BOSS CE-5 wired to always on

[Dragenhjerte]

Hello,
I'd like to reduce a Boss CE-5 to "always on" since it is being re-housed in a true bypass box. Like most modern effects, many switches are closed circuits when guitar jacks and a/c jacks are connected. I want those switches removed/defeated to be always power on. Suggestions on how to do this?
Thanks!

[Hatredman]

If you can post an image of the CE-5 schematic we can show you how to do it.

[vigilante397]

Welcome to the forum

I was able to find a pdf of the service manual which has the schematic, but as a chorus it's a very big schematic. Here is the section with the switch:



If this was a latching switch you would obviously just short the switch's wires together, but since it's momentary I'm not positive it would work. Definitely the first thing I would try though

[R.G.]

Shorting the footswitch will not work.

You can force it always on by shorting Q8 from collector to emitter. This forces the flipflop to always be in the "ON" position.

[Fender3D]

C'mon Nathan that's a flip flop...

The easy answer is: toss Q7 and the FET switches will be turned on engaging the effect.
The hard answer is if you wanna true bypassing out B also...

edit
R.G. was faster than me...

[vigilante397]

C'mon Nathan that's a flip flop...

Gimme a break, I'm in class and had to post really quick before the professor saw my screen

[Fender3D]

In class???

you lucky boy... 

[vigilante397]

In class???

you lucky boy... 

I beg to differ. "Signals and Systems" is hands down the worst part of my semester.

[Dragenhjerte]

Good suggestions that I'll have to look at when I get home today.

[Dragenhjerte]

The idea going into this is a dual pedal A/B between Distortion or Chorus. No stereo out for the chorus and I found a good switching A/B & True Bypass on an earlier thread: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=52735.0

[Dragenhjerte]

So was it Q8 or Q7?

Thanks!

[vigilante397]

...toss Q7...

[PRR]

> shorting Q8
> toss Q7

These are the same thing.

Q7 and Q8 "alternate". Q7=on Q8=off *OR* Q7=off Q8=on.

Instead of fiddling them as BOSS intended, you can replace them with actual open and short.

R.G. suggests a wire so the path "through Q8" is always on.

Federico suggests yanking Q7 so its path is always off.

By alternate flip-flop action, the unmolested transistor will take the other state. So both suggestions give the same result.

The long-range question is: which is easier to un-do when you want the stock action or this pedal gets collectible and buyers demand authentic fully-working examples? Hmmm... either/or. If you toss Q7, in the future someone may say "Hey! Q7 is missing", not a big fix. If you bend an inch of red wire in a U and tack it across Q8, someone may say "Hey! This wire aint stock", not a big fix.

It would be enough to unsolder any 2 of Q7's 3 legs, leaving it there for future re-connection. If you can identify the Collector, just un-solder that. However a leg or two out of their holes may be harder for that future restorer to spot. And today you may not care about a day which may never happen. (But who knew that 1970s Fender amps and 1960s Japanese copycat pedal clones would one day be sought-after?)

The deviously clever hack would be to do one or the other with an internal switch. One way stock, the other way always-on. If done very neatly, this might even be accepted by Collectors as a "period-correct enhancement". Of course if done poorly this will crap-out at a bad time.

[duck_arse]

print out this thread, real small, mark what mod you did, fold it up neat and stick it inside the pedal. apply baseplate screws - forget it ever happened.

[Dragenhjerte]

I should  mentioned that it's a digital CE-5.
Not looking for resale on this pedal

[Dragenhjerte]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDMAVGsPDzc/?taken-by=dragenhjerte

I went with adding a momentary switch for the Chorus rather than trying to disable those tiny little things on the board. The pedal bypasses and works quite nicely now.

Thank you to the group for guidance