man, tc electronics ....nova delay crapped out AGAIN.

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey guys,
i hear for years how great tc stuff is, but i dunno.

2 years ago, i won a pair of pedals on facebook... a nova delay, and a polytune....both signed by steve morse.

the polytune is unusable... it puts out SO much RFI in tuner mode that your amp sounds like a giant kozmic earwig is chewing on your digital brain....and is "off" in term of tuning from every other tuner i own. other than that, it's amazing...but ya need an a/b box to be able to use the dang thing, and even then it radiates noise to your amp.

not so good.. really blows, cuz it would be a perfect piece of kit other than that, especially for anything with a floyd or kahler or similar locking trem.

the nova delay sounds great...when it works.
it has some niggles....like, if the delay time pot isn't centered, it counts down to 1 ms and locks up....or counts up to 2290 ms if off center the other way. not entirely unusable, but it's kind of a pain in the butt to have to reach down and center the pot all the time if it gets brushed or knocked turning other stuff on.

anyways, a couple months after i got it, it died on me one night on stage...just one stupid green light on, and no signal passing thru it. i was in the middle of the second solo on comfortably numb, and had to scramble to finish the song, re-patching stuff cuz the dang delay wouldn't pass any signal. there's no true bypass with delay spillovers, i guess.

so i contacted TC (when i met steve morse a year later, he said i was supposed to meet him and be presented with the pedals...another thing that never happened. like the SPT video i would have made if the stuff was better quality than the crap i build...did i just say that out loud?) and had to send it back to them in their canadian division... a couple weeks went by, and the delay was sent back again...same one. they said they "cleaned and re-seated the memory" and that was it. it worked, same as before. for about 18 months.

last nite, the furshlurginer thing crapped out again. dead. tried to reboot, tried a better power supply (the tc one it shipped with is CRAP) and no dice. when ya power up, ya get some alien display where most of the red led's light up, but then go out, leaving one stupid green light just staring at you.

it's making me like my rebote more and more. seriously. in a lot of ways, it's more useful than the tc one.

anyways, pretty sure they aren't gonna honor the warranty again, as it's going on about 2 years since they "fixed" it...during that time, it has lived on my pedalboard, which is cushioned and covered, so i don't think it has anything to do with my handling of it...as all my other "live" pedals on the same board are all fine.

i AM gonna try and contact them thru their tech support, and expect to get nowhere..they didn't even want to hear about the polytune issue, which makes me assume they were aware of the issue and preferred not to involve themselves with it...

but i'm thinking... should i just open the dang thing up myself, and see if stuff is socketed? and if so, just do it myself?

anybody ever open up any TC stuff? anything i should watch out for?

advice appreciated.

thanks bros..

[bancika]

I wouldn't expect any sockets, it's hard-core SMD computer-like stuff

[pinkjimiphoton]

thanks bro. that's what i figured. how the hell do you "clean and reseat" the memory then?

this is the message i sent them... i doubt they'll stand up for this, but we'll see:

"hi guys,
hope all is good..
about 2 years ago, i won a giveaway here on facebook for a nova delay and polytune, both signed by steve morse from the dregs/purple.
on stage one night shortly after, the nova delay crapped out, and i contacted you guys, sent it back, and was told you "cleaned and re-seated the memory"... and sent it back.
wellp, long story short, it crapped out again, exactly the same symptoms. one green light comes on on the modulation button, and that's it. trying to re-boot it, all the lights seem to flash on for a split second, then the green light comes on. sometimes it blinks, sometimes it just sits there.
is it still under warranty, being 2 years out?
will it void the warranty if i open it and attempt to re-seat the memory?
i've got gigs this week, this is really kind of putting me in a bind.
please advise...looking forward to your response.
thanks,
jimi photon pocius
860 *** ****"

[tiges_ tendres]

TC is a Danish company, do you think the meant to say: "reset the memory"?

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey bro,
i just said screw it, the warranty period is only one year, and opened the puppy up. sure enough, in the lower right corner of the bottom PCB, is a memory chip.
i pried it up carefully with a screwdriver, and  re-seated it.

