Blue Yeti Gets a New USB Socket

A broken USB socket seems to be a common problem with the Blue Yeti microphone judging by the amount of repair videos out there.

The USB cable is easily moved around when the microphone angle is adjusted or when the cable is strained and it puts stress on the socket, which can't take it. Either the pins break, or the socket bends, or both.

​There are loads of Youtube videos and websites out there that show you how to take the microphone apart (ifixit is a good one). It boils down to this:

1. There are 3 screws to remove at the bottom of the mic (2 behind a sticker, one in the mounting thread, behind a rubber thing)

2. Pull all of the knobs and the mute button off

3. The circuit board slides out

I had no luck pulling the knobs off by hand. I tried gripping them with long-nose pliers, with a cloth in between to protect the plastic - it worked for the Gain and Pattern controls on the back but the front Volume knob wasn't going to shift that way without getting well and truly chewed up.

There was going to be some damage whatever I did so I ditched the cloth and gripped the sticky-out bit of the knob with the pliers. You can see the damage done, but it probably would have been worse if I'd persisted with gripping the knob itself.

Rather than grip the Mute button with pliers, you can pop it up from underneath through the Volume control hole with something long enough and curved - a can opener did the trick for me. Once all the controls are removed, the metal housing slides away from the microphone grille and the circuit boards inside.

This was the damage done to the USB socket. The metal housing of the socket was bent and the pins inside had been mashed up too. Fixing it is just a matter of whipping off the old socket and sticking in a new one. Some repair guides show a socket with 2 legs, mine had 4 (the big legs that hold it in place I mean, not the pins - they should all have 5 pins). Worth checking before you buy a new socket.

​The only place I could find a suitable through-hole mini USB type B socket was eBay. The big component stores either want you to buy a bag of 25,000 or they charge £7 shipping on a £1 component. The socket I sourced from eBay was not the best quality and I had to bend the center plastic part with the pins in it around a bit to get it aligned, but it should do the job.

Desoldering is not something I know how to do well. Nothing seems to desolder nice and quickly like you see in the movies. I found the best thing to do was to jam a small screwdriver between the socket and the circuit board and apply some leverage, then heat the 4 legs of the socket in turn so the socket moves away bit by bit, then you can yank it off leaving the pins behind. The pins can then be desoldered one by one.

I have subsequently bought a cheap desoldering iron from eBay ("30W 220V Suction Desoldering Pump Tool Sucker Electric Soldering Iron Pen") - best £10.26 I've spent! It probably won't last very long but it works really well.

It works!

​We'll see how long it lasts.