A couple small projects tonight - SUCCESS (part 3)

[clipless bumper]

Finished up the Aria bass - strung BEAD - received the strings from Ethan (esizer) today, so I could finish it up.
Didn't get the action quite as low as I wanted it on the low B - but it plays plenty good enough for me.
The 3-way switch came out pretty good, with only a volume-tone - the pickups are pretty well matched, just by adjusting the height.
You can see the switch label I had to put on the tone pot to cover up the #$^&#$ paint/wood I chipped off the front.
It'll stay I guess.
New bridge, pots, switch, strings, Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder pickups.
Had to drill out the old knobs to fit the full size CTS solid shafts - but they fit fine now.


Also decided to do a little project on the Beano Boost.
It really does sound better with a battery than a power supply (as does the Sunface).
My board layout allows me to unplug the Sunface easily - but not so much on the Beano.
Read a few posts by Analog Mike about adding an on-off volume pot - but he said since there are other components soldered to the pot, it is easier to just add a switch to disconnect the battery. Also - the on-off pot he uses doesn't have as nice a taper as the regular pot - so all the usable range ends up in the top quarter of the travel.

Went to Radio Shack this morning, and picked up a sub-mini SPST on-off toggle.
Opened up the beano - and the easiest spot to put it was right across from the existing 'voicing' toggle - and tap it into the ground wire coming off the battery connector. 4 easy bits of soldering and one drilled hole later - and she's done!
Just need to get some more carbon batteries - all I have laying around are alkalines.
Yes - the carbon batteries do sound better!!
New switch on the left:

[Tortuga]

Bass looks great, Mamberg!

Also, nice job on the mod. Didya use a step bit or regular drill bit to run the hole for the switch?

Have you posted any clips with the Beano? I really need a treble boost in my life. I'm super partial to the Throbak Strange Master, but no way in hell I'm gonna dig up that kinda scratch for a pedal.

[clipless bumper]

I started with a regular bit - the pot said it took a 13/64" hole.
I got nervous drilling it - cause I didn't take the pedal guts out, so I was scared I'd pop through and fuck something up. Switched to a 1/16" bit and drilled that first, then went slow with the 13/64" bit and it worked fine. Ended up being too small, so I ended up going with 15/64".

No way to make decent clips - I haven't ventured into that realm yet. It's sitting waiting till I can track down some old-school batteries anyway.

[TurboPablo]

That switch is slick. I may do that to my Beano.

[Tortuga]

I've heard that the dollar stores are a good source of the old-school batteries.

You're either out of your friggin' mind or a genius with the drill, dude. I'd be seriously concerned about leaving the works in place when drilling. I really recommend the step bits. They cut much cleaner and are far less prone to the wobble you get trying to cut with a standard bit.

[clipless bumper]

Turbo - If you still have any radio shacks left up by you - that's where I got it.
Sub-mini SPST toggle - p/n 275-612 - $3.49 You could probably even go with a sub-micro switch, as this one was slightly larger than the switch on the other side.
The single black wire you can see going to the near input jack is the one I used. It came directly from the battery connection. Un-soldered it from the jack - and reconnected it to the switch. Then just needed a new wire to go from the jack to the other side of the switch - easy-peasy.


Grimey - The switch/hole went right by the power jack - there really wasn't anything directly in line with it - although I could imagine the bit grabbing the wiring near there if it 'picked up' the enclosure when the bit went through the final bit of metal.

[clipless bumper]

and now I'm ready to put the Beano back on the board!
ran out to a dollar store at lunch and picked up two packs of these


(although mine say use before 2017)
$1 a pack - can't beat it - must be the cheapest corksniffing product out there!!

[Tortuga]

Did you buy the Beano used? Was it built in 2003? That thing looks super clean.

...and, you've got serious balls drilling into that thing fully loaded. I forgot it was all point-to-point. I would definitely advised dropping the power jack into the case and pushing it to the side, but that's just me. Did you use the superhuman Kung-Foo grip to keep the case from spinning when it went through?

[clipless bumper]

yes, yes, and yes

The way those jacks mount, I would have had to bring it OUT through the hole - which had a couple of problems.

1.) The wires would have still been there, near the drilling
and
2.) even if I wanted to do this - I could have only moved it less than an inch, before the components soldered right to the power jack would have hit the case.

I did end up rotating the power jack about ¼-turn to move a couple connections out of the way - and to give the switch a bit more clearance.

[Tortuga]

Ah - one of the external mount power jacks. Got it.

YDM, dude!

[clipless bumper]

FUUUCCCKKK!!!

Fired up the Beano tonight with the new batteries - worked great, sounded good, but all of a sudden I had trouble with my Sunface and Beno Boost not sounding right together.
Pulled the Sunface out of the chain - and ran it by itself - seemed to work fine.
Checked the Beano by itself - and as soon as the volume pot is opened even the slightest bit - it sends a hum through the amp like a cable being shorted out. Opened it up - looked for bad connections, bare wires, components touching - couldn't find anything.
Took the switch out to see if it being connected to the enclosure had something to do with it - nope.
Putting the switch back in, I managed to crack the threaded toggle portion.
Thought maybe the switch was just bad/broken - so I took it out completely and re-wired the pedal back to the way it was.
No dice - still had the hum.

No idea what I fucked up, or even how I did it.
I only lifted the one ground wire off the input jack, and inserted the toggle in that path - didn't even touch anything other connections.

FFUUUCCCCKKK!!

Just sent an e-mail off to Analogman (the shop e-mail) - we'll see what they say.
I'm sure they LOVE fixing pedals that people have fucked with...........

damn damn damn.......

