The 10-ohm resistors that created fusible links in the Soundcraft Ghost modules were placed on the power rails for each PCB to provide a quick means of disconnecting the circuits from power if there's a spike in current. These stand-off Resistors would burn out, breaking power connection, and protecting the circuit from getting fried if any power surges or lightning strikes occurred... and I'm not talking about the "lightening" of your hair when you see an actual ghost, or the the lightning you'll "bottle" recording those chart-topping hits on your Ghost. I'm talking about the "fried on the highway," "dead-as-a-doornail," "act-of-God" type lightning that insurance adjustors hate and the kind that brings studio owners to their knees in prayer. These resistors do their job, but there are trade-offs for having them! You experience a tiny loss in voltage of about 1 volt from rail-to-rail across the board. That means less voltage makes it to the op-amps, and your headroom is limited, you induce a clipping stage sooner (ie DISTORTION!). By replacing these resistors with "Self-Healing Fuses," we can increase the voltage to the chips, increase headroom and dial in your mixes hotter than a two-dollar pistol! ¡Salud!
Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be... Gold?
Another thing we like to do - nay, we love to do - is installing new, corrosion-resistant Neutrik gold-plated jacks on all inserts & the headphone jack (unless you’ve got them already - Series 5 & 6 owners). Regarding that, I will now venture to peel open the pages of the sacred text of audio electronics wisdom and hold up a disturbing image to everyone of the deep-seated evil that attacks a lot of sound mixers like the Ghost, corrupting its sacred balance and haunting many user's studios. By staring this evil in the face, we can assess it and learn to defeat it. Most people don't realize this, but the insert jacks and headphone jacks on the Ghost are normalling jacks, meaning they have a "Send" and a "Return" side that can open or close, like a switch. If you don't have an insert cable or headphone inserted into them, the send and return contacts "normal" together or close, allowing signal to pass through it the closed contacts on the jacks itself. As soon as you insert a jack though, it breaks the normal, opening the circuit, and the signal pathway is interrupted until you close the opening by either connecting the insert send and return cables together or connecting them to the respective input & output on a working processor device (ie compressor, outboard EQ, etc.). That means, even if you're not using the Inserts or the Headphone jacks, signal is still passing through the normalling contacts on the jack. And corrosion on these jacks between the normalling contacts can lead to intermittent or total signal loss, or possibly even capacitive reactance. Now, basically all a capacitor is, is two conductive terminals and a non-conductive material, known as a "dielectric medium", between these conductive terminals. Capacitors block Direct Current (DC), while allowing Alternating Current (AC - aka the audio signal) to pass through unaffected. Capacitors also create what's known as "capacitive reactance," which is a function of resistance and frequency. Another way of putting it is that, depending upon the value of the cap (in Farads - the unit of measure for a capacitance), it will impeded/restrict certain frequencies carried on the AC from passing through it. That's why caps are frequently used in filter or EQ circuits to restrict certain frequencies. Try not to let your soul leave your body fathoming the depths of this mystery. Let me tug on your silver-chord and bring you back in. It's really quite simple: corroded insert and headphone jacks tend to create unwanted filtering or distortion of the signal, if not complete signal drop-out. So this can, theoretically affect any pathway with a non-gold insert jack (inputs channels, groups, Mix A), and in your Control Room Monitoring section, it can kill your mix to your studio monitors (bad headphone jack!). This is a definite "NO-NO" and liable to create a lot of unwanted studio down-time, flustered looks of "wtf," perhaps even a manic visit to a wooded glen or abandoned warehouse or factory to punch-dance and footloose out your aggression... all while you were just trying to have a session. It's going to be okay though. We know how to fix it. But hey, if you like doing that anyway, we're not going to outlaw your dancing; we're just trying to take the fury out of living with your "grumpy" Ghost. Hence, why we replace these jacks with gold-ones. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.
Ghost Cleaning: Refurbishing the Funk out of it
Lastly, all modules additionally receive some extra “love” in the form of full refurbishments to restore them to “like-new” condition and strengthen all mechanical components connections to the PCB. We clean, lubricate, and thoroughly exercise all mechanical components (pots, switches, faders, ¼” TRS jacks, XLRs, etc.) as well as flow fresh solder to all these and the connectors, LEDs, etc. We can even disassemble and rebuild potentiometers if they're showing problems that cleaning won't fix. Often it's just that a wiper blade has lost it's tension and needs a little tune-up. If we're addressing the entire board, we'll also clean the frame, de-funkify the knobs and buttons, de-grease and de-rust the nuts and screws... basically we bathe it, and braid it's hair, apply anointing oil, and teach it a "new way," so it can be safely returned to society without risk of failure. We also like to reinforce certain things like the XLR jacks with a little extra sumthin', sumthin, so they don't go breaking off of your PCB and leaving you without an input for your bass guitar right when you were planning on tracking that solo. Even if everyone always talks during the bass solo, being down a channel is a definite NO-NO! The main thing is, you and your Ghost should be sculpting sweet musical bliss without the interruptions.
The Bottom Line...
We believe our mods offer the most bang for your buck. You could go way over-board and put in much more expensive components like discrete opamps, glass capacitors, and the like, but the sonic results are honestly only going to be about 0.0001% or so better... so rather than "splitting atoms," our proprietary modifications are designed to get you 99.999....% of the way for a price that’s probably several times cheaper than going the “full megillah.” We're happy to put in the $25 opamps and glass caps if you insist, but our slew of mods already introduces major improvements to the analog signal pathways by increasing headroom, lowering noise-floor, improving THD+Noise specs, improving low and low-midrange response, widening stereo field, improving analog summing, as well as improving phase response for faster/tighter transients. You’ll find your super-hot-rodded Ghost having a newly found “holier-than-thou” attitude. You’ll get more punch, clarity, and definition in your mixes with much less, unwanted coloration.
