The PERFECT GameBoy Advance SP Upgrade

[@yammy]

Can we take a minute to appreciate the rap at the end?

[@HerEvilTwin]

Such a terribly short song given how much of a banger it is. I’m gonna need a rap tune at the end of every video from here on out

[@mikedub]

I am here for the rap appreciation

[@Cash2024]

I want more Gameboy Rap ❤

[@acomingextinction]

where did that flow come from fr

[@ThaCyNiQ]

​@@acomingextinctioneminem

[@charliedog907]

I never even acknowledged that the gba sp didn’t have a wheel. Im surprised.

[@emmettturner9452]

The pads that come off the easiest are the ones that don’t go anywhere. That’s usually because there’s nowhere for the heat to go so they end up burning off the substrate easier and have less surrounding trace material to hold them down.

[@nolannice]

Love the line "questioning everything", while you cut to Call Me By Your Name lol

[@Antwan86]

Easter egg 😏

[@RC32Smiths01]

The length and risk you went to in order to ensure that an SP had a wheel. It's rather admirable, and now this chapter of volume wheel handhelds is accomplished!

[@intoxicode]

Pro tip: for replacing ripped pads just use solder wick cut into small squares, scrape back the conformal coating and attach the wick into the area where the pad was, then you have brand new pads to attach things to

[@just_ugu]

Sorry wut? You solder a square piece of solder wick on the place of the ripper pad?

[@intoxicode]

@@just_ugu yep

[@christopherdueck3680]

That is indeed a great idea! Certainly a simpler solution than wiring a transistor leg to the next component in line after a Lynx II power section rebuild goes wrong. I'll have to keep this in mind! Thanks!

[@madsl88]

Can you make a video tutorial? It would be very helpfull! Best regards.

[@Florian_RL]

can't you just put a small bead of solder on where the pad used to be? new to soldering btw

[@bemorewantless]

You'd do the PCBs and components a great justice if you start using a hot air rework station. The temp can be set so that it won't burn the pads off the board, and you can lift the whole component off at once. A desoldering pen or gun would also help, and no-clean flux will help to neaten the soldering. I think Nintendo makes their soldering pads delicate on purpose, lol.

[@melsbacksfriend]

There are ways to repair trace damage such as torn pads. It's a pretty involved repair tho.

[@vhfgamer]

It's not so bad. Just scrape away a little of the coating on the trace, use solder to bridge the break between the pad and trace, and then tack the pad down to the board with epoxy. Boom... fixed.

[@theretrocore]

You luckily only ripped a ground pad, which isnt the end of the world. I recommend on getting a better soldering iron, like a Hakko FX888D. They also have fume extrators.

[@SuperSZ]

If you want to go the extra mile you could paint the wheel in color red, so that it matches the rest. Then it would be 100% perfect

[@dedsecaffiliate1979]

That's a pretty sick part! You might have more luck with a hot air rework station. I know I struggle with soldering stuff like this, and I have heard that a hot air rework station would do me a lot of good.

[@Khodeus]

Too much risk: there are a cap and the shoulder trigger very close to that area. Even with kapton tape or tin foil is risky.

[@dedsecaffiliate1979]

@@Khodeus Good point. Those would definitely complicate things.

[@PlaggMoruk]

Tin the pads with low melt solder and you can apply less heat to the components to remove the port

[@Jenkem254]

or just use 2 solder irons :P

[@aztektheultimatewoman]

That Call Me By Your Name joke is amazing

[@WhirlwindSet9]

What a trip that was! I'm glad you pressed on, if that was me I would have given up immediately

[@VivaChandles]

“Questioning everything” with call me by your name got a good laugh out of me hahaha

[@doutendo]

I love the new videos. Seeing you just go with it and have fun really shines through. ❤

[@TheRetroFuture]

Thank you so much!!

[@stuffsiscewl]

0:49 "questioning everything" bro has got some emotions to go through

[@implozia-rewind]

Ma man made an epic movie edit AND rapped at the end? Legendary.

[@codeyzappa5640]

Hi Elliot Coll. I really really like your videos on modding Retro consoles. It really puts a smile on my face. Especially the GBC mods that you have done in the past. There's just one thing that has peaked my interest with a particular GBC mod that I would love to get and add to my GBC.

[@codeyzappa5640]

I have over the past few months acquired the first iteration of the IPS LCD mod from Aliexpress, the one with the copper ribbon cable, where the LCD protrudes just under the screen protector. Its a great upgrade to my childhood memories, I am to soon get the audio amp mod as well as the LiPo battery charging mod to install.

