Look at all this paint!!

So I just scored a bunch of paint from a good friend of mine. I love using these products because of how well they mix and spray. You can make virtually any color with this stuff and with all the kandys that I got, the possibilities are endless. I use these paints through my airbrush and my Sata miniJet paint gun. Excellent paints for making custom painted gameboys and nintendos. You can find these paints at Kustom Shop.

Pair of Custom gameboys, made to order!

I just finished up these two gameboys for someone. I am very happy with how they turned out! Both are backlit with Nonfinite's v2 kits, pro-sound modified, and the orange backlit one is underclocked too.... There is more in the my flickr gallery and some are soon to be available for purchase at project gameboy.

2 custom DMGs on EBAY!

I just put 2 of my new DMGs up on EBAY. Remember if you see it here first I will include special gifts with the gameboy.

See this one here.

And this one here.

6 new custom gameboys!

Finished up 6 more gameboys. I am very excited that my customs will now be carried in kitsch-bent's store, and at project gameboy. You can see the full gallery of images here.

GameBoy Advance SP internal sound mod

After searching and searching for a mod that would put a headphone plug inside of the GBA SP and not finding a solution I decided to tackle the project on my own. There isn't really any extra room inside the GBA SP. I could only figure out one way to make it happen and that included losing the link port and the speaker. But I never use the damn things anyway. I intend to take much higher quality pictures the next time I do this ( I used my phone this time). The tutorial will stay mostly the same(unless I find a shortcut) but the pictures will be updated as needed. Please be aware that this is not a very easy mod to do and it is very possible that you will ruin your GBA SP.

I started out by obviously taking the GBASP apart. There are many videos on the internet that can instruct you on how to disassemble the unit. It isn't really that hard and all you is a tri-wing screwdriver and small philips and flathead screwdrivers. We will start with the PCB already removed from the case.

For this tutorial the full list of things you will need:
*Tri-wing screwdriver
*philips and flathead screwdriver
*pliers
*razor knife
*wire cutter/stripper
*about 6 inches of wire (I use the wire from inside an NES controller cord)
*1/8" stereo audio jack
*soldering iron
*solder
*tinner
*dremel or hot blade(for cutting the case)


In this first picture you can see where I removed the link port. All you need to do to remove it is heat the solder points from the opposite side and use pliers to wiggle it back and forth until it comes loose. Be careful when you do this so that you do not snap the PCB.





You can see here what it should look like after the link port is removed. Be sure to get rid of any excess solder as this is the area we will be mounting the audio jack.





We need to modify the sound jack to fit properly. This is the type of sound jack that I used.






What we need to do is cut the tabs off of the sound jack and then move them all to one side so that they fit inside the SP. The best way to do this is to cut them off with your wire cutters. They are very easy to cut and then we will solder them back on the connections but not in the center. Be sure to mount them so they point out and away from the bottom to ensure proper fit. Like this...






Be sure to do them on the same side that I did. The jack will only fit into the sp one way.

Now we go back to the top case of the SP, where the buttons go. We need to modify the hole where the link cable used to fit and make it fit the sound jack. We start by cutting with a razor blade or razor knife. We need to make it more square and bigger to house the audio jack. The best way is to make a cut and then check the size to the jack. making more cuts as needed.





Then on the other piece... The bottom case we need to do the same but also on this one we need to use heat or a dremel to make the space a perfect fit for our audio jack. I used my soldering iron and a razor knife to do this part, only because at the time I did not own a dremel. First you make the cut in the bottom casing and use heat to make sure everything is level. Be very careful if you are using a soldering iron on this part as it is very easy to go too far and poke right through the case, ruining it. You also need to cut a notch in the screw mount as you can see in the picture. other wise the wiring will not fit.





Now this part gets tricky. You need to cut into the battery compartment to gain that tiny little bit of extra room needed for this project. Use your soldering iron or dremel to SLOWLY cut into the compartment. just past the first ridge. and then make a little bit of a larger opening in the center for the tip of your audio plug to sit.





From inside the battery compartment....





Now be sure to set your battery in there and confirm that it still sits correctly. We don't want any excess lumps or ridges from melting the plastic as they will make the battery fit incorrectly.


This is the time when I would do a test fit. put the PCB back into the unit and place your sound jack where it goes. Close it up and see if it fits. If it doesn't then you need to go back and shave your mounting holes a little bit more. Be careful not to over do it because the pressure and snugness is what is going to hold the audio jack in place when you are done.





From inside the battery compartment with the battery installed.... You can see the jack sitting there, like I said there isn't much room inside the SP.





once you have a good fitting jack you can begin soldering. You need to attach wires to each of the tabs on the sound jack and then solder to the charging port contacts on the PCB. I used this diagram for reference, which can be found here






You are going to be soldering to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th pins on this jack.




