el-guapo
I'm hoping you guys ( /Alan) can send me in the direction of someone who can help me.
I've got an obscure pedal I ordered from the States (Pfeiffer Leveller - a volume pedal that uses stepped switches rather than a continuous sweep) that is on the fritz.
It is evidently true-bypass, because when bypassed the signal is completely fine. When switched on, however, there is absolutely no signal. Not scratchy/poppy, just nothing.
There doesn't appear to be any power-related problem, as the LED display lights up proudly when powered.
I'm guessing either a fried chip or a bad solder somewhere? Nothing obvious to the untrained eye.
Any leads on who to approach?
guitarboy2828
Hmm, how much electronics knowledge do you have? Do you own a multimeter to do some testing?
Maybe open it up and check to see that everything is connected and it's not a wire broken or something?
FruitarGeek
If there is one thing I have learnt from this forum about faulty pedals, is just because your LED lights up doesn't mean the pedal is getting power, it only means the LED is getting power.
guitarboy2828
There's quite a few wires in there, it could possibly be that one has broken off. The LED probably gets power straight from the DC jack, so, that wouldn't be an indicator.
Maybe open the back, take a picture and post here.
el-guapo
Wow, Paul. Thought I would be the only one with one of these puppies!
I have had a fairly good look and couldn't spot anything, but I will either go the photo route or just take the plunge and get a multimeter: probably a good investment.
guitarboy2828
Multimeter will help, but may still be a challenge, unless you know what to measure for. The other option is to take it to a tech, there are several on the forum who could probably sort it out for you no problem.
I could too, but I'm assuming you're not in Durban?
el-guapo
Thanks for the kind offer, but I'm in Cape Town.
Aaaaaanyone? Bueller?
Shibbibilybob
Unless you're confident with your soldering skills, I wouldn't fiddle if I were you. I'd take it straight to a tech/buddy who can solder. It may be a bit more expensive, but at the end of the day, even just soldering a new joint once you've diagnosed the problem can be tricky (and a poorly soldered joint will also stop your pedal from working) if you don't have much experience.
If you are confident with soldering, then that's different.
AlanRatcliffe
Have you spoken to Matt Allison? I know he's booked up with studio gear builds, but he has said that if he has time, he'll slip in an odd small job.
http://www.matt-allison.com/contact.html
el-guapo
Mucho gracias, guys.
Not remotely confident with my soldering (managed some patch cables so far) so I'm contacting Matt.
matta
Repaired, blown input FET, back on Simon's board fulfilling gigging duties.
el-guapo
matta wrote:
Repaired, blown input FET, back on Simon's board fulfilling gigging duties.
Dammit, meant to report back here and thank the Forumites for sending me to Matt, but he beat me to it. I got lucky with his availability, but what an absolute pleasure to have met Matt, chatted to him and had him do some work. I cannot recommend him highly enough, for those who haven't come across him before.
Psean
Good to hear. Nice one Matta :goodtimes:
matta
Pleasure Simon, Psean and Paul E, thanks for the kind words. Fairly quick troubleshooting, standard procedure, trace the power, then move from input to output, could hear the floor noise increase with the gain, highlighting output working, so traced input across the switch (which sometimes go, just replaced one on an MI Audio Crunch Box) through to the input FET, stopped dead, tested FET with my HFE meter, not conducting, blown, replaced, pedal works ?