[@codeyzappa5640]

The only thing that I am worried about is the compatibility. Example, the LCD IPS kit that I have installed requires that the Dpad, Dpad housing and the Dpad silicone membrane, needed to be cut and or shaved to not interfere with the bottom of the LCD screen.

[@codeyzappa5640]

I'm hoping that if I buy this mod, that there is no incompatibility between the LCD and the kit after it has been soldered in place, and save my self some money as well as save my console from damage from incompatibles I am hoping to see a video some day, especially from you. Many thanks, A loyal fan

[@MD_Builds]

You really should use a hot air reflow. also the pads can be repaired using copper tape and or simple hotwiring the damaged pads to the correct pins

[@Alic_R1]

Elliot I gotta say the cinematic parts you include really up the total quality keep doing what you do much love

[@r4ngutang]

Damn dropping bars at the end

[@3DSage]

haha so nice, I love it! Great outro song :)

[@totuccioo]

mate when u stood up at 6:20 i thought you had NO TROUSERS ON LMAO, got a good laugh regardless. Great work legend!

[@jonathandspike]

This video was incredible from start to finish 😂 did anyone else think Elliot was going to drink the IPA when he grabbed the bottle at 5:18?

[@SheepAtog]

That’s exactly what I thought he was going to do.

[@animeking1357]

Oh god glad to see I'm not the only one. I thought, "Damn bro it's just a gameboy you don't have to poison yourself."

[@polybiusrom]

"i found myself ... questioning everything" with the copy of call me by your name was such a good visual gag

[@NeonNobility]

Sliders are both more durable and actually show the volume relatively to the highest and lowest values, it's way better than a wheel

[@Thatonefuckinguy]

I think it's more to do with "can I do this?" And "can this be more like a GBA and less like a DS?" Then "practical use."

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

Hmm, is there a slider mod for a GBA I wonder?

[@TheFriskySquid]

Seeing how high the volume is is useless when the throw of the switch is like 3 millimeters. A volume wheel allows for much finer adjustments. Plus the wheel is stiffer and far less liable to get nudged to off or full volume with just a light touch. I know how high the volume is by using my ears and you don't look at the switch or the volume wheel when adjusting it, cause your thumb is on it.

[@kyx5631]

@@TheFriskySquid This Using the slider to turn the volume form zero to 100 takes less than a cm of way; the wheel by contrast takes more than double of that. With the same motion of my finger, I can make much finer adjustments. I loved the wheels back then, but I can see how sliders take less space and would fit better into those cramped devices.

[@kermut]

Wow this was uploaded right when I’m looking at parts to build a new SP lmao

[@_DanielPrieto]

You need to practice soldering a little more. I use the tip of the desoldering wick and cut it when it's filled. A solder sucker can help too. Tin is not supposed to touch directly the soldering iron tip. Tweezers are used to just make a little pressure without pulling the component.

[@eliotcole]

spittin' (slidin') bars, innit

[@RussTech125]

There is no benefit to this but I still love it. :) “Laughs”

[@LRM12o8]

"I found myself sat on a sofa, questioning everything" -> cuts to showing the SP next to a homoromantic book 🤯🥰🏳️‍🌈 Actually had to pause there and look it up, cause I didn't know that Call Me By Your Name was a gay love story, but the book cover makes it kinda obvious, which is neat. I don't read often, but hopefully I can watch the movie before I cancel my Amazon Prime subscription because they want to introduce ad-breaks into Prime and charge an extra fee to restore the the ad free streaming experience.

[@cardsfanbj]

I kinda learned to live without sound on my Game Boys. My GBC sound just stopped working one day (I think it was an issue with a capacitor leaking?) and otherwise i got told to keep the volume down by my parents when we were in the car or I was playing in the family room with everyone else.

[@merman1974]

That's an interesting idea. Love the way you put the wheel on top as Pikachu's nose, but you must have been in Extra Clumsy mode filming that day - what a moment when you nearly solder your arm!

[@valentinfurrerCH]

As always, very good video and loved the rap at the end! Gives the perfect final touch! :)

[@ra2daj]

Elliot spitting bars at the end

[@Zaque-TV]

Fkn rap god

[@ncc74656m]

The cheaters way to handle this is to clip those legs with some flush cutters first, then desolder the remaining legs.

[@Zaque-TV]

That would give you some room huh

[@THEDOGE1000-hx4qj]

Most genius idea to mankind: volume wheel on gba sp? PERFECT!

