experience pedal woes

[pinkjimiphoton]

this thing officially sucks ass.
my god. what a pain in the d*ck.

so i picked one of these up on evilbay, some poor soul had broken it good. i had to replace all the pots and the octave switch, and discovered then that
there was NO WAY to get this bitch back in the casing assembled.

to save someone future torment, you need to solder suck ALL the solder from ALL the pots and carefully make sure your holes and pads and traces are intact...

cuz prescription electronics (way to go, boys, facepalm here is epic) put traces on both sides of the board to pretty much everything. it's beautiful. when it works.
and it is a bitch to fix.

most of the pads were already damaged, and i had carefully drawn out each connection ahead of time before attempting the repair... jumpered bad traces point to point.

worked on the bench PERFECT.

so i unsoldered the damn pots and mounted them to the case.... you have to actually mount the pcb on the pins of the pots, then solder blind. and hope you get a good connection, all the way thru. not great idea, that.

put it together, and it works. i can hear the fuzz. the knobs work. no freaking volume. so i had to take it apart AGAIN to diagnose what the hell happened.

so it sits on my bench, again, broken. i think i broke the fuzz switch trying to monkey it back into the case.

damn, this is the worst design for repair i think i've ever seen.

[armdnrdy]

Hey Jimi,

All you need is the proper Prescription Electronics assembly tool: 

[pinkjimiphoton]

whoever thought up this design needs a punch in the d*ck!!

i got it working... again... sorta... if i push the pcb JUST RIGHT...  but the casing is "live". beginning to suspect the jacks may be bad, too. it's BEAR to get all the pots free to get it in and out.


grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Kipper4]

Keep going Jimi. Work through the static. If it won't work when your done buddy make a fuzz with the bits after you throw it at the wall.
Just kidding.
You'll figure it out.

[Jdansti]

Would it help to over drill the pot holes a little to give yourself some slack?

[R.G.]

I would be tempted to fix the enclosure. Spray it with several coats of epoxy paint to make it nonconductive, then scrape the epoxy away (or just have thought first and masked) the one place which is to be left metal to ground the case.

[pinkjimiphoton]

RG, it looks like that's what they did exactly. poor design, as it appears to ground the whole dang thing via connection of the threaded part of the fuzz footswith to the case.

i found if i jam a wedge in between the edge of the circuit board and the case, i can get it to work perfectly. i can even literally drop it or throw it on the ground and it still works.
not the most elegant fix tho!!

so it's telling me it's got bad solder on the board somewhere in the audio path itself. as i can "hear" it even when it's crapped out. first thing i think of is jacks.
i have another gig today (god, that's gonna be #4 of 5 in a row) after which i'll try the GEO approved "suck and resolder" trick and hope for the best.

the pcb is getting tired from being subjected to so much.... and was already damaged when i got it, so i'm handling it with kid gloves.

that said..... if i DO have to take it apart again, i am converting the fuzz to germanium.

2n3904's make a nice fuzz, but the clean  up effect sucks. i judge everything by the way my fuzzface reacts. i even revisited a couple of my "cobbles" <i'd be a fool to call 'em designs>
and converted 'em from SI to ge. hands down, no comparison.

for fuzz, it has GOT to be germanium. period.

for anything else, silicon is fine.... at least to my ear.


thanks for the feedback and support guys.... this one's been a long time coming, and i think the next nut to crack will be the maestro rhyhm n sound.

[R.G.]

I didn't say it was good - just maybe.   

You can also paste clear mylar transparency film all over the inside of the box to insulate it. Or make a fold-up box to go around the PCB. or...

[Strategy]

A friend of mine and Experience devotee has had her pedal repaired many times. Constant problems with the physical construction and all 3 switches have failed at various points.

Knowing I'd have trouble finding the funds to buy one, I built one from an ancient GreenFuz layout that I found through the Wayback Machine. Strangely, one of the hardest pedal projects I ever undertook. But I use it all the time!

Strategy

[pinkjimiphoton]

all i know is this thing could be awesome, if they weren't put together so shitty. god. i mean GOD.

i am not a fan of pcb mounted footswitches OR pots, but to put them together seems to be asking for hassle.