What did I do to my EH Small Stone!?

[trumpus]

Hey all,

Well, I've got a black, Russian Small Stone phaser.  A few months ago, I noticed that it was starting to act up.  When I would step on the switch to engage the effect, the light would go one, but the effect would sometimes take several seconds to start.  From there, the time between stepping on the switch and the effect turning on got lonmger, and occasionally, I'd have to step on the switch several times to get it to turn on.

I decided to put it aside and I picked up another phaser, figuring i'd fix what I assumed was a faulty switch when i got around to it.  About a month ago, I decided to plug it back in to see what the status was, and at that time, the effect wouldn't engage at all, and the light was dim to not on at all.  I also noticed that the switch lost its "click" and all of this reinforced the idea that this was a switch problem...

..FF to last night.  I finally got around to ordering some parts for various repairs.  I tackled the Carling switch in my RMC3 first, swapped that out without a problem and got the wah working again, and then moved on to the SS.  I bought the same X-wing DPDT switch that was in the pedal to begin with, clipped all the leads (prenumbered the wires to ensure they went back in the right place) and then resoldered - no problem, right?

Well, when I plugged it in, I was surprised!  The LEd came on, no problem, but instead of phasing, the sound that is coming out when the effect is engaged sounds more like an octave-fuzz-ring mod (more like my Lovetone ring stinger).  The small switch that normal controls color is acting like a frequency switch!  Sounds very weird!

What did I do wrong?  There was absolutely no hint of this problem before, in fact, even when the pedal was having problems engaging, once it did, it worked normally!

Any help or insight would be great!!

Brian

[jonathan perez]

change the battery?

[trumpus]

No battery in - using One Spot adapter, which I've used with it before and not had any problems...

Brian

[taylorchuck15]

Have you checked to see if any of the components on the board could have come loose. You never know what one part can do if it's not on right.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

It's a long shot, but I had a Russina Big Muff, and the pinout on the switch was NOTHING like you would expect.

[trumpus]

I'll check all the components again....

As for the pinouts - I pout the wires back on exactly as they had come off the previous switch, so I don't think there's any way this could have gotten messed up.

Is there any way this has to do with grounding?  There is a grounding wire that gets screwed onto a post within the enclosure - I put it back, but may have out it on the wrong post -  a long shot, but still....

Brian

[trumpus]

Bump

Anyone have any ideas!?  I'm at a total loss here...

[scaesic]

As for the pinouts - I pout the wires back on exactly as they had come off the previous switch, so I don't think there's any way this could have gotten messed up.

you've missed the point being made. the pin out on the switch of the other guys russian ehx pedal was not a standard pin-out, therefore if you used a standard pinout switch, and put all the wiring in the same physical places, then you wont have the switch wired properly.

you should check the old switch for continuity with a dmm to see if it was actually broken or not.

[taylorchuck15]

Also, check to make sure they are the same kind of switch, because if the EH switches are different from a normal switch(hence the different wiring), then you might have to wire it how you would any other pedal.

[trumpus]

Since the pedal is not TB, wouldn't it not work if the switch was wired incorrectly?

I mean, wouldn't there be NO sound when the effect is bypassed?

Brian

[sfr]

If the pedal was not TB, it might be using a momentary switch rather than a latching one, driving an electronic switching setup, like a Boss/Ibanez type pedal.    Whether or not using the wrong switch in this instance would lead to the same issues you have, I don't know.   If it is a momentary switch that you need, then it also become important whether things are connected to normally open or normally closed contacts.

If the pedal was TB, I'd say just hook in and out directly to the board to make sure the circuit itself was working properly, but that becomes more of a hassle in this case.  (Since it sounds like it's not TB and switching is not independent of the circuit itself.)

Out of curiosity, how many wires where connected to the switch you pulled out of the unit?  Does the stock unit have an indicator LED?

[trumpus]

Thanks for the info.

There are 6 leads going to the switch.  The unit does have a stock LED - which still goes on when the effect is engaged, but instead of phase, I get ring mod!  Weird!

I'm still fairly new to DIY'ing and this might be a bit over my head!  I've e-mailed Howard DAvis, who replied with some info, but not much, as he is reluctant to work on the Russian pedals.  I may have to just ditch it!

(That is unless anyone here feels like a challenge and wants to help a brother out!)

Brian

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

It's also possible that some otehr damage was done while working on the unit.
I was wondering what would turn a phaser into a ring modulator - perhaps if the frequency cap in the LFO broke a leg, then it would oscillate at a much higher frequency (dependign on stray wiring capacitances) & this - for all I know - might give a ringmod like effect. Stranger things have happened.
Whatever you do, don't ditch the box if you can't fix it, someone will swap something for it I'm sure.

[trumpus]

....Like a Funk-a-Duck or a Frostwave ring mod?


Seriously though!  Anyone willing to take a look?

Brian