Nobels ODR-1 no boost

[garethjrichards]

I'm new to this board and thought maybe someone here can help.

Background: I recently bought a Nobels ODR-1 [silver]. A friend of mine had one and I just loved the tone. Anyway, I can't exactly send it back to where I bought it as I live in South Africa and had to import it from the U.S.

The Sad Story: When I plugged it in all amp'd to get jamming with my new baby it just didn't sound the same as my friends. I A/B'd it with my friends one and found that on mine (when the gain [drive] was 0) the level (volume) knob had to be cranked full and I'd only get unity (same level out as in). On my friend's, however, he could get a sweet boost. I'm sure there is a fault with mine as I can't imagine Nobels making a pedal that doesn't do a boost. I've tried several times to contact Nobels but they don't seem to be answering their email or just don't care. Anyway, I thought maybe someone here could steer me in the right direction toward a fix. I can read schematics and have the ODR-1's schematics but I just suck at figuring out where to look and what to look for. Any help would be great. Thanks.

[zombiwoof]

It's possible that you got one of the early silver ones that had the pots reversed.  I think it was the gain and tone pots, but I'm not sure.  If you can get a schematic of the pedal, check the pots in your pedal.  If they are wrong, all you have to do is swap them.  I think that could explain the problem you are having.

Al

[garethjrichards]

@zombiwoof thanks I checked that out hoping it would be that easy but alas the pots seems to be right. I got a reply from Nobels (Kai Tachibana) he also mentioned the same thing. I measured their resistances and traced them to components on the main board... I believe it is revision 6 has R6 in big bold printed on the circuit. Any other ideas?

[zombiwoof]

Is your friend's pedal the earlier painted-case version?.  If so, maybe the circuit is tuned slightly differently.  If you turn the level up slightly from zero, do you get your boost then?.  Does it work OK when you use it as an overdrive (with the controls set higher)?.

Who is this "Nobels guy"?.  Is he affiliated with the company?.

Al

[garethjrichards]

My friends casing looks very similar to mine slightly different font on things like volume, spectrum, gain but otherwise looks the same. I think I'll have to ask my friend, very nicely, if I can open his up and see the differences but I do believe something is wrong with my pedal. Basically, If I put all the knobs full ball it overdrives very nicely but with no extra volume. My assumption would be that it would at least boost the signal even if only slightly but all I get is huge drive with the volume being pretty weak (no boost what so ever). The guy from Nobels is the engineer that designed it (I'm assuming since his name is on the circuit board). Took a while to get hold of him but I'm hoping he will help but hey that doesn't mean that I might not get answers here too. Anyone up for the challenge?

[garethjrichards]

Anyone?

*bump*

Maybe later today I'll post a picture of the circuit maybe someone sees something I don't