The caps cost pennies. A dead SID doesn’t.
Every electrolytic in a Spectrum or C64 is now decades past its design life, and as they dry out, the power rails they’re meant to smooth start rattling the one thing you can’t buy again: the ULA, the VIC-II, the SID. Our recap service swaps the lot for quality Japanese parts and has most machines home about a week after you post them.
8-bit recap pricing
Spectrum covers 16K, 48K, 128K, +2 and +3. C64 covers breadbin and C64C. £15 deposit books it, balance on completion before return post.
Classic failures of 40-year-old caps
These machines were built for a ten-year life. Four decades on, the electrolytics are the weakest part on the board.
Dark or dim picture
The Spectrum special: a picture that’s there but murky, with poor contrast. The caps in the video and power circuitry have quietly drifted far from spec.
Rolling or unstable display
The image rolls, tears or shimmers. Ripple on the supply rails that fresh capacitors would have smoothed away is riding straight into the video signal.
Hum and weak audio
A 50Hz drone under everything, or sound that’s gone quiet and thin. Dried-out caps in the audio path and PSU section are the textbook cause.
Random crashes & resets
Fine for ten minutes, then a lock-up or reset. Sagging rails brown out the logic the moment the machine draws a little extra current.
Won’t start reliably
Several power cycles before it boots, or better behaviour once warm. Capacitance creeping back up with temperature is a classic end-of-life tell.
The silent one
No symptoms at all, yet. Unstable rails stress the custom chips long before anything visible happens, which is exactly why recapping on age beats recapping on symptoms.
It’s not about the caps. It’s about the chips.
Sinclair and Commodore built these machines around custom silicon that nobody makes any more.
Protecting the silicon you can’t replace
A Spectrum without its ULA is a doorstop, and genuine replacements only come from donor boards. The C64’s VIC-II and the SID sound chip are the same story: production stopped in the early 90s, remaining stock shrinks every year, and prices climb to match. Meanwhile the capacitors whose whole job is to feed those chips clean, stable power are all running decades past their design life.
When old caps fail they don’t always fail politely. Rails ripple, spike and sag, and the custom chips absorb that abuse every minute the machine is on. A full recap costs less than a takeaway for two; a replacement SID, if you can even find one, costs several times more, and a ULA means hunting for another Spectrum. That arithmetic is the whole argument. On Spectrums we also clean the rear edge connector as part of the job, because a tarnished edge connector is a legendary source of crashes all by itself.
- Every electrolytic replaced with quality Japanese parts
- Power rails checked for ripple before and after
- Spectrum edge connector cleaned as standard
- Every joint inspected under magnification
Two machines, two flat prices
Book with a £15 deposit. Balance on completion, before return post. Return tracked postage is in the price.
ZX Spectrum recap
Any Spectrum: 16K, 48K, 128K toastrack, +2, +2A or +3.
£35
- Every electrolytic capacitor replaced
- Rubycon, Panasonic or Nichicon parts
- Rear edge connector cleaned as standard
- Rails checked for ripple after the swap
- Old caps bagged and returned to you
Commodore 64 recap
Breadbin or C64C, and the VIC-20 at the same price.
£29
- Every electrolytic capacitor replaced
- Rubycon, Panasonic or Nichicon parts
- Cheap insurance for the VIC-II and SID
- Rails checked for ripple after the swap
- Old caps bagged and returned to you
Already dead or misbehaving? A recap alone won’t revive a faulty machine. Start with our board-level soldering service instead: the £40 assessment gets it properly diagnosed on the bench, the £40 comes off the repair price, and we fold the recap into the same job so it only makes one trip.
If a machine sent in for a recap turns out to need more than minor track repair, we photograph it and quote before any chargeable work. If you’d rather not proceed, we post it back and only the deposit is used.
From rubber keys to breadbins
Whole machine or bare board, whichever you’re happier posting. The price is the same.
Spectrum 16K & 48K
Rubber-key classics and the Spectrum+. Issue boards vary, but the ageing caps and the tarnished edge connector are common to all of them, and both are covered in the £35.
Spectrum 128K, +2 & +3
Toastrack, grey and black +2s, and the +3 with its disk drive. More caps, more board, same flat price, including the edge connector clean.
C64 breadbin
The original brick, in all its board revisions. A £29 recap steadies the rails feeding the VIC-II and SID, the two chips that make a C64 a C64.
C64C
The slimline later machine, including the short-board revisions. Same price, same job, same argument: protect the custom chips while they’re still healthy.
VIC-20
The C64’s big-keyed forerunner, recapped for the same £29. Its custom VIC chip is just as unobtainable as its successors’ silicon.
Another 8-bit?
Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bits, BBC Micro, Dragon, MSX and friends usually slot into the same pricing. Send photos of the board and we’ll quote it for free.
