Problems with stomp switch in original Tone Bender

[studiostud]

Hey guys,

I'm came across a gem at an estate sale a little while back.  It's an original vintage Vox Tone Bender (the one in the gray iron box) that I took off the guys hands for $5.  So the problem is this... technically, the pedal works and has a really interesting and cool tone.  What doesn't work is the stomp switch, so basically the pedal is always on.  I disconnected the wires right at the stomp switch points and tried swapping it out with a 3PDT stomp switch and then wiring it accordingly but I haven't been able to get it to work with the new switch.  I ended up putting the old one back in and it works again but switch is still bad.  Does anyone know something about those old stomp switches that I don't that might explain why the new one didn't work?  Thanks in advance for any input.

Jeff

[petemoore]

  How many lugs on the old switch.
  the Tonebender circuit and bypass wiring with DPDT or 3PDT is available at GGG [IIRC the 3PDT is there, or can have wiring assignment on 2/3rds of the lugs like DpDT and add an LED.
  See if you can find a TB schematic with bypass wiring which uses the new switch.
  the input and output go through the new switch, could be only the output was actually switched using a 1PDT switch, outdated wiring...'tonesucker'

[12milluz]

This may sound dumb, but are the lugs oriented correctly? On my first build, I had them the wrong way. Couldn't figure out what was wrong for a long time. Threw me off

[studiostud]

I posted some pics on my server for you guys to check out.  It looks like the stomp switch is a DPDT.

[studiostud]

So instead of wiring a 3PDT, I tried with a new DPDT and still nothing.  The true bypass works fine, but nothing when I try and turn it on.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Maybe you have wired it so that part of the shielding is lifted when it is switched 'on'.
It looks kinda confusing in there!!

[ambulancevoice]

when you used the dpdt, did you wire it exactly the same way as the original was wired? or did you do it a different way?

[jakenold]

What I do with these things, is leave the wiring intact - that is, join the wires that are joined by the switch when the effect is on, and just replace the in and outs with the new switch - that is, if I cannot figure out in a fair amount of time how the darn thing works.

Did you try to trace it, relative to a schematic?

Jake

[studiostud]

What I do with these things, is leave the wiring intact - that is, join the wires that are joined by the switch when the effect is on, and just replace the in and outs with the new switch - that is, if I cannot figure out in a fair amount of time how the darn thing works.

Did you try to trace it, relative to a schematic?

Jake

that's a good idea, Jake.  maybe I can leave that switch wiring intact and run the input jack wire to a an spdt toggle or something and then have one side of the toggle going right to the output jack for the bypass and the other side go to where the input jack wire connects with the original switch... at least for now to see if I can better narrow down what's not working.  How does that method sound?  Is there anything I'm missing?  maybe with ground wires or something with the toggle?  Also, I have not traced it yet.  That will probably be my next step regardless if the toggle thing works or not.

when you used the dpdt, did you wire it exactly the same way as the original was wired? or did you do it a different way?

I did wire it exactly the same way.  Before disconnected the wires, I drew a diagram of the wiring and then matched that up with the standard DPDT wiring diagram.

It looks kinda confusing in there!!

You are absolutely right about that!  One thing that is confusing to me is you'll notice in some of the photos that there are grounding wires from three different sources (PCB, In Jack, and Vol Knob) all going to one point on the switch which is different than I've seen before.