Ibanez UE405 - Can it work without a footswitch?

[raccoon]

On an earliear post (2 years ago) it was mentioned that if you loose the foot controller you're up the creek.  I found someone listing a UE405 on ebay who said (by email) that it works fine without one.  I've acquired a UE405 without a controller in a package deal.  Signal goes through, but no effects function.  First question:  Do I truly need the controller to make this thing work?  (If not, I presume my unit need repair.)  Secondly, and only if I do need it, is there an easy way to bypass the need?  I don't understand flip-flop circuits or any electronics theory.  I can read a schematic and solder a cap where it needs to go, but that's about it.  Recommendations???

[Taylor]

Here's the relevant part of the schematic (I found it in a post of my own where I had apparently posted it here before - thanks past self!):

http://www.ibanezcollectors.com/gallery/albums/userpics/18397/UE400_SVC__pg_08x.jpg

I can't say from a quick look whether it should work without the footswitch, however it should be quite simple to build your own FS from the schematic. It's electronic switching - transistor flip flops and JFETS - as we see in most Ibanez pedals. It looks like you probably only need to put some momentary switches to ground in a box and wire it up right. Making a cable that works might be tricky - you may find it easier to just mod the main unit with a more easily-duplicated cable type (Cat5 for example)

[slacker]

From looking at the schematic, without the foot switch the effects will be bypassed. If you look on the schematic it shows the connector socket in the bottom right corner, I assume that's what it is anyway. The numbered points there, for example point 37, then turn the effects on and off using the circuits made out of IC201, point 37 controls the compressor.
Without going into detail about how it works, I can if you want, you should be able to turn the effects on by connecting pin 6 of the socket to the pin for each of the effects, so pin 1 for the compressor. You still might not hear the effect, unless you also activated the "total" bypass, but the LED for the effect should turn on. See if that works, if it does it should be pretty easy to make a footswitch for it or just make it so all the effects were on.

[raccoon]

Thanks to both of you.  This schematic has much better resolution than the one I was trying to read.  What you say confirms what I was about to propose.  It appears that I can tie pin 1 to pin 6 to turn on the compressor.  This would send +15V to IC201, the related 4049 (which is really a JRC4558D in my unit).  According to a datasheet the 4558 does take a 15V input voltage.  If that is the case, I could simply install 5 switches to turn on each effect.  Since I am concerned about being an idiot on the verge of blowing up this beautiful piece of gear I will probably try it with the "External" effect first.  In the supplied schematic this is labelled, "Total" because it belongs to a UE400, rather than a UE405.  However, there is enough similarity for me to believe that it will function the same.  I will let you know if something goes *POOF*

[slacker]

It should be fine just sending 15 volts to the inputs of IC201. If you want to be extra safe you could use a resistor between pin 6 and the relevant effect pin, looks like the original uses a 10k resistor (R411) between the flipflops and the pins, but this shouldn't be necessary.

[raccoon]

Well, it made the LEDs light up on the front panel, but the effects have no effect (pun intended).  Guess there must be something else wrong with the unit.  Thanks, gents!

[raccoon]

A) Plug it in. B) Turn it on. C) If nothing happens read the manual.

Looks like I forgot point "C."  It turns out that the master switch has to be on AS WELL AS whichever effect you want to use.  So, with a jumper (or, in my case, a piece of acoustic guitar string) from pin 6 (+15V) to pin 5 (Master) AND pin 6 (+15V) to pin 1 (Compressor) and/or pin 2 (Chorus) and/or pin 3 (EQ) and/or pin 4 (Delay) I managed to get everything to work.  Needless to say, small switches can easily be installed in the front panel to take the place of these jumpers.

For the record, this is a phenomenal unit with amazing sound control.  So glad I didn't give up on it.  Thanks again to all who helped!

[Henny]

Ok, first post, and I'm bringing this thread back from the dead! 

My mate has just got hold of a UE405 and was thrilled to bits, until he noticed the US plug on it instead of a UK one! 

So, he's brought it to me to see if there's anything I can do to it to make it work on 240V 50Hz instead of 115V 60Hz...

The schematic that Taylor posted is brilliant, but I just wanted to check with you guys that I'm reading it correctly and that the transformer is a 110 -> 15V step down transformer with a diode bridge rectifier after it to make it DC?  If so, then if I were to change it to a 240 -> 15Vac transformer instead, then it should work as normal? 

Can anyone please confirm that the transformer output is 15V AC for me, so I can fix this for him?  (doing this as a favour, but as it's nearly 2 decades since I passed my electronics degree, and I've not used it much since, I'd like some reassurance before I risk blowing this thing up!!!  )

[duck_arse]

henny, hello and welcome.

that circuit shows a 15V regulator after the diode bridge supplying the rest of the circuit. it also shows an alternate colour scheme for 220V mains. 110-ish volts shows black and white wires on the primary, whereas 220V shows brown and blue wires, and a double pole mains switch, and an earth wire.

you would need to proceed with caution at the very least.

[Henny]

Thanks all for the circuit diagrams and advice...

I've since got hold of a 240->110V power supply and attacked both the UE400 and UE405 my mate's bought with a multimeter...

Turns out the transformer gives out 20v (ish!) AC, which is then diode bridge'd to DC and then voltage regulated to 15.2V in both the UE400 and UE405...

So, a bit of soldering and heat shrinking and my mate now has 240V versions of both the UE400 and 405! 

For reference, I used a 12VA 240->20V clamp mount transformer from RS components (504- 599) which should have enough "umph!" to power these without getting hot and bothered, and also neatly fits in and uses two existing screw holes to mount it!  I also changed the fuse holder (and fuse!) for a 5x20mm fuse version as the US size glass fuses are a pig to get in the UK!

I used a moulded plug -> IEC lead which I cut the IEC end off so that it looks factory, and wired it the same as the original...  Took me about 2 hours to do the first one, and then about an hour to do the second as I'd sussed out how to do it properly, how long to strip the cables back and what actually needed to come off and what didn't!

I've also modified the rear sticker so that it doesn't say 117V 60Hz anymore and I've also added a chassis earth as the cable had one, unlike the US version....

So, if anyone else out there is looking to modify a 110V version of these, that's how you do it...

[raccoon]

Someone asked me about this yesterday, so I'll lay out how I did it - NO ELECTRICAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED (but you do have to know how to solder).

I installed a mini toggle switch in the center of the knobs for each of the four effects.  For the fifth I installed a 1/4" mono jack so I could use a footswitch.  Everything is wired the pins of the external footwitch board jack as follows:

One leg of the switch/jack
_____________________
Pin 1 - Compressor
Pin 2 - Chorus
Pin 3 - Equalizer
Pin 4 - Delay
Pin 5 - External effects loop (where I use a 1/4" jack)

The other leg of the switch/jack
_________________________
Pin 6 - This is where you wire the other side of each switch or jack

Thank you, Ibanez for making it simple.  Thank you all the more for making a beautiful sounding unit that is popular decades later.