Yamaha PSS100 Vintage Keyboard Mod 2

A new YouTube subscriber named Shawn saw my other Yamaha vintage keyboard mod at:    • Modifying the Yamaha PSS100 Electronic Syn...   and commissioned me to modify his Yamaha PSS100 audio output in a similar fashion. This video is a record of the work and the results of the mod.

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The Yamaha PSS100 was part of Yamaha's "Portasound" series of small keyboards, and the vintage instruments were marketed primarily to children. They have a great appeal to current musicians because of their vintage sound and the many rhythms available at the push of a button (think vintage drum machine). However, because the keyboards were marketed to children -- and they needed to keep costs down (so they could have a competitive price point) -- and perhaps because they reasoned that children would have no use for an audio out jack, no line out or headphone out was provided.

Some competing keyboards did come with such jacks.

What is remarkable is that, while the original tone of the Yamaha PSS100 and others in the series is thin and tinny, that is only due to the small speaker mounted in the cabinet. When the vintage keyboard instrument's sound is fed directly into an external amplifier (or amplified speaker system) it turns out that the tone is remarkably rich and full for such a little keyboard.

There is a difference between the two videos I have created about the Yamaha PSS100 vintage keyboard mod.

In the prior video, I was asked to modify the vintage keyboard with a STEREO output jack -- so the signal could be sent to both channels of a stereo amplifier (or a computer sound card). The same sound could be heard on both channels -- since the keyboard has a mono output -- equally.

In THIS mod of the vintage Yamaha PSS100 keyboard, Shawn asked for a MONO 1/4-inch jack, which would accept the 1/4-inch TS (Tip-Sleeve) mono plug that is more commonly used in studio work.

The jack can also accept a 1/4-inch stereo plug (TRS -- Tip-Ring-Sleeve) but only the tip and sleeve can carry the signal. The ring makes no contact with any part of the jack.

As a result, the sound of the Yamaha PSS100 vintage keyboard -- when patched to a stereo amplifier or mixer -- will only go to one channel. This is especially useful when the studio musician wants the sound on the left or right only, rather than as a channel mix, and of course, using panning controls, the musician can "locate" the sound almost anywhere in the stereo space.

Enjoy.