Hi to everyone trying to help, i apreciate it very much!

I connected each drive individually one after another to both connectors, the disks seem to respond with a whirling sound like its reading something (the "clack clack" of the writer head can be heard), but none of them is being recognized.

I will be off into holidays for 2 weeks starting Friday, sadly without my empeg on the road, but thats alright, at least i now have one.
Until then I'll try to get my hands on another IDE cable and maybe have someone else look at the connector and the board, maybe he can make something out i didnt.

If all fails, Holland isnt too far away from me...

I'll keep you posted as soon as i have anything new.
Thanks a lot again, I learned so much about the empeg the last days, it almost feels worth the damage...

EDIT: I went through the FAQ once more and followed each step carefully and im sure to say that i checked everything mentioned there and found nothing.