Boss ME-8 from yardsale...

[beans_amps]

I picked up a Boss ME-8 at a yardsale this weekend.  Just the base unit, no power supply, expression pedal or anything else.

Question one:

I am going to make up a power supply for this thing.  The unit is labeled 14VAC/800mA.  Does anyone have any idea what the input voltage range might be, or if you could feed it with 15VDC and be ok.  i.e. is there an internal transformer, or just a full wave power supply?

Question two:

Is the external footswitch anything special or just a NO momentary?

Question three:

I assume that the expression pedal is just a treadle mounted pot.  Anyone have a guess about the value.  I have a volume pedal from an old Wurlitzer I can adapt for this purpose.

5$ brought this thing home and I am trying to stay cheap. 

Sean

[Mark Hammer]

When a unit indicates the need for an AC power input, that means that all regulation is on board.  If you pop the bottom off (or however you get to look inside), you should be able to see the power regulation section, and the regulator chips shold be identifiable.  The part number tells you the regulated voltage.  The rectified voltage being fed to the regulator will likely be in the vicinity of 20vdc once a 14vac input gets fed to the internal diodes.  Chances are pretty darn good that it isn't being regulated at anything more than +/-15v (though you'd need to confirm this by identifying the regulator chips or with a factory schem), so as long as the input voltage is at least 12.6vac, you should be okay...in theory.  If you can score a 12.6vac/800-1000ma transformer, you should be in the ballpark, I would think, though obviously 14vac would get you "better seats" in that same ballpark.

[beans_amps]

Turns out the unit had been dropped and landed on the power jack.  Board was cracked with a broken PC trace.  The first thing the incoming voltage runs through is a set of RF inductor cap filters then a full wave bridge.  No LM78XX or LM79XX regulators in sight.  It seems to be a single sided supply, but have not confirmed that yet.

Sean