Creation Audio Labs, Inc. has spent the last 23 years developing cutting edge upgrades for the Soundcraft consoles that greatly enhance all the sonic attributes of the desk while maintaining its innate British characteristics. We're now glad to offer fully modified 200 series consoles, direct from our shop to your studio, at specs and prices that compete with consoles many times the price.

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Our modified consoles include:​​​

• ​Upgraded chips on all audio signal paths​

• Improved decoupling​​

• Upgraded electrolytic capacitors 

• Self-healing fuses on all modules

• Gold-jack replacement on the headphone jack

• Full refurbishments 

• Additional mods available upone request (see below)

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​Contact us for helping purchasing a fully modified console. We currently offer financing through our partners at Acorn Finance. Interest rates as low as 6.49% APR (loans $1000-$100,000) and terms from 2 - 20 years for eligible customers. Trade-In Credit also available for customers who'd like to trade-in an existing console. Trade-in value subject to in-person evaluation from a Creation Audio Labs, Inc. technician.

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About the Soundcraft 200 series consoles

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The original Soundcraft 200 series was designed to meet the most stringent mechanical and electronic standards. It was built for 8-track studio recording, Public address (PA) & live sound reinforcement, and broadcast & video post-production (which led to custom configurations like the 200BVE.

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The 200 series consoles featured:

• Input Connections: XLR mic input, balanced 1/4" jack line input, and dedicated insert point (TRS jack).

• Gain & Trim: Input gain control with push buttons for a 20dB mic pad and line attenuation.

• Filters: 100Hz high-pass filter (HPF) switch.

• Equalization: 4-band fixed-frequency EQ section (with sweepable mid-bands on specific revisions/configurations).

• Auxiliary Sends: Four auxiliary controls—typically two post-fade and two switchable—used for effects or foldback monitoring.

• Routing & Assign: Pan control, group routing switches (subgroups 1–4), and main mix (L/R) assignment.

• Meters & Switches: Channel On switch, PFL (Pre-Fade Listen) switch, and a long-throw 100mm channel fader.

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 To achieve its "budget friendly" goal, Soundcraft implemented these circuit designs by using generic capacitors and IC chips, with individual PCBs housed in a "modular" frames.  This makes it possible to remove, service, and replace individual channels without the need to send off the entire console.

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These boards are great for use in smaller project studios, as analog summing mixers, and are very popular among synth/keys players. 

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What to expect with our baseline mods

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1. Upgrade all IC chips (opamps) in the audio signal path with newer opamps that have better specs all-around. These chips have what we consider to be an optimal slew-rate for the circuit. To fast of a slew-rate will create oscillations in the circuit, which are requiring of special compensation caps to filter out. Anytime you add caps, it has the potential of having a negative impact on your phase response. As a result of the slew-rate being right “in the pocket” with these new chips, the circuits no longer require compensation capacitors to filter out high-frequency oscillations generated by excessively fast chips. The end result of the new chips are –

   • Much better phase response specs, which provides for tighter-punchier low-end (bass) response and much smoother high-end (treble)

   • lower THD+Noise

   • less crosstalk for more discretion between different legs of the circuits and more separation in your Left & Right stereo pathways (equals wider stereo imaging)

   • more headroom because the chips power more effectively rail-to-rail, so you can dial in gain and most settings hotter without hitting clipping/distortion as soon

   • less DC offset in the signal path after the chips, which allows you to remove even more DC-blocking caps to improve the phase-response

   • lower noise-floor all-around. Say goodbye to that noisy hiss in quiet parts.

2. Improved decoupling on the ICs. The new chips we use are actually surface mount chips in a SOIC-8 package. We install them into the original thru-hole (DIP-8) footprint of the circuit using an adapter socket of our own creation. It’s called the “Rock-It Socket.” This adapter has special caps built right into it that allow you to easily apply decoupling to the chips. Decoupling does two main things. It:

   • Allows any AC-noise found on the DC power rails (+/-17VDC) that power the chips, to be shunted to ground through the cap, while allowing the DC voltage that powers the chip to remain untouched.