[@rickytickybobbywobbin055]

The “little bit of flux” has the same vibe as the “a shot of vodka” clip

[@peterkambasis]

Lol. Was pad 4 just to keep it in place? Didn't look like it ran to anything so you were lucky.

[@Super_Bros.]

Correct, it was just a support pad, though a little hot glue would have been a good idea.

[@therizinosaurus214]

The fact that the sp out puts stereo but only has one speaker blows my mind

[@CoreysZ32]

This is a top tier video, can't believe i didn't see it sooner! I recommend reinforcing the wheel pcb too! It might sheer the remaining trace, barely holding on. Not sure what glue would be best in this case.

[@whisperingwooper1763]

Lol I loved the rap at the end 😂! But glad it was all good and worked out!

[@moonpig660]

you can repair the pad with either copper wire or idk what they are called but basically they are flat copper strips aka replacement pads, and you can scrap the soldermask to the left and top near the missing pad and solder the wire or copper strips down so its solid and then solder the joint of what needs to be on the pad down to it, just need to make sure the area your scraping is part of the same trace or ground for the pad thats missing, its really not a problem for most instances, only when there is barely any room is it a problem but still fixable. other ways to fix issues like this would be to connect a wire and solder the wire to the pin and then the other end of the wire to the next part in the connection wither its scraping solder mask on a trace or to another component, and then just apply some soldermask either to the end of the pin to hold it down or to the entire wire just to make sure the wire is held down and secured.

[@hungrydinosaw6435]

I love the dramatic, narrative driven production of the recent videos😂

[@pilotwings65]

In an alternate universe: Giving the Game Boy Advance SP a volume slider

[@nafion112]

6:15 ...the weird sensation of "Horray!" and "Uhh, what?" both at the same time. 😲

[@Kumimono]

I gather pad 4 is just there to keep stuff in place.... Nice video, this. Inspires to do stuff!

[@mousouchop]

The wheel is not for me, but I love that it turned out! Looks great! SP was my first GB, so a slider seems natural... Anyway, I've recently been wondering if there isn't a way to add a second speaker to GBA or SP (or any other GB; the DMG has the most cast room for jamming one in there somewhere...).

[@mousouchop]

@@sangbeta2043 Well, the Analogue Pocket is similar in size to DMG and packs stereo… but I understand your point RE: perceived mono with such a small device.

[@garethlee6875]

Just screaming at my phone "you have a hot air station! Use the hot air station!"

[@Afterthought419]

This had no business being this good of a video while watching something I would normally have zero interest in. Bravo

[@Smorkatt]

I love your GBA SP content. I’m obsessed with the system. Thank you

[@Lewis94YouTube]

I absolutely love the new style of video mate

[@NemetFox]

Had me cackling at the end. Good work!

[@trevorflaps]

A good example of the perils of modding and how you should never lose hope if something goes wrong!

[@micah2936]

I design PCBs as a hobby…. Those Four contacts on the sides (with the two you ripped) are all connected to the same line for those packages. They are all connected to ground, which is why it still worked. Also… you’re putting so much solder on those pins. You can just touch your iron to the solder to pre solder the tip of the iron and then touch the pads with your pre-soldered iron tip.

[@Sonic6293]

Dang, the GBA has a wheel, the SP has a slider, and the micro has buttons! Never really thought about it too much until now...

[@foddey_3543]

To anyone who needs it you are loved and someone somewhere out there is going through what you are, and they care for you

[@tpf92]

From that first minute, I thought the video be about adding a second speaker to make it stereo without needing headphones.

[@foofango]

Wheel. Wheel. Wheel. Another great video from Mr EC. Who’d have thunk it!

[@BeefJerkey]

I messed up some pads when working on an original GameCube controller. They were for the C stick. Had to bridge two or three connections with bits of copper wire. It did work in the end, which was a relief.

[@Dirty_Habit]

The rap at the end is why Eliot is my number one top g hahaha

[@jerredshifflett6287]

Your video's are great and enjoy them thoroughly. Having watch quiet a few videos I have some small pro tips if you are interested. I would highly recommend you get into using a hot air station and use some type of fume extractor. Also if you are working near anything with a lot of pins I would also tape them, so you dont have to fix any solder bridges. Especially when desoldering components, sometimes a chunk of hot solder with fall during the process.

[@Thatguy101987]

According to what I was reading on reddit, pad 4 is unused, so you got lucky.

