Hi all,
First a correction - only two of the timing capacitors are
electrolytics (I didn't take the module completely out of the case,
so I misidentified them); second, my A140 is also marked 'version 1
1995' ('v1' was shorthand I used in my notes...).

> I have 5 A-140s. 3 of which
> have flat LEDs. Of the 3 that
> have flat LEDs, 2 have visably
> different components on the PCB.
> Different transistors, differetly
> marked resistors, etc. I can
> understand red versus blue transistors
> as a sourcing issue, however, the banding
> on resistors is supposed to be somewhat
> of a standard. The differences in these
> two seems to identical.

There are two resistor marking codes generally in use - 4 band and 5
band, and the same value can appear quite different. For example, a
10kohm, 5% in 4 band is brown, black, orange, gold; 5 band it is
brown, black, black, red, gold. However if it's 1%, 5 band, it is
brown, black, black, red, brown, and so it gets tricky to decide
which end to start from (the gap between the tolerance colour and the
rest is wider).

The difference in transistor types is interesting though, and may
account for some diference in performance - I'd be interested to know
the difference if you can be bothered to check. On mine, Q1-4 & Q6
are all BC547C (board marked BC549), and Q5 is a BC559C, same as
board says.

Tim