My Prime 2 is back from Algam, the official Denon DJ repair center here in France.
I sent it in regarding a problem with phantom touch detection on the right jog wheel when vinyl mode was activated.
Apparently, the problem was the Q3 and Q5 spacers in the unit, which were replaced.
They also informed me that the crossfader was starting to show some wear.
It’s true that I scratch a bit and it’s used quite a bit.
I’m considering replacing it eventually with a Mini Innofader Plus, which is admittedly more expensive than the original crossfader, but Innofaders are magnetic and therefore wear-resistant.
The original crossfader used by Denon is quite low-end and clearly not designed to withstand thousands of scratch cycles.
Have any of you changed your crossfader to a mini innofader plus on the prime 2 or 4 unit?
Yes, of course, it’s possible to do it yourself from the top without opening the unit. Algam offered to replace the crossfader (out of warranty, so at my expense), but I told them I’d replace it myself later with a mini innofader plus, which will certainly be better and more durable than the original crossfader.
I just wanted to know if anyone here had done it and had any feedback on it.
Without a doubt, innofaders magnetic crossfaders are timeless and stand the test of time, capable of millions of use cycles. This is incomparable to traditional contact crossfaders.
I think I must be one of the few people scratching on a Prime 2.
i just cant scratch, otherwise id probably give it a go… i am investing in a crosssfader mixer for playing 45s though so will be leanring how to cut etc at some point.
I’m not an expert either; I do pretty basic things, often to bring a track into the mix rather than simply pressing play. It still adds a lot of dynamics to mixes for good transitions. Activate the quantized echo fader on 1 beat, assign your channels to each side of the crossfader, and let the magic happen with a few baby scratches. When you start to master a few basic techniques, you’ll see how fun it is.
But keep in mind that even baby scratches put quite a bit of strain on the crossfader, and if this is something you want to develop, you’ll need to consider a magnetic crossfader at some point.
@Gaian Have you tried to do the repair as suggested in the following post? That way you also use the second channel of the crossfader that is normally unused and everything becomes more reliable. You can always try and if it doesn’t solve, then replace it:
I wish all the dj gear had the same pins voltage when it comes to replacing cross faders into channels faders lol. Unfortunately this thing not gonna happen, just damage the mixers and give some smoke. Allen health faders are the longest and I liked it. Pioneers faders not so long just standard fader length
This is exactly the problem I sometimes encounter: there’s a bit of sound coming through when the crossfader is in the fully closed position and set to cut mode.
That’s a great tip! I’ll try it! Doesn’t this modification cause problems using the crossfader with VDJ in controller mode?
Yes, this was what happened to me, even though I use the cross fader once a year! You will see that with the modification I explained in that post, you solve the problem permanently at zero cost.
Absolutely not. Your VDJ will work smoothly and better than before.
