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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

Fixed my little Vox amp

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thermionicthermionic Frets: 8909
edited June 2023 in Making & Modding
My Vox Mini 3 kept cutting out - it has a “soft” (momentary) power switch and it kept turning off at the slightest touch. The barrel jack from the AC adapter wasn’t being held firmly in the socket and losing contact intermittently, every time this happened it powered down and I had to turn it back on. Nudging the amp back (the switch is not that accessible) cut the power connection again…

At first I tried bending the spring contact back up so that it could hold the jack securely, but the socket is shrouded in a plastic shell and it was difficult to get anything under the contact to bend it. Replace the jack then - it’s the same part as many pedals have. My soldering is ok but desoldering is a different matter! I released two contacts but the third snapped off and I had real trouble removing the solder from that one. A solder sucker can only do so much and I used loads of solder wick but just couldn’t get the last of it off. In the end I resorted to the finest engraving bit I could find and Dremeled it out.

https://i.imgur.com/zryj8mJ.jpg

Luckily, this didn’t damage the tiny pcb and I successfully soldered a replacement socket in place. Note the little port in the baffle, an attempt to boost the bass response of the tiny cab.

https://i.imgur.com/1qi8pXC.jpg

All working again, wiggling the jack doesn’t cut out the power. It’s a nice little living room amp.

https://i.imgur.com/hCTY8ST.jpg
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Comments

  • ICBMICBM Frets: 69426
    Well done! These power sockets are one of the most common causes of trouble, either because they break or because they crack their solder joints. They're only just good enough to do the job, really.

    If you can't desolder all the pins of a component like this at the same time, it's best to cut the part to pieces so only the pins are left, and then they can be got out cleanly by heating and pulling with pliers at the same time.

    Good little amp too.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • thermionicthermionic Frets: 8909
    Lead-free solder was a problem, even though flowing some leaded solder over it helped a bit. Two out of the three contacts came out easily but I just couldn’t suck up enough around the last one to be able to pull it out. Very frustrating.

    I recently fixed a Polytune in the same way where the plastic shroud had cracked after the owner fell down the stairs (no, really, he was late for college and tripped with a gigbag on his back - luckily I only had to fix a pedal and not a snapped headstock). I bought five of the sockets this time, just in case!
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  • nacnudnainacnudnai Frets: 154
    Excellent job - desoldering is the devil's work, I hate it!
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