Making the Beast Purr Even Harder-er... An Even More Bottom-er Line...
In addition to all of these marvelous upgrades, we also offer a few lesser known mods on our “a la carte” menu. Virtually anything is possible in the world of mods; it’s just not always practical. But if you’ve got the resources and an imagination, we can figure out just about anything shy of landing this Ghost on the moon (Mars is not out of the question though). here's a few to note...
FET/Relay Mod: Sooooo Relay'table... The logic circuits that are part of the channel Mute, Solo-in-place (SIP) and MIDI Mute Group functionality of the Ghost input channels utilize sets of Field Effects Transistors (FETs) in their design. These FETs limit the audio performance of the circuit, specifically with regards to the
and Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise specs (THD+N). By removing these FETs from the circuit and replacing them with Relays, you can remove one of the last battle-necks for this spac, and improve THD+N considerably. Creation Audio Labs offers special modules geared towards doing just that.
Dual-Mono Summing Amp Upgrade In the master section of your Ghost, many of your summing amp nodes are found in dual-opamps, which are a single, mono-lithic, DIP-8 thru-hole chip (that's a mouth-full). Essentially what this means for you, in layman's terms, is that your Left and Right signals are both passing through the same chip. Since Crosstalk is always a concern for any signal pathways that run close to one another, having the Left & Right paths coincident in one single chip can mean less separation between your left and your right in your Stereo Field. Now hang on! Before you go saying "Oh, No!," the truth is: the newer Texas Instruments OPA2209s and OPA2210s already boast a great spec. But if you want to take it to the next level, you can install Dual-Mono opamps with our special adapter sockets. These can reduce crosstalk by up to 2dB of additional separation across the spectrum. Some of our customers have said: "If this stereo field were any wider, I'd have to turn around to listen to my mix."
Transformers - More than Meets the Ghost-Eye. Transformers, or "Trannies" (get your head out of the gutter), offer many things to an audio circuit. From adding color to galvanic isolation from ground loops and other noise, to balancing signals, to blocking Direct Current (DC), to impedance matching, transformers are like magic. Nobody knows how they truly work, but there's talk of a group of witches that live out by the old mill that might be responsible.... I KID, I KID! Transformers are widely understood and talked about in broad pro audio circles as
mojo-machines, and guess what: you don't have to be Rupert Neve to include them in your Ghost, folks. We can install them on the mic pre-amps, both pre-input and post-stage to isolate and "colorize" your preamps, and we can also install them on the outputs for the Mix or Group pathways, to "colorize" your whole mix. We're like Toby McGuire in the movie "Pleasantville," bringing color to the black-n-white era... whether our conservative parents want that or not. Transformers can be installed with or without bypass switch. Plenty of variety out there for them too, from Jensen, Lundahl, and Sowter all the way up to the "Grand Poobahs," Carnhills, you can pick whichever ones you want for your Ghost. We can make some recommendations, but Carnhills are our favorite, and I believe Mr. Neve would agree. He's like the old knight at the end of "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade," so pray that you "choose wisely."
Fader Upgrades The original stock faders are nice... but Penny & Giles (P+G) and TKD faders, are suuuuuper glassy and also more consistent from one from top to bottom. Pricey, but a very smoooooooooth upgrade if you're interested.
Fader Unity Gain Switches Take the guess work out of setting your faders to "O" (unity). We can install simple switch circuit that can enable bypassing your fader at will, setting the board channels back to unity with the flick of a little switch. Does require drilling holes in the frame.
D-Sub Connectors If you're tired of these "snakes on a console" look, and you're looking for a quick way to get signal from your Ghost to and from your convertors, interfaces, patchbays, and other multi-channel studio gear inputs and outputs, the D-Sub upgrade is the way to go.
Custom Wood End-Cheeks & Arm-rests Now we've got nothing against the stock cosmetic features of Ghost... but if you wanna take it to the next level, and go 70s with her, our custom CNC'd wooden end-cheeks and armrest can take you there. Endlessly customizable with different wood types and stain, these cheeks replace the plastic ones on both the console as well as the meterbridge, and also feature engraved logos for Soundcraft on the sides. These run $1500 for a full set, plus the cost of wood ($300 give or take).
WIMA Cap Mod - WIMA'even mentioning this? Before it's good The EQ section of the ghost features a lot of cheaper yellow film caps and ceramic disk capacitors that all did their job of creating a very British sounding EQ in an OK fashion. Hence, it's not necessary to upgrade these. However, the specs on those suckers wasn't the best. German-made brand WIMA film caps are a excellent option for upgrading your EQ. They have a lower impedance, a much tighter range of tolerances, which all provide for boost in performance. Since this isn't essentially, and it does increase the cost a bit, we don't consider this part of our "base-line mod," but it's certainly available.
We're so confident about our mods, that we are prepared to cover them all under the terms of our Limited Lifetime warranty. That means we'll stand by our handiwork. If there's any defects in our workmanship, we're glad to cover it for up to 10 years. Components we replace are covered for 2 years.
So, don't you give up that Ghost yet!
Call us at (615) 884-7520 or emails us at info@creationaudiolabs.com to learn more about the Ghost and mods we offer today.
About the writer of this article: Guitarist/performer, songwriter, live sound engineer, audio post production specialist, repair technician, husband, father - these are just a few of the hats resident tech Michael Frazier wears. Michael graduated with a BA in Audio Production in 2011 from the Art Institute of Tennessee - Nashville, and has been working with Creation Audio Labs in their console maintenance/modification department since then, apart from his work at Gibson guitars from 2012-2015, teaching Pro Audio Maintenance, and Live Sound Exploits with houses-of-worship and venues local to the Greater Nashville Area.
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