Boss CE-1 problem (the circuit board)

[benjy]

Hello guys,
I have some question about my CE-1 I got not long time ago.
First the left LED seemed broken. I wanted to change it but it didn't work. The problem was not in the LED.
Then I noticed some strange things about the circuit board and I would like to ask you if this is normal or not. I found some places which looked like there must be some capacitor or another element but it was empty - only two holes. Or instead of the element it was just straight wire. I was wondering if someone before me has tried to make some mods or smth. like that.

I made a picture of the circuit board and marked some of the places.
Can someone help me? Is it like this on every CE-1? Did I payed more than 200 Euro for fake CE-1?

I forgot to say that the effect seem working although I can't compare.

Thanks and sorry for my English

[Mark Hammer]

Companies are always searching for ways to save money on production costs. So, when they find out that there are some parts that they don't really need, they don't redo the PCB (because that would cost money). They simply leave the parts out.

For example, the old Ampeg Scrambler included some extra diodes that they realized were unnecessary and added nothing to the tone or performance. So, the board has empty holes where they would have been.

As for pieces of wire, sometimes the easiest way to route a copper trace on a PCB is to "jump over" something with a piece of wire to link two things together. Sometimes you'll see this on a board or schematic as a "zero-ohm resistor".

The easiest way to tell if the board has been tampered with is by looking at the solder side. It should all have the same amount of tarnish on the solder joints.

[benjy]

Hey thanks,
I haven't been thinkin' that could be this but when
I looked at the solder side it seems that there has been something that is missing now.

The red arrows are showing places without anything, just wholes.

[Lee W]

I've had the LED issue happen to me on a Boss pedal before. I was running it via 9V power supply, and the LED was basically not working at all. Using a battery input it worked fine. I just rerouted the wires from the 9V in to where the battery input is, and the LED worked fine after that. Probably some little short in the board that I couldn't find anywhere after tons of probing, so that was the simplest solution done with just a couple little jumper wires.

[Mark Hammer]

Originally Posted by benjy

Hey thanks,
I haven't been thinkin' that could be this but when
I looked at the solder side it seems that there has been something that is missing now.

The red arrows are showing places without anything, just wholes.

The board looks pretty clean to me. Just because there is no component where the solder is does not mean the component was removed. If the soldering is done by machine, rather than human hands, this is exactly what you would expect to see. If a component had been removed by hand, you would see a very different texture to the solder on those points, and some buildup of flux around them.

[Enzo]

Benjy, keep this in mind - your unit used to work, right? It now has some problem. Nobody removed the missing parts while you wedre not looking. But even with the parts you see missing and the wire in place of a resistor, it used to work. That means that the missing parts and those wires are not the problem. if they were the problem it wouldn;t have worked before.

If your LED doesn;t work, and you have tried a new LED - and wired it with correct polarity - then ther will be a resistor in series with it to limit current. Find that resistor and see if it is open.

What is the left LED? It looks like it might be a peak light, rather than an on/off light.

[Claus H]

The Led right above the Normal/Effect switch is not an "Effect ON" Indicator but a peek level indicator! and should only light when you are driving the input at max signal level!

[Phostenix]

The Boss CE-1 service manual shows 2 versions of the schematic - C and D. The version is printed on the PCB on its underside (by the fuses). The D version of the circuit has some parts removed.

[benjy]

Thanks a lot guys!

Probably there's really nothing wrong. The LED is not an ON/OFF indicator and is normal if it's not working during playing. And I notice that it sucks the tone in a different way when used with different amps. Many people have this problem and it depend on the current chain.

Thanks again!

[Phostenix]

I did some more research into this & posted the results (including lots of pics)on the bossarea forum.

Bossarea Forum - The Two Versions of the CE-1

[Phostenix]

Originally Posted by benjy

Hello guys,
Or instead of the element it was just straight wire.

I only see 1 place where a component marked on the PCB is a wire. I see it on both versions of the PCB. Tracing it down, it turns out to be the connection from C26 to ground (C26 is in the de-emphasis circuit after the MN3002 BBD). I guess there was an option for the designer(s) to add a resistor to ground from that point & they chose not to.

[HTH]

I replaced the status led on my old MIJ SD-1 and had to change the current limiting resistor and the zener they'd put in line with the +9v supply to get more voltage to my new 9v led. I don't think the old Boss pedals used 9v leds, hence the zener AND resistor.

Trace your connection to +9v on the pedal and connect your led between that point and ground with something like a 22k resistor in line with +9v to start out with - should get you started.

[Phostenix]

The CE-1 runs off ac mains, Internally, it is +15v DC and -15v DC.