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Topic: Microphonic Boss Tone |
Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 12 Oct 2004 5:29 am |
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Well, I got my BossTone working again and now I'm ready to tackle another problem: it's microphonic, which is nothing new.
How do you troubleshoot something like this? Hook it up and tap the components? Or are all BossTones microphonic?
Thanks.
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Eric West
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 12 Oct 2004 9:43 pm
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Same thing with my RV3. Somebody said that there might be a wire touching something, but I never got into it.
I know better...
EJL
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Paul Osbty
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 13 Oct 2004 2:18 am
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It may be an internal SIGNAL wire. Small gauge (and sometimes cheap) signal coax (just like your regular guitar cable) is sometime used to patch from one place to another. Trace from the input jack and see if there is any cable used.
Replace it or wrap it in cloth or something similar to keep it from rattling around. |
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Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 26 Oct 2004 5:27 am
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Well, I made sure that nothing was touching anything else. But it's still microphonic. A couple of the capacitors seem to be more sensitive (microphonically) than anything else. Replace them?
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Paul Osbty
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 26 Oct 2004 6:05 pm
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| I guess you could replce them. I might try resoldering a lot of things first. Just heat up the solder joints and put on a small bit of fresh solder to "sweat out" the joints. I would guess those caps are cheap, anyway. |
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Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 27 Oct 2004 3:06 pm
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I didn't see any coax in there. I heated up all the solder joints, but it's still microphonic.
Is replacing capacitors a common fix for a microphonic circuit?
I guess I should try to trace the signal path and see which component in the sequence seems to be the first to exhibit microphonic symptoms. The trouble is, the whole dang thing is pretty touchy, microphonically. It's tough to figure out if one component is more microphonic than another.
Thanks for all the help so far, guys.
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Paul Osbty
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2004 2:12 am
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| Is this made by Voodoo Labs? |
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Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2004 5:10 am
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It's a Jordan.
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Paul Osbty
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 29 Oct 2004 1:07 am
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So this is a somewhat vintage unit? I would suspect there aren't many chips/IC's in it's construction, then.
Look for the output amplifier in any case. It may be a small chip or transistor(s). Tap on those.
Remove everything from the chassis and tap on suspect devices, too. I'll assume you've made sure everything is screwed together tighly when in the case.
I would just change those caps. They are cheap. Keep the old ones in good condition, though. Just in case. |
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Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 17 Nov 2004 9:42 am
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Well, I narrowed it down to a microphonic capacitor. I replaced it. Now the unit doesn't work (bypass still works). I'm wondering if maybe I used too much heat and fried one of the transistors (or the capacitor?).
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Alan Kirk
From:
Scotia, CA, USA
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Posted 17 Nov 2004 11:32 am
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Got it working. Replaced two capacitors.
Now I'd like to modify the fuzz pot to be less sensitive. I like to use this device with the smallest amount of fuzz possible, but the pot is so touchy that it's hard to set it where I want it.
What do you think: put a resistor in series with the 100K pot? Would that decrease the pot's sensitivity?[This message was edited by Alan Kirk on 17 November 2004 at 11:36 AM.] |
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