SUCCESS!!! IT LIVES AGAIN!!

here's a pic:



the thing just above the footswitch on the bottom right is the memory.
judging by how many of these i've seen on ebay that "just stopped working" and based on my own experience,
i bet this is a fairly common problem...with an easy fix.

take off the two side panels with an allen wrench..then remove the torx screws that hold the pedal shell together. one they broke when they fixed it last time, apparently.
just watch out for the torx screws holding the sides on.. i used vice grips to loosen them, and then an allen key to remove them.

pull the knobs, and unscrew the nuts on the pots, then carefully pry the lid up. it IS all SMT inside, but the memory isn't.
you'd think it was secured somehow, but it isn't...probably so it can be replaced easily i guess.

anyways...i hope this info comes in useful.. i may buy another on ebay that "died" and see if this is the problem...cuz if it is, man, that would be COOL!!

[ubersam]

This is cool. Gotta try this. Mine is doing the same scrolling up/down when the delay knob is off center and TC wants to charge $130.00 to look at and fix.

[pinkjimiphoton]

there IS no fix for that...it's part of the damned design, according to them, cuz that was what i contacted them about when i got the thing back the FIRST time.
they told me you can turn it to whatever time ya want...but then you have to enter it as a preset, and return it to center cuz it will either count up or down!!!

you HAVE to enter the delay time with the tap switch in reality. IMHO, TC dropped the ball, and is milking past successes and putting out some real junk. nice sounding junk, when it works.. but nothing like the QUALITY so many pros used to rely on.

i mean... a delay time knob that is on acid like that? how the heck is that useful?

just to add insult to injury, i posted the "fix" on their facebook page. lifes a beach....

[joegagan]

everyone who came to the shop with TC junk on their board sounded like... junk. in bypass. i would never recommend these.

[pinkjimiphoton]

hi joe,
the delay isn't too bad tonally...and there's a lot you can do with it...but the other tc stuff i've tried didn't do ANYTHING for me.
this is cool mainly...and only...because steve morse signed it.

i swear,  my little cheap-o rebote sounds almost as good...other than not doing 2290 ms of delay

i don't think the modern, mass-produced tc stuff is as good as the original...i mean, it's all made in indonesia or something now.

[twabelljr]

i was in the middle of the second solo on comfortably numb, and had to scramble to finish the song, re-patching stuff cuz the dang delay wouldn't pass any signal.

Noooooooo! Glad you got it sorted out.

[pinkjimiphoton]

SCREW paying them 130 bux to "fix" something that should be way more bulletproof, and i hope future guys with this problem find this thread!!

[cpm]

i have two nova delay on my board, and i have no complains abut the bypassed sound... i havent got any hard problems with them neither

The time pot, i think its a compromise, the aim is to fine-tune the time setting, and IMHO its a good method for that. A single pot soesnt have the precision, a rotary encoder would be tiring to keep it spinning to get to the desired time, same for buttons...
Of my two units, one of them has the delay pot stiffer than the other, i dont know if it came that way from the factory, since the "softer" one wasnt bought new, so it may have been abused by previous owner...

[pinkjimiphoton]

well, when it WORKS, it's a great pedal.

what i've noticed with it tho is that if it starts glitching (which really seems to be dependant on the abuses of being on the road and traveling...which beats on stuff more than home use exponentially, i'm out 3-5 nites on average a week, so it moves around ALOT) it keeps getting weirder and worse..

simply re-seating the memory made the "time" knob work correctly  again, it was NOT working quite right before that.

this whole pedal is dependant on the memory chip. if it gets knocked around (even if in a padded pedal board like mine is in) eventually it WILL crap out...i've met a lot of local guys at GC with the same issue i had with theirs, and they are all guys like me out workin'....

try to re-seat the chip. and you should be good to go. other than that, it's pretty bulletproof.

that said, john from TC was back in touch with me in less than 10 hours, but by then i'd fixed it...and he was very gracious about it, which is what i've found from the canadian branch of TC...great guys.

[jackostrato]

thanks for this. i'm going to give it a shot on my nova repeater. btw, it just "stopped working" last week. found out about the $130 and sent them this note:

"i have owned a number of tc pedals over the years. i now keep an old dist/booster and newer nd1 on 1 of my boards and had the nova repeater on another. the dist/booster has never failed in the 20-odd years i've had it. the nd-1 failed about 6 months after i bought it, was replaced under warrantee and no problems since. the repeater is now (i think) about 2 years old and out of warrantee. tc wants $130 + 1 way shipping ($10?) to repair/replace. i like the unit but i can buy a new one for about $150 on sale. that said, i've been googling around on users' groups and have found that many users are having the same experiences and are voicing complaints about the poor reliability of your newer lines of pedals. in fact, mine simply stopped when i set up for a gig...no abuse, no trauma, nothing spilled on it, and i use the original p.s. i had to tear apart my entire board to find out why no signal passed through. this also resulted in my starting late and an unhappy employer. fyi, i've been a full time professional musician for 25 years... an equipment failure is a reflection on me and can (and has) result in lost work. tc was once known for making top quality, amazing sounding, "bulletproof" units. apparently that's no longer the case. to be honest, to spend $140 (basically the dealer cost for a new unit and a pretty high repair charge, in my opinion) for a replacement seems an unwise expense considering tc's current trend of poor reliability and the fact that there are so many great units on the market that would cost not much more than your standard repair cost. i'm sorry to send such a negative note but i hope you'll hear similar complaints from enough tc users that you'll try to achieve your former level of quality. i've always liked your products."