What the flat price includes
Forty-year-old pads lift if you rush them. The whole job is built around not rushing them.
| Every electrolytic | The complete set replaced in one pass, PSU section included; a partial recap on caps this old is a false economy |
| Japanese parts | Rubycon, Panasonic or Nichicon, matched to or exceeding the original values, fitted with correct polarity double-checked against the schematic |
| Gentle removal | Old caps lifted with controlled heat and fresh solder, protecting pads and traces that have had four decades of thermal cycles |
| Edge connector clean | On every Spectrum, the rear edge connector is cleaned as standard; a tarnished edge is one of the platform’s most famous crash-makers |
| Rail check | Supply rails measured for ripple and level after the swap, because stable rails are the whole point of the exercise |
| Testing | Boot, picture, sound and keyboard checked where the machine can be run on the bench before it’s packed for return |
The old capacitors come back in a bag with the machine. Composite video mods aren’t part of the recap, but can be quoted alongside it, just ask when you book.
About a week, door to door
Multi-week queues are standard in retro repair. Recaps here go straight onto the bench instead.
Book online
£15 deposit secures your slot. We email the postal address straight away.
Post it in
Whole machine or bare board, well padded. Inspected under magnification on arrival.
The recap
Caps swapped, rails checked, Spectrum edge connector cleaned, every joint inspected.
Back to you
Balance settled, posted back tracked. Old caps in the box, 90 days on the workmanship.
More retro on the bench
Board & component soldering
Dead machine, suspect ULA socket or damage past the caps? Our board-level repair service starts with a £40 assessment that comes off the repair price.
Capacitor replacement & recap
Monitors, PSUs, 2000s PCs and 90s vehicle ECUs go through the same general recap service, along with the Original Xbox clock cap.
Amiga, Game Gear & Game Boy
We also recap Amigas from £39, including a never-leaks polymer option, and sort the classic Game Gear and Game Boy screen and sound faults.
Common questions
How much does a ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 recap cost?
A full recap of any ZX Spectrum is £35 flat, and that includes a clean of the rear edge connector, a classic Spectrum fault in its own right. A Commodore 64, whether breadbin or C64C, is £29 flat, and a VIC-20 is the same £29. Every electrolytic is replaced with quality Japanese parts from Rubycon, Panasonic or Nichicon, and return tracked postage is included. You book with a £15 deposit and pay the balance when the work is done.
Which Spectrum and Commodore models do you cover?
On the Sinclair side: 16K, 48K (rubber key and Spectrum+), 128K toastrack, +2, +2A and +3, all at the same £35. On the Commodore side: C64 breadbin, C64C and VIC-20, all at £29. Other 8-bit machines are usually fine too; send photos of the board and we’ll quote it for free.
The machine works fine. Why recap it?
Because the caps aren’t really what you’re protecting. Every electrolytic in these machines is 40 or more years past the factory, well beyond its design life, and as they dry out the power rails they’re supposed to smooth start to wobble. Those wobbling rails feed the custom chips: the ULA in a Spectrum, the VIC-II and SID in a C64. Those chips are either irreplaceable or seriously expensive, and unstable power is one of the classic ways they die. New capacitors cost pennies; a dead SID doesn’t. A recap now is the cheapest insurance these machines can buy.
My Spectrum or C64 is dead or faulty. Is a recap the right service?
Not on its own. If the machine already has a fault, book our board-level soldering service instead: the £40 assessment gets it on the bench for proper diagnosis, the £40 comes off whatever the repair costs, and we fold the recap into the same job. If a board sent in for a recap turns out to have damage needing more than minor track repair, we photograph it and quote before any chargeable work; if you’d rather not proceed we return it and only the deposit is used.
Can you fit a composite video mod at the same time?
Not as part of the recap price, but often yes as an extra. Mods like composite output are quoted separately through our soldering service because the work varies by board revision, so mention it when you book and we’ll price it before you post the machine.
How long does the recap take?
Typical turnaround is about a week door to door. Multi-week waiting lists are the norm in retro repair circles; we schedule recap work so it goes straight onto the bench when it arrives rather than joining a queue. If anything beyond the recap is needed, you hear about it the day we inspect the board.
Is there a warranty?
90 days on the workmanship. If a capacitor we fitted or a joint we made fails in normal use, we put it right free.
How should I pack it for posting?
Whole machine: bubble wrap, then a sturdy box with padding on every side so nothing shifts. Keep the PSU at home unless we ask for it, and remove anything from the expansion port. Bare board: anti-static bag if you have one, or a clean plastic bag, then bubble wrap and a padded box. We email you the postal address as soon as you book. Postage to us is yours to arrange, and Royal Mail Tracked 48 is about £5 over the counter.
Keep the classics running
Spectrum £35 with an edge connector clean, C64 or VIC-20 £29, Japanese capacitors and return tracked postage included, 90 days on the workmanship. Serving the whole UK by post from Basingstoke.