Danelctro pedal repairs

[bobsamps]

At Danelectro.com they say to send them proof of purchase for any pedal that is not discontinued. Years ago I got a Chicken Salad vibrato (DJ-15 discontinued) pedal that was intermittent. I am not experienced in smd device repairs. Is there anyone doing repairs on pedals like this? Or shall I hope to acquire the utensils( soldering iron,etc.) to do this repair one day?

[Enzo]

New pedals like those go for about $30, and working used ones for half that. A shop like mine charges $60 an hour for repair work. Even at an absolutely rock bottom half-hour minimum, any work I do costs as much as a new pedal. If someone shows me one with a wire off a jack, I'll solder it back, just as a courtesy. But otherwise, I won't usually even take in a repair that I can;t replace cheaper.



And I have to say, if your FX pedal is intermittant, I usually don;t think about SMD. I'd be looking at solder to the jacks and the controls, and any wiresw that trail off.

[Mick Bailey]

Depends what you mean by intermittent - is the pedal losing the effect but passing sound, or cutting out? If it's cutting out, look for cracks around the sockets, check the battery snap makes good contact and the leads are good. Is the bypass switch working reliably? I hook pedals up to an audio source, plug them into my bench amp and do the equivalent of an amp 'chopstick' test to find out where the failure is. Sometimes an SMD solder joint can crack and a little pressure to flex the board slightly can cause a fault to appear.

If the pedal loses effect check the solder connections to the bulb and check to see if it's getting its modulation voltage.

Like Enzo, I'm thinking mechanical rather than electronic failure.

[olddawg]

There are a lot of "true believers" in certain Danelectro pedals out there. Unfortunately they are not the most ruggedly designed and constructed devices. A lot of people rehouse them in a larger aluminum project box and replace all of the jacks and switches with a more sturdy and reliable type/brand. Also modify them to true bypass.

[bobsamps]

Well I tried it again and got nothing. I put it back in the box, and so it will sit.

[52 Bill]

If this was a non SMD made pedal, how would you approach fixing it?

Did you check all of the basic things like battery, battery connector, adapter, adapter connector, input jack, output jack, wires, etc.?

I recently fixed one where the pots had been stepped on and it cracked the pc board. Didn't matter if it was SMD or not. I would suggest that if you haven't already done so, you should test all of the things that are not surface mounted that can cause your problems first and then make your decision to shelve the project or not.