Aaargh help! What would you do?

DannyP · September 2023

I'm playing 6 sets over 3 nights at Goodwood Revival this weekend.

While practicing at home last night my Bright Onion passive switcher developed an intermittent fault. It's a pedal board controller thing with 5 loops and a tap tempo.

When turning off pedals, it sometimes reduces volume by around half. Repeated stamping brings the volume back. This happens on most of the switches. Whatever. I don't have time to get to the bottom of it or get it fixed.

I had a look on Amazon to see what I could get delivered ASAP and it seems that most stuff on the market is digital with banks. Not sure I have the time or headspace to learn and program one in time.

Passive switchers seem to be few and far between nowadays, and couldn't be sourced in time.

So stick all the pedals in series and hope for the best? Put up with the slim risk of a mystery pedal going caput on stage?

Boss CS3 is first in the chain, with no fuzz on the board, so I guess that's my buffer.

stickyfiddle · September 2023

Contact cleaner?

Otherwise I'd be going in series and tap dancing, which is what I already do anyway.

fretmeister · September 2023

I'd be calling Bright Onion to see if they can lend one, if they have any built.

Or tap dance like us of a certain age have been doing for for at least 35 years. Ahem.

fretmeister · September 2023

Also, if I was doing that much work at pretty big shows, I'd have duplicates of everything for backups, or at least a smaller backup board that will do for the night.

robinbowes · September 2023

Buy this G2 - bargain! https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/252550/fs-effectrode-tube-drive-hx-stomp-xl-gigrig-g2-more

gatheredinsong · September 2023

I know very little about electronics but because it happens on most of the switches I imagine Bright Onion could diagnose the problem fairly easily, perhaps over the phone, and suggest a course of action?

Have you changed the input and output leads just to check it isn't either of them?

DannyP · September 2023

robinbowes said:

Buy this G2 - bargain! https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/252550/fs-effectrode-tube-drive-hx-stomp-xl-gigrig-g2-more

Thanks @robinbowes but sadly I'm way too tight to shell out for a G2, which is probably why I'm in this mess!

Re. tapdancing: to be honest, the Bright Onion doesn't address this problem for me anyway. I just use it in lieu of the pedal footswitches and have it as a failsafe for a duff pedal breaking the chain. The only mid-song change I made is kicking a boost on or off.

DannyP · September 2023

fretmeister said:

Also, if I was doing that much work at pretty big shows, I'd have duplicates of everything for backups, or at least a smaller backup board that will do for the night.

These kinds of shows are not a regular thing for me, but good idea on the back-up board. I think I have enough stuff lying around to knock one up.

DannyP · September 2023

stickyfiddle said:

Contact cleaner?

Otherwise I'd be going in series and tap dancing, which is what I already do anyway.

I shall have a little squirt tonight, cheers!

digitalscream · September 2023

Moved out of the classifieds

digitalscream · September 2023

Also, to answer the original question...maybe one of these?

https://www.andertons.co.uk/hotone-patch-kommander-pedal

Relatively cheap. Only four loops rather than five, and you'll need an extra switch for the tap tempo (plenty of these on Amazon), but it'd probably get you out of the crap.

jonnygreentrees · September 2023

Could it be a patch lead issue?

english_bob · September 2023

jonnygreentrees said:

Could it be a patch lead issue?

Rule #1: 99.9% of all electric guitar equipment failure is a patch lead issue.

gatheredinsong · September 2023

english_bob said:

jonnygreentrees said:

Could it be a patch lead issue?

Rule #1: 99.9% of all electric guitar equipment failure is a patch lead issue.

Indeed, I figured if it is doing it "on most of the switches" it could be the lead going into the looper initially, or the one coming out of it, rather than any patch lead going to a specific pedal in isolation. First things I would check anyway

DannyP · September 2023

gatheredinsong said:

english_bob said:

jonnygreentrees said:

Could it be a patch lead issue?

Rule #1: 99.9% of all electric guitar equipment failure is a patch lead issue.

Indeed, I figured if it is doing it "on most of the switches" it could be the lead going into the looper initially, or the one coming out of it, rather than any patch lead going to a specific pedal in isolation. First things I would check anyway

I tested the to and from leads, but i'll admit I haven't gone through every patch lead. I'll do a bit more fault finding tonight, but the way that re-stamping the switches brings the signal back it feels like the switcher.

DannyP · September 2023

What are we calling these things anyway? Switcher? Controller? 'Looper' is ungooglable owing to ambiguity with Loop Station type pedals....

gatheredinsong · September 2023

Don't know, but hope you manage to get it resolved and have a good gig

WeZ84 · September 2023

Open up the switcher and check all the solder joints and waggle a few of the internal wires and see if you can trigger the problem. If the input and output cables are ok, then it is most likely to be a dodgy solder joint on the input or output sockets or one of the switches is failing.

roberty · September 2023

If it's intermittent it's probably a dirty switch contact or bad cable termination

Hope you get it sorted

monquixote · September 2023

I'd just stick them in a line old school.

I've found loopers to be more trouble than they are worth as they introduce more patch cables which are the main source of failure.

DannyP · September 2023

Right. I opened it up last night, checked the joints and gave each switch a good old squirt of contact cleaner, and it seems OK now.

I'm putting together a little back-up board to take with me just in case though.

TimmyO · September 2023

Hopefully you’ve sorted it.

but I agree with the “it’s almost always a cable” gang

steamabacus · September 2023

Agreed - it's almost always a cable ..... and if it's not, it's probably a switch.

Jack connections can build up an oxidation or residue over time sometimes (if not connected/disconnected periodically) so it's worth taking out every plug, giving it a quick squirt of switch cleaner and then plugging it in and out of the socket a few times.

Another culprit can be switching sockets - the type that have a switched connection or disconnection when a jack plug is plugged in (like on a series effects loop for example). If you've got anything like that in the signal chain it's worth a squirt and plug in/out as well. With (unused) effects loops, if all else fails you can often solve the issue with a patch lead between the send and return.

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Aaargh help! What would you do?

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