[Tortuga]

Oh no! That's not what I was expecting to hear.

Have you gone over the wiring with a multimeter / continuity tester to see if something came loose?

[clipless bumper]

I left it plugged in to the amp, opened it up, and probed all over with a chopstick, moving, separating, pushing - nothing made any difference.

Something has shorted out or fried - the only change in hum/noise I could achieve was when I touched both cable tips with my finger - the noise was the same if unplugged the cables and touched just the tips together - in other words, breaking the ground connection (!!-idea!)

It seems like I interrupted the ground in the pedal (new idea) - but that doesn't really make sense either. The only cable I messed with was the ground from the battery clip ONLY - it didn't connect to anything else. The hum was present whether the battery was in or out, although it was louder with the battery switched in.

[TurboPablo]

That's a bitch.

Maybe I won't do it to mine. I am thinking about sending it in for the on/off pot. But I don't think I can live without it for any stretch. It's way too awesome.

[clipless bumper]

Yeah - I don't blame you.
It was so easy, and I didn't touch anything but the battery ground wire.
No idea what happened, or what I could have done. We'll see what the verdict is once Analogman gets it - maybe it was something stupid that could have been really avoided, or even something unrelated. I really didn't see this coming either.

[Tortuga]

Does it work using the bypass switch, or is the signal stopped entirely? That might help isolate the wiring / componentry. I'm guessing you know this already, but if it's all the time, then it's probably just a wiring issue and nothing to do with the new battery switch.

[clipless bumper]

Yeah, it doesn't matter, battery in, battery out, new switch on, new switch off, adaptor power (switch does nothing then - and it shouldn't)
I'm pretty sure it is something I didn't intentionally mess with - but I may have bumped something, or knocked a connection loose, or somehow shorted two points together.

Whatever it is, I couldn't find it - and I'm not going to start trying to re-wire their work.

[Tortuga]

Damn, dude - that sucks, for sure. I totally get not wanting to start undoing the mojo. Sometimes you gotta leave it to the masters

[clipless bumper]

ok - I'm both happy and pissed.......

before sending the pedal off to analogman, I took it to Sam Ash to make sure the hum was from the pedal - and not something else in my music room.

Guess what! - no hum........

Last night - I swapped everything I could think of - battery, power supply, cable to amp, guitar, shut off lights and other electrical in the room, etc. - nothing had made any difference.
Thinking back - even though I tried multiple guitars - I don't think I swapped out the instrument cable from guitar to pedal
That has to be it - cause it was dead quiet at Sam Ash.
Just to make me pay for it anyway - I screwed up the toggle last night - so will have to get a new one and re-install it.
Oh well, the hole is already drilled, and it should be easy.

At least the pedal is ok - now to take that monster cable (inorite?) and throw it in the trash.
Or maybe swap it out for a new one, and never, ever use it.

[Tortuga]

I hate when it's something that simple - so simple, in fact that it's taken entirely for granted and overlooked. Glad to hear you got it narrowed down, though!

Something I do when diagnosing issues with true bypass pedals is to focus on the switching. Use a continuity meter to ring out the tips of guitar cables plugged into the input and output jacks. They should conduct when the footswitch is on and likely will not (depending on the circuit) when the switch is off. That effectively tests the entire signal path from guitar to wherever the pedal is headed next.

[clipless bumper]

I hope I have it correct - first thing I'll do it swap that cable out and see.
If it is - I'll have picked up a new switch on the way home - and will do the mod all over again.........

possible it is the guitar too, but I doubt it.
The weird thing is - I was using the same cable when I was futzing with the Sunface - didn't have any problems.
The second I switched to the Beano - BAM - hummmm.........
Must have been the uplugging and replugging of the cable that moved something enough to short it/break the connection.

[clipless bumper]

ok - got a lot done tonight.

Did a bit more work on the nut and bridge of the BEAD Aria bass - much better now
a little clanking around on the first position frets - but what's a bass without a little clank?!?!?!

and the Beano Boost is BACK!!
stray noise is just in my room from somewhere - couldn't figure out where - but moving the pedalboard around makes more of a difference that what is on/off in the room.
Wired the new switch back in (broke the old one) - and it works great.

Got to play for quite a while - the Beano sounds good with EVERYTHING!!
Fuzz, OD, alone - it just adds a sparkle and drive that sounds good with every other pedal on my board.
It really could stay on all the time - but that really just gives me less of a palette to work with.

Turbo - don't hesitate to add this battery switch if you want - it's really easy - and just ignore everything above - nothing was really ever screwed up - just piss-poor trouble shooting skills
Same switch - same wires - same pics as above still apply.
Only need to unsolder one wire - then make three new connections - easy work.

[clipless bumper]

One other added benefit - now that the Surface and Beano are both running on batteries and easy to disconnect (plug & switch) - I now don't need/want to upgrade the Iso5.

Wanted the Sag feature if I was going to power the Beano - don't need it any more.
Had the HoF and CC doubled up on one regular 9V tap, which was really under powered. Now they both have their own dedicated tap.
The Aquavibe on the high current tap, and the CC Hybrid on its own tap (which it needs, it's positive ground).
The 3 Suhr pedals I'm running all at 18V, daisy-chained together - no issues.

No pedal gas at all right now!

[Tortuga]

Glad to hear you got it all sorted out, and didn't have to send it back to AnalogMan!

Great job, and congrats! Wanna do my board next?

[TurboPablo]

Life is better with Beano in it.