Just fixed my Ibanez TS-808 pedal.

[stan]

Nice fix Doc, must be good to have it back in action

[DrNomis_44]

Nice fix Doc, must be good to have it back in action

For sure, knowing that all your musical gear is working like it's supposed to, makes things a lot easier, and stress-free, plus it enables you to focus on making music, I'm sure you'd agree mate.


My TS-808 pedal is sounding good with both my LP Studio and my Gold Strat, and it also plays nicely with my new Boss RE20 pedal as well, I'm getting some pretty cool Blues sounds at the moment.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Recently I had been experiencing a weird issue with my TS-808 pedal, everything seemed to be okay when the TS-808 pedal was bypassed, but, when I engaged it I noticed that the output level was a bit low and would gradually get a bit louder, so I decided to have a look inside it to see if I could figure out what was going on, and it was while I was looking inside the pedal that I accidentally found the cause of the issue, I found a loose wire that had obviously broken away from the circuit board, the wire went to the middle solder lug on the output-level control pot, I examined the component side of the circuit board to see where the wire came from and found an empty hole next to some other wires, so I flipped the circuit board over, located the solder pad, used some solderwick to desolder the pad, a small piece of wire came away from the solder pad, next I stripped the end of the loose wire, tinned it and then soldered it to the circuit board, when I gave my TS-808 pedal a test out after putting it all back together I found that it was now working again as it was supposed to, with good output level, what's more, it no longer behaved like it did before, so I'm considering it fixed for the time being.

[Marcel]

Damn those random capacitive couplings.... such a nuisance...

[DrNomis_44]

Damn those random capacitive couplings.... such a nuisance...

Actually, the wire had broken off just inside the hole in the circuit board and was causing a high-resistance path for the output signal on the wiper of the output level pot, hence the reason why the output level gradually increased when the pedal was engaged, but since the wire was still in the hole, it looked perfectly normal to me, I only discovered it by accident when I somehow disturbed it enough so that it fell out of the hole in the circuit board.

This is a case where a happy accident saved me a lot of fault-finding time, and it turned out to be a relatively easy fix.


Note: If you have a look at the circuit diagram of the TS-808 that I posted, the wire that broke off the circuit board is represented by the line that goes from the wiper connection (the little arrow) of 100k Log level control, to the source of one of the footswitching Fets, when the TS-808 is bypassed, that Fet is turned off and the other Fet is turned on, allowing the signal from the input buffer to flow to the output buffer, hence the reason why the issue only occurred when the pedal was engaged.

The Signal from the wiper of the output level pot was getting to the output buffer, but, because of the high-resistance caused by the break in the wire, the output level was lower that it normally would have been.


Note 2: I almost forgot to mention that I used my 20Mhz Analog Dual Trace Oscilloscope to monitor the output level at the output jack on the side of the pedal, definitely a handy piece of test-equipment to have on hand.


My Dick Smith Electronics Q-1804 20Mhz Dual Trace Oscilloscope:




With the help of my dad, I ordered it from Dick Smith Electronics in 1998, making it about 20 years old by now, still seems to be going strong.

[Marcel]

You've got the newer version.. Mine is a '86 vintage 20MHz Kenwood from the same retail chain. It works but the gain and timebase controls are in dire need of replacement due to use and so are very touchy... Much more a 'just turn it on and then set and forget' device nowadays...

Been looking at a modern replacement via Ebay that will cost near half what I paid way back then for my old and tired Kenwood...

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_...p2045573.m1684

[DrNomis_44]

You've got the newer version.. Mine is a '86 vintage 20MHz Kenwood from the same retail chain. It works but the gain and timebase controls are in dire need of replacement due to use and so are very touchy... Much more a 'just turn it on and then set and forget' device nowadays...

Been looking at a modern replacement via Ebay that will cost near half what I paid way back then for my old and tired Kenwood...

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_...p2045573.m1684

My DSE Q-1804 cost around Au$700.00 when my dad and I bought it brand new, one thing I'll have to do one day is replace the trimpot (I'm guessing that's what it is) for the trace rotation cause it's getting increasingly hard to adjust.


Been seriously thinking of getting myself a good Digital Scope for a long time, I found that Jaycar Electronics stock a couple of good ones, a 20Mhz one and a 100Mhz one, the 100Mhz one is the more expensive of the two.

[Simon Barden]

That trimpot may just need a squirt of contact cleaner, rather than replacement. Worth trying that first.

[DrNomis_44]

That trimpot may just need a squirt of contact cleaner, rather than replacement. Worth trying that first.

It's not so much that, it's one of those miniature blue plastic PCB -mounted trimpots that has a white plastic centre where the adjustment screwdriver goes, basically over the years I've had the Scope the white plastic screwdriver adjustment centre for the trimpot got a bit worn so that the trimpot has gotten hard to adjust, but yes I could try giving it a spray with contact cleaner.

[Simon Barden]

Ah, I see. Well, if you can get to it - replace it!