Repairs, Mods, Tweaks, etc |
Some often heard remarks on repairs of pedals. If you ran into (one of) these while trying to get your box fixed contact me.
- It cannot be repaired because the parts are obsolete
Many repair facilities resort to larger suppliers like Farnell, Digikey, RS or other component
firms for supply of parts. If these suppliers do not have the parts required the repair firm jumps
into the conclusion repais cannot be done. Although there are exceptions in many, many cases repair is possible and the required part
is available if one is willing to look a little further and spend a little more time on finding an alternative supplier that still
stocks (a few) of those parts. The only real exception where repair may be impossible is where the defective part was custom made for
the manufacturer of the effect.
- It cannot be repaired because it's SMD electronics
SMD electronics are those tiny components that are soldered on the copper side of the board instead of with leads going through the printed
circuit board.This is one argument that is often brought up and what I consider about the biggest loser argument available. If this argument
is brought up it doesn't say anything about repairability of the effect. It does say a lot about the technical capabilities of the person who says repair cannot be done.
SMD soldering and repair is very well possible when one has the required knowledge and skills. These come by studying and practice.
- It's digital
So? Why is it impossible to repair something that is digital. Just as in the above it tells you more about the technical capabilities of the person who says repair cannot
be done. There is no difference between repairing digital and analog electronics for someone who kept his knowledge up to date
- There is no schematic/circuit diagram available
A schematic tremendously helps speeding up a repair. However repair means replacing faulty components. Not having a schematic. The schematic is only a help. An experienced
technician should be able to identify the defective components by applying his own knowledge gained over the years and some cross referencing to other
schematics that closely relate to the current repair as well as cross referencing to application notes from the component manufacturers
Dirk_Hendrik, My pedal stopped. Can you fix it?
Usually that's no problem. Most pedals don't contain rocket technology and repair is fairly simple. I have
in many cases been amazed by the stories of people
going to their local music store to make an inquiry about having their broken pedal fixed and getting
the suggestion to "better buy something new". And, if the repair was accepted and returned, it was in many
cases using wrong (but heck, the functionality is the same) components, screwing that specific sonic capability.
Especially in the case of older/collectible
pedals repair will (almost) always gain more in having it working compared to the costs to have it fixed....
at least, by me, apparently. If the music store turns you down so easily that says
more about their technical capabilities as well of their knowledge of special stuff.
First of all keep in mind that I'm located in the Netherlands. As far is shipping is concerned for me shipping to any EU country costs the same. When shipping
to me, especially when from outside the European Union, can be expensive.
When you want me to fix your pedal please contact me through email and provide at minimum brand and type of the effect
as much information on the problem. E.g. Circumstances in which the pedal died. If the problem was due to stupidity (e.g. wrong adapter)
please say so. I won't laugh at you. All data provided beforehand makes it easier for me to judge of it's worth the
trouble of having it fixed. Also, if some repair attempt was done by someone else (or you suspect that to be the
case, let me know. For my own sanity that is, after seeing too much raped pedal guts. Correcting this is no
problem but fixing/repairing someone elses failure usually takes extra time.
Furthermore consider if the pedal is worth fixing anyway or that a new one is cheaper than having me fix the thing
plus the cost of shipping the effect to my location.
How long will it take?
Usually doing a repair will not take me any more than a few days to a week. This is manly finding the time to do the repair. Apart from that a few days
give me some flexibility to buy components in case I don't have them available. In some cases the repair requires rare components which I don't keep stock.
In those cases time taken depends on the speed of the supplier. Offcourse this will be discussed before going on with the repair.
How much will it cost?
First of all I work on a No Cure No Pay Basis. I strongly oppose to the idea of having someone pay and getting nothing (or less) for that in return.
However, in the rare case I'm not able to fix your favourite stomper and send it back to you I will charge the costs of shipping. I don't want to loose money
because I couldn't fix your box. On the supplied data I usually try to make a guesstimate of the costs before the pedal is sent to me. In the case that this was a wrong guess
I'll contact to discuss proper follow-up.
In general I'll charge some 30 Euro's for a fixed pedal. This fixing does, except from the repair
of the problem contain a full tune up. Especially
for older pedals this is quite worthwhile. Tune up means things (when required) like resoldering/cleaning connections,
replacing the battery clip, adding (the right) screws when missing, etc, etc. Cleaning up previous repair (attempts), fixing broken traces as welll as reenforcing traces on the verge of breaking.
Other than that, the repair is under warranty. If it might happen that I misss something along
the way or the defect
returns, contact me and I'll make sure it's fixed. No charge at all.
