Introduction: Game Boy 3.5mm Pro Sound DIY

By Hand Held Legend
About: I enjoying learning new skills and love working with my hands. I often revisit my childhood and create projects from things which I once cherished. I've learned a variety of modifications for Game Boys and als…

Introduction

Pro sound is a simple modification that produces clearer, louder sound via a 3.5mm audio out jack. Skill level is basic and is great for beginners:

Materials

Original Game Boy DMG
40W Soldering Iron
28 Gauge electrical wire
3.5mm audio jack (panel mount)
Stepper bit
Tri-Wing screwdriver
Hot Glue gun

Instructions
Back PCB

1. Open your Game Boy by removing the 6 tri-wing screws on the back panel
2. Separate the front and the back units by gently pulling apart the ribbon cable attached to the front pcb from the back pcb.
3. You now have two separate pieces, we will be focusing on the back unit first.
4. Prepare your 3 wires for soldering. Cut each to a  6 inch length to allow for error and flexibility. Strip and tin each of the ends of the three wires.
5. Locate the three soldering points as shown in the pictures. They are located on the right side of the pcb board.
6. The bottom most terminal is a ground terminal. The one above is the right audio terminal and the one on top is the left audio terminal.
7. You will solder one wire to each terminal starting with the ground (bottom most) terminal.
8. Next solder the second wire to the right audio (middle) terminal
9. Finally solder the last wire to the left (top most) terminal.
10. Use some hot glue to keep the wires secure by placing a dab of glue to the left of the 3 terminals.
11. Next locate your 3.5mm audio jack.
12. Find the ground, right and left terminals on the jack and mark them for connecting the wires we previously soldered.
13. Solder the ground wire to the ground arm of the audio jack.
14. Do the same for the right and the left audio jacks.
15. Lastly, locate the original headphone jack and remove the 2 screws holding it down. Bend back the black capacitors so that they will be hidden when you replace the panel. Replace the 2 screws and the original head phone jack.

Instructions
Front PCB

1. We will now drill a mounting hole for the 3.5mm audio jack.
2. Choose a spot on the bottom of the front panel on the left side.
3. Mark your hold for drilling
4. Using a hand held drill and a stepper bit, drill a hole as required by your audio jack mounting specifications. If you are unsure of the hold size to drill. Slowly increase the size of the hold until the audio jack fits.
5. remove the nut on the audio jack and insert the neck of the jack into the hole. Make sure to bend back any arms that may interfere.
6. Screw on the nut to secure the audio jack on the front PCB.

Test your jack by inserting headphones into the jack.   Reinsert your ribbon cable from the front PCB into the back PCB. Reinsert the 6 screws to put your Game Boy back together.\

Brought to you by Hand Held Legend