no reply.

p.s.-i'll be taking that $140 and putting it towards the purchase of a new strymon timeline.

p.p.s- the nova DELAY (a dif box than the one that broke last week) just started crapping out yesterday. it crackles like crazy when i step on either switch. all connections are tight so i'll open that up too and see what i can find.

i'll let you guys know how it goes.

p.p.p.s.- everyone of us should continue writing them and stop buying their stuff untill they get it together. the nova stuff sounds nice but it's obviously built like crap.

[jackostrato]

......

okay. here it is.

1]if the memory chip is the little square-ish guy on the bottom right, i can't pry it up. any suggestions?

2] i found this little component rattling around inside. any idea where it goes? it kinda lines up with the gold contact points on the right of the top circuit board but i have no idea how to mount or attach it to anything.

thanks

[pinkjimiphoton]

that's your problem, all right...that's the voltage regulator for the pedal. we gotta find someone else who has that particular model so we can get a gut shot, but odds are that it needs to be replaced right where you think it does, particularly if near the power supply jack. that is just shoddy f'n sh*t if you ask me!! damn!

the memory in your unit is soldered in, so it shouldn't be the problem.

but that regulator IS the problem.  you should send them wankers this picture, or better yet, call them and bitch AFTER you send them the pictures!! there is ZERO excuse for that.

their tech support blows too, when i fixed mine yesterday, i discovered they had snapped off one of the screws in the chassis even!

you wanna talk to this guy: John Setej  at tc group america... they're in canada. i'm sorry, but i don't seem to have a contact number for them anymore. but that's the guy you wanna talk to!!!

here's the reply from them:

    Dear Jimi,

    Thank you for contacting TC Electronic Support.

    Sorry to hear about the issue you were having with your Nova Delay. I'm glad to hear you managed to fix the issue.

    If you should have any additional questions or issues with the Nova delay, please feel free to update this incident and I will be happy to assist you further.

    Best Regards,
    John
    User Support-Product Specialist
    TC Group Americas

[jackostrato]

hhhmmm. thanks, really is a shame...they used to be one of THE premier efx companies. i'm sure they're raking in money with these new pedals (i'd bet the cheap little guys are selling big) but it's obvious that the word is spreading.

you don't have an email for john, do you?

[pinkjimiphoton]

sure do. support@tcelectronic.com

FWIW, you should be able to figure out how to reconnect that thing...i would get a new 7805, and see where the b+ goes to from the power jack...that will go to the input of the 7805, and find where the 5v supply goes to...that would be the output of it. it's a 50/50 crap shoot as to orientation.. but i'm not knowledgeable enough to tell which way to mount it.
i would start a new thread, ask for a gut shot.

odds are, if you replace the regulator, you'll be back in business in seconds.

[stephanovitch]

......

okay. here it is.

1]if the memory chip is the little square-ish guy on the bottom right, i can't pry it up. any suggestions?

2] i found this little component rattling around inside. any idea where it goes? it kinda lines up with the gold contact points on the right of the top circuit board but i have no idea how to mount or attach it to anything.

thanks

Regulator was solder next to copper hole between oranges capacitors and freescale square processor.
White layout show it on second pic.

[R O Tiree]

They are using the copper on the PCB to act as a poor-man's heatsink (actually, commonly used as a heatsink, but cheap).  Is there a nut and bolt that came out of that hole?  Or a screw through that hole into the chassis?  If not, find one.  Lay the 7805 down so the hole in the tag at the top matches the hole in the PCB.  Solder the legs onto the pads.  Use the nut and bolt (screw?) to tighten the tag onto firm contact with the copper ring on the PCB.

Should be OK, now... unless there's something else wrong?

Question... the pads that this will solder onto... Is there any solder on them at all at the moment?  If not, then this was completely missed during assembly.  I'd take photos of that before you fix it and send them to this guy at TC that jimi mentioned.