Too expensive? Fine but consider:
- The correct parts are used for the function they're in. This means that the repair brings your
effect back to the original state it should be in. Not somewhere in that direction.
- You're not charged with some "startup" fee without having anything done
- You won't be left alone with a further demolished unit with a "sorry I screwed up" tag.
- You won't get a new problem back which was induced by the repair
- You won't get a "It's magic! It was broken and all I did was look and it worked again!" explanation when the problem happens to be intermittent
- You will get an inquiry on the other parts in your setup when I fail to find the problem as described.
- If appliccable, you will get full analysis details on how the problem came into existence.
- You will not find anyone cheaper who can do the above without being into charity. Naturally
someone can be into this stuff from a hobby perspective as well and there's nothing wrong with
that. However many of the repairs I get have been repaired before and still have the the initial
problem reappearing.
Still interested?
Mods
Can you modify my pedal for me?
Sure. What exactly do you want and I'll tell you if I can do it. Don't ask me to do Keeley, Analogman or whoever mods. In
the rare case that I would know what they did I'd suggest you send em to these guys to let them do their mods. That's their pool and therefore their fish to catch. In other cases like you picked up a modification and
would like to have it done to your pedal I don't have a problem doing that for you. Similar if you have certain tonal wishes. Tell them to me and we'll start working on it.
Last but not least all I modify is 100% reversible electronically and cosmetically. This means that if you decide, for whatever reason, to have your pedal built back to original it will be so. No damage, no holes.... unless you specifically ask for it (And I reserve the right to decline).
Some standard modifications I will do (but not limited to, ASK!):
- True Bypassing. Read my boutique section vision on TB as well but if you want to have it done, no problem. I'll TB any pedal of any brand. For details please contact me as every pedal is different and therefore gets a different approach. We'll discuss in detail.
- Ibanez TubeKing noise and tighten modification. Brings the noise levels in an Ibanez TK999 down (without the help of the European version with built in noise suppressor) and tightens up the sound to be less muddy.
- Boss SD1 switch leakage modification. The Boss SD1 seems to have a small design flaw that can cause distorted signal to "leak" into the clean signal when the pedal is bypassed. The modification decreases the level of leakage to approx. -30dB. Simple adjustment, great improvement!
- All that TS conversion stuff. Other opamps, other diodes, asymmetrical clipping, more bass, less bass, different resistors, higher input impedance. You name it and I'll do it. Applies to the TS 808,5,7,9,10, STL, ST-9 and MSL
- Ibanez Metal Screamer (MSL) to TS conversion. The Metal Screamer is the disguised Tubescreamer of the master (L) series. Something that even the experts seem to miss all the time when stating there wasn't a TS in the masters. However, there are slight
differences between a MSL and a TS10. I'll convert it to any TS version spec and will apply any or multiple of the different TS modifications on it if required.
- Ibanez Compressor Bass modification. The CP-9, but the CP10 and CPL, lack a good bass response. The modification changes this dramatically.
- Ibanez 60's fuzz (cheapass fuzz) conversion into a OD850/OD9 circuit. (Really cool!)
-Ibanez Trashmetal TM-5 to Proco Rat/FatCat FC10 conversion. Finally a good sound out of that boring TM-5
- Ibanez Sonic Distortion leakthrough mod. Some SD-9's tend to leak the distorted signal to the output when bypassed. Especially when playing clean parts at a higher level this can be really annoying.
- All those High Cut mods on digital delays in order to make them more "analog" sounding
- Boss DD-5 Dry Kill switch. Makes the "reverse mode" of the thing far more interesting to play with
Custom Builds
Dirk_Hendrik, Can you build me a pedal?
Sure again, but reconsider as this can be expensive business. What do you want me to do? Build something new from nothing? Build you an existing design which you found online?, Build a copy of an existing pedal of which the
schematic can be found online? Build a clone of a certain pedal of which no info is available? All can be done but in many cases the original will be cheaper than the clone. While making a clone may be cost effective from a component point of view it can take many hours to design and build. However, in the case you provide me
a pedal to be cloned (as in I borrow that pedal for a few weeks) and I'm interested in building that clone I may decide to go cheap and provide you that clone. I will not provide you with the design data on that clone (schematics, PCB layout's etc.). Also, I reserve the right to bail out at any time if
the amount of work or whatever else get too much. Naturally, I won't charge you with anything either.
Please do not ask me to build clones of currently available "boohteek" pedals. Most of them don't interest me anyway, let alone to spend any engineering time on em. If you really want a clone of that pedal, there's plenty of wanna-booteekers who will do that job for you. Otherwise, buy the real thing and enjoy the real mojo.
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