Rescue project: Maneco Looper Plus

[Strategy]

Long time no post, here's an odd one for you...

I used to fiend over the Maneco Looper info online in the early 2000s...until the reports of widespread failures started turning up along with reports the seller, in South America, couldnt keep up. Last week I sprang for a "dead" unit for $75. A simple power jack replacement resolved a lot, resulting in some dreamy, transcendent looping, but other maintenance and mods are needed.

Giving credit where its due this pedal is genius. Its a devoted clone of the og EHX 16sec delay with modern memory and many bonus features like resonant filter. But...its construction is horrible, even worse than my own diy builds 

I'll need to deoxit almost all the pots. But the biggest issue is the footswitches. They are plastic widgets that squoosh onto tact switches on the pcb itself, which has no standoff architecture to support this. Absolutely unsustainable, see pics.

I have little experience with momentary switches, but is there any reason why i couldnt mount modern momentary switches on the panel, desolder the tact switches, then run wires down to the switch pads? Anyone done any surgery like this?



If you ever see a cheap one, grab it and rehab. Its worth tge rescue mission IMO. Grateful for any advice.

[Mark Hammer]

I'll need to deoxit almost all the pots. But the biggest issue is the footswitches. They are plastic widgets that squoosh onto tact switches on the pcb itself, which has no standoff architecture to support this. Absolutely unsustainable, see pics.

I have little experience with momentary switches, but is there any reason why i couldnt mount modern momentary switches on the panel, desolder the tact switches, then run wires down to the switch pads? Anyone done any surgery like this?



If you ever see a cheap one, grab it and rehab. Its worth tge rescue mission IMO. Grateful for any advice.

Technically, I imagine there is nothing apart from space or cost considerations that prevents one momentary SPST from replacing another one.  I can't tell from the single pic whether there is enough clearance to install any of the more common momentary stompswitches.  There might be; I just can't be absolutely sure.  What does seem quite possible is installing mini phonejacks on the side and running those out to a remote momentary footswitch of your choice in parallel with the onboard tact switch.  Tacking on some leads from the board to those jacks may be less risky than attempting to unsolder and remove the tact switches.

[Strategy]

Mark, thanks for your advice here. In fact there's a LOT of clearance, an inch or so. In fact, the bottoms of these pushbuttons barely touch the tact switch (or physically push the pcb away from them when you press down!) resulting in inconsistent triggering. What I'm imagining right now is momentary SPST footswitches like this (http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/110-p-spst/), but then with the flying leads run in parallel, rather than replacing the internal tact switches completely, as you suggest.
If I can confirm my strong hunch about clearance, then the last real hurdle to this is the fact that the panel holes for those push buttons are probably a great deal wider in diameter than the hole I'd need for a standard spst footswitch, which means either jb welding, using a bunch of weird washers, or some other annoying kludge (that type of mechanical, enclosure fiddling is not my strong suit.)
- Strategy

[Mark Hammer]

There is nothing wrong with using external momentary switches for pedals, and loopers are a cardinal instance of how one would want stop/start switches to be situated in the "best" location, at the "right" height, etc., such that the pedal itself could be located somewhere more convenient on a pedalboard.

The critical question here is what sort of connection is normally made via the tact switches.  If it is a simple contact with ground, like we find in Boss pedals, then it's a simple conversion to an external switch, using a mono phone jack mounted on the chassis.  If the momentary contact is to something other than ground, then th jack type and wiring may be a little more complicated.

[Strategy]

Restoration complete. I got lots of help on FB messenger from the Maneco guy who seems to be producing new (better built) pedals again. Hopefully this could help someone in the future:
- Replaced unknown type/brand power input jack with standard, 2.1mm jack.
- Removed existing bad original footswitches, which operate by physically 'bumping' tact switches on the pcb. The tact switches were confirmed to be simple SPST's. Wired new SPST footswitches in parallel with the original pcb mounted tact switches, left on the PCB for ease/safety. Recommend footswitches with a short body for internal clearance.
Inserted a cut piece of plastic bubble-wrap-lined envelope (like those Amazon plastic shipping envelopes) between pcbs and case bottom panel to insulate pcb and minimize movement of pcbs which are not structurally supported well.
Opened and sprayed out knobs with deoxit to reduce audio and control noise

Rescued for use - the first full featured looper pedal I've really owned.