   • Provides a quick reservoir current to the chips by way of the charging of the caps, so that when you’re reproducing faster transients, the chips have access to the charge in the decoupling caps themselves as well as the current on the power rails themselves

3. Upgrade all Electrolytic capacitors.  These caps typically only have a “shelf-life” of around 20 years before they begin to leak and the specs drift.  The new caps we use restore the circuits specs for things like bandwidth, phase-response, DC-blocking, decoupling, etc. We install lower Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) caps from either Nichicon or Panasonic. A lower ESR means they act more like a cap and less like a resistor. Any time you add resistance to a circuit, you effect things like the cumulative load of circuit as a whole, which combines together with the capacitance of the caps and creates unwanted filtering affects. One of the most immediate improvements posed by our new caps is an improved low-end (bass) response and a slightly wider bandwidth, as well as improved phase-. 

4. New Self-healing fuses. Each of the power rails for the audio circuits in the Soundcraft console (+/-17VDC) has a fusible link, a small value resistor that will burn out if the current exceeds a certain threshold on the power rails, either due to failures in the circuit itself, problems with the power supply that aren’t handled quickly enough by the power supply itself, or some other current anomaly (ie lightning strike, or power surge). Fuses like this are great, but if the circuit has a failure, and these burn out, you not only have to fix the circuit, but also replace the fuse. Self-healing fuses, in contrast have these two added benefits:

   • Protects the circuits without requiring replacement if something fails. They reset themselves, or “Self-Heal” after a set amount of time. Think of it like the breakers in your fuse box. They spring open if the current exceeds a certain threshold, but then they’ll slowly close, bridging the gap, after a set-time.

   • Increase headroom by about 1 VDC, rail-to-rail. Because they don’t burn off excess current, as is the case with the resistors, you end up “having your cake and eating it too” keeping the extra voltage. More headroom before you hit distortion/clipping by exceeding the maximum voltage.

5. Gold jack on heaphone jack. The original 1/4" TRS jacks on the Series 200 mixers used have normalling contacts in them. Whenever no jack is inserted, signal "normals" through these contacts, and passes back into the circuit. The non-gold jacks on the older stock 200 series mixers had a tendency to develop corrosion between the normalling contacts, which could introduce stray capacitance leading to unwanted filtering / distortions / signal loss. Since standard cleaning procedures don't always address the corrosion between these contacts, the best option is to upgrade just the inserts and headphone jacks to corrossion-resistant, gold-plated Neutrik 1/4" TRS normalling jacks. Say goodbye to signal loss!​

 

The end result of all this is a really a “night-and-day” difference between the original circuit and the modified one. As our owner, Alex Welti (former national service manager for Harman-Soundcraft) used to say, “It’s like lifting the wet-blanket off your tone.”

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PRICES UP TO DATE AS OF: September 4th, 2026.  Due to the volatility of parts prices, it is recommended to lock-in current pricing with a deposit to acquire parts when you are ready.  Prices may change without notice.​

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Fully Modified Console Cost ​

• 8,16,24 Channel Soundcraft 200: Call for pricing

• 8,16,24 Channel Soundcraft 200SR: Call for pricing

• 8,16,24,32 Channel Soundcraft 200B: Call for pricing

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Additional Accessories:

• CPS-150 Power Supply (upgraded): $350*

• Power Umbilical: $125*

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NOTE: Additional mods such as the Dual Mono Opamp upgrade can be performed on the Master Section summing pathways to reduce crosstalk and further increase separation between the Left & Right signal pathways, which effectively widens your Stereo Imaging up to an additional 2dB of separation apart from our baseline mods. Call for pricing.

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Apart from all these “base-line” mods, we can also do all kinds of other premium mods, like:

• installing input/mic-pre transformers or output transformers on the MIX or Group outputs for added color, galvanic isolation, harmonic saturation, etc. (available with or without bypass switches)

• Modifiying routing

• Installing balancing circuits on the direct outs

• Installing D-sub connectors to replace direct outs

• Replacing VU backlights with LED-arrays, custom colors and brightness

• Installing additional monitor outputs to feed multiple speaker sets (available with custom switching)

• And a few others… the sky’s the limit in most cases, but it’s not always practical (especially if you’re on a budget).

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Contact us to inquire about other mods and pricing. 

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​*Pricing is subject to change. Please CONTACT us for current prices.

*Plus TN tax (9.25%) unless you have resale or tax exempt status.

** Soundcraft Ghost Sidecars & separate Meterbridges are rarer-to-find items on their own, but we occasionally come across one. If you're looking for one, be sure to contact us and get placed on our waiting list.

 

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