Boss CE-2 Problems

[zacharybroyles]

Ok, so I got a CE-2 and was going to do some of the indyguitarist mods on it for a friend of mine. Most importantly the 1uf Cap upgrades. When i got it the Led worked, when i got it home it did not....So, Swapped the LED out and now when the pedals on the LED is on, but REALLY faint and it gets pulsates to the speed of the rate getting brighter and softer. I followed the trace and added a higher resistor to what I thought would boost the LED brightness but it didnt work. I have no idea what happened, the wires from the board to the led board are connected and solder looks fine....ahhhh frustrating.

That was my first problem, now, I swapped all the 1uf caps and the pedal distorts my signal seems like, all my solders looked fine. I know the pedal have a volume boost, but is it enough to boost the signal to distort through my Orange Crush 15 watt practice amp using my 72 Tele customs humbucker? I need help I would have to pay this guy for me screwing up his pedal. I'm going to put it back to stock since I only changed a couple parts and see how it sounds. Any help would be great.

[Mike Burgundy]

-what's the supply voltage? Is the pedal getting 9VDC? Are the IC's getting 9VDC and biased right? What voltage is the LED getting? A higher value resistor will (Ohms law!) let through less current and therefor make the LED LESS bright. A lower value resistor brightens it up. If the LED is suddenly not so bright, it is a very slim chance the limiting reistor suddenly changed value, so if you somehow alter the situation so ypu're back to the original, the LED could get too much and fry. I'd stick to the 3k9 that's supposed to be in there for now, and figure out why the thing isn't getting enough power.
Is the loudness of your amp increased dramatically when it distorts with this pedal? If not, it's NOT the amp input.
My guess is the distortion and the LED's dullness are caused by the same problem: something's wrong with the powersupply/filtering or clamping or loading it too much. This is where the DMM comes in....

[sodapop]

also, Isn't ce-2 run on ACA 12V instead of PSA 9V?  I know my CE-2B (bass) is that way and if I plug my CE-2B into PSA power supply my led is almost no-existent and I think the last time I did it the sound may have distorted a little too.  Try a ACA adapter or I know there is a thread around here to convert older ACA pedals to PSA.