[@hughie.4204]

keep up the great stuff elliott! the content just keeps getting better! :))

[@brainlessdude]

1 point of criticism: Please dont clickbait. The chip in the thumbnail isnt neccessary. Just be honest and keep on doing your great content! And for future soldering projects of that kind: Get a hot air soldering. Removing the soldering points one by one puts so much pressure on the remaining solderpoints and the pcb. When heating it all at once you can just lift the compontent up.

[@Trustyfilms]

I do love your very specific style of nerdyness.

[@G1aFRa]

Your humor... 10/10! Instant like!

[@kazinwho]

I did this with a power switch on an original GBA. Lifted a pad, swore a lot, put it back together, and... it worked!

[@JoeLitty]

Week 3 of waiting for the ultimate Nintendo DS (phat) mod!

[@rulbiem]

youtuber, fixer of consoles, movie director and now rapper? Thats some multitalented individual right here!

[@MrScottyTay]

I would put some hotglue down on the side of the wheel with the lifted pads so it's less likely to flake off over use.

[@James_D.]

*Lyrics:* You want a SP with a phone jack Did that Now I got the stereo track But a slide is whack So I put that volume wheel back - MC Elliot

[@asher1kenobi]

That was incredible. The definition of never give up.

[@noeldoesthings]

Unpopular opinion: the modding/fixing in video's are far more enjoyable then the skits and jokes

[@InquisitiveRavenclaw]

Silly question, but what headphones are you using at 0:18? They remind me of the Koss Portapros, but even more portable.

[@butterflypooo]

Thank god it works!! 🙌🏻 Love this video and hope u r well.

[@Esaq_1240]

the wheel made the human advance in technilogy, it does make sense

[@Evercade_Effect]

Love your humor and very fun video!

[@theprophet2444]

I think the slider is actually a nice way to control the volume, better than the wheel even.

[@hawkfeather6802]

I'm glad the missing pad didn't break the whole mod!

[@dariusbogers3685]

looking at the PCB traces, #4 the one that got ripped off was probably just to keep it in place as it doesn't seem to be connected by any trace

[@HooperCross]

Never thought I needed Gameboy Rap until now

[@Elvisbackpack]

I can't wait for the eventual mod that gives you extra back buttons.

[@carlosvence]

I really enjoyed watching this video. It's one of the best you've made 🤣

[@TheRetroFuture]

Wow, thanks!

[@vi3tl0v3r24]

Looks like the pad that came off is just a mounting pad, so it doesn't affect the function of the wheel (as shown in the video). You can simply apply hot glue if the volumn wheel becomes unstable, but I doubt it.

[@EpicSkyve]

I don't know if you have done it already but I think a usbc charging port would make it even more perfect.

[@TheRetroFuture]

omg… how could i be so stupid. it does need this!

[@bobsmigglypoo8368]

​@@TheRetroFuturethere's a modder called "Giltesa" who offers a USB C PD compatible charge port for the GBA SP. You'll just have to replace the original charge board with it. It's a nice, if somewhat finiky design. But I for once don't regret is 😁 USB C all the way!

[@2shy2guy52]

Is it an unspoken rule that ever tech-y person on KZbin has to have an insanely over the top knife for unboxing packages?

[@luketinkley4806]

Looking at pad 4, I can't see any track connecting to it. So probably not part of the circuit. That's why it worked. From experience these pads without tracks connecting to them do come away from the PCB easily, especially if the soldering iron temperature is too high. Great mod, never liked the slider!

[@viciousstrider]

How did you get Eminem to guest star at the end??

[@mattunwin]

So there's this thing called "Low Melt Solder".

[@radical_ans]

Thankfully the damaged pads are really only there to anchor the part to the board and provide ground. 2/4 will get you there.

[@twilightknight09]

_"Wheel wheel wheel, what have we here? 🤔"_

[@finalemblem9520]

Nothing beats a retro future video😮‍💨

[@zerocold1985]

lol, the volume wheel is not neccesary but a "must have" for the collection

[@jtdx_]

Unfortunate but it's great you decided the share the failures with us, it is a big reality of modding

[@Lozano.Official]

i preffer the slider, always liked it hehe

[@brandontheITguy]

Get yourself a nice hot air rework station buddy! I've replaced many a volume slider by removing with the rework station, and then adding a new with an iron.

[@martinsolihull86]

You looked like you were about to drink that shot of alcohol at 5:25

[@artanisH847]

the ripped pad is unused.. the ripping is just easier when not connected since no heat is dissipating in any traces

[@kennybacchus1488]

The. Perfect. Gameboy. Advence. SP. upgrade

[@klawrence27]

Elliot now has a second career as a rapper.