On the second pin you only need a short wire to go from the pin to the shield of the jack. This is the speaker and amp disable to make proper sound come through the headphones. Be sure to solder to the side of the jack otherwise the case will not close properly. The 3rd pin goes to the GRND on your jack (side), the 4th pin goes to the RT on your jack (middle) and the 6th pin goes to LT (last one).


Now you can set your jack in place being careful to not smash the wires. Be sure to put the jack in the same way you test fitted it. We moved the tabs on it for a reason, it only sits properly one way. carefully set everything back together and put in a screw or two. I would take this opportunity to test and make sure everything is working correctly. I did my testing while it was completely apart which was actually very difficult.





If everything works ok then go ahead and finish your reassembly and have fun with your SP. It is very nice to not have to keep track of that stupid little headphone adapter.

Gameboy Color Internal Pro-Sound mod

The gameboy color is pretty sweet whether it be for gaming or for making music. I mean come on, it's got a color screen! I have done many external pro-sounds on the GBC but never an internal one. This little guide will help you do just that, an internal pro-sound. Now I am assuming you have basic soldering skills, a tri-wing screwdriver, and a small philips screwdriver. You are also going to need 2 lengths of thin wire about 4 or 5 inches long. I use wire that I robbed from an NES controller. :)

The first thing you are going to do is remove the back of the GBC. Take off the battery cover and remove the batteries (if they are still in there). Remove the six tri-wing screws. 4 in the main back and 2 in the battery compartment. I like to use a little magnetic tray like this....


Once the GBC is open you will be here...


You will first be soldering on the exposed side of the PCB(printed circuit board). This is the side with the cartridge slot. You are going to be soldering to the volume pot. There are 5 connections to the left of the volume wheel. If they are numbered from 1-5 from top to bottom you will be soldering to connections number 2 and 3. (left and right)



strip your wire and tin the tips. Don't leave too much wire exposed. You only need about 1/8 of an inch bare...



Now go ahead and solder the wires to the connections on the volume pot. The black goop on my solder points is liquid tape. I used a brown and an orange wire. The brown on mine is connected to number 2 for obvious reasons :P You will then need to route the wire down the side of the PCB. I had a little bit of trouble deciding where to run the wires and ended up running them through the side of the cartridge slot. and along the PCB edge.



Now we need to remove the PCB completely from the gameboy. This will help in routing your wires and you need to solder to the screen side of the PCB. Go ahead and remove the 3 screws that hold the PCB to the gameboy case.



You also need to disconnect the ribbon cable for the screen. Push the little tabs on the sides of the connector towards the top of the gameboy. This will allow you to remove the PCB. The screen and buttons will stay in the front piece of the GBC shell.



Now that you have the PCB removed you can solder to the points on the headphone jack. You are going to solder to the points labeled 2 and 3 in the P5 section.



2 being left and 3 being right. So again on mine the brown wire goes to number 2. lol... number 2. Once you solder these points you can flip the PCB back over and reinstall it to the front casing. Be sure that your buttons are all in the right spots and that your new wires are not in the way of anything. Once it is installed again with the 3 screws you want to go to this area where the little things labeled EM2 and EM3 are located. These are getting removed. Just heat them up with your soldering iron and they will pull of easily. I use tweezers to grab them.



Now you can finish routing your wire and close the gameboy. Don't forget anything like your IR cover or your power switch. It sucks to have to pull it apart again because you forgot to install your power switch. Trust me. I routed my wires like so....



If you choose my route be sure the wires are not in the way of the cartridge slot. I used a little bit of liquid tape to hold them in place. I also used liquid tape on my solder points on the volume pot to be sure I don't have any crosstalk. Now put your GBC back together and enjoy your new internal pro-sound mod.



***When doing this mod I noticed that there are more than one type of GBC PCB. Mine was the CGB-CPU-05....



I have another GBC PCB labeled CGB-CPU-03. This one is almost exactly the same but it has an extra EM unit labeled EM4 next to the two that I removed. I don't think this will affect anything in this tutorial, so if you have this type of PCB don't get discouraged.

Come check out Chip Coalition! This is a new forum set up by Thretris, Kitsch-Bent, and myself. The site is intended to give everyone who is into the ChipMusic/Retro-Gaming scene a good place to hang out. There are discussions covering all aspects of the field from Dorito Chips to custom modification and circuit bending. Have a look. Become a member. Absolutely don't forget to check out our arcade!! The goal of this site is pure fun, thats it. Just a great place to kick back and discuss the topics we all know and love.