My friends delay pedal is making "ice pick" like high end. Any Ideas in why

[Belanger]

This is his quote word for word. If you need any more information please just let me know and I'll text him quickly and get back to you. I seriously appreciate the help like always

[robthequiet]

Might help to know which model, also did it just start acting up?

[Belanger]

Boss dd3 and he said he just bought it and it was never working properly. I have a multimeter I can get him to bring it to me and go over it if that will help.  It's all completely new to me and so is using a multimeter so any added tips is great to

[robthequiet]

You may want to read through the debugging page http://www.diystompboxes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Debugging and feel free to ask any questions at all in the thread. The other thing that helps is putting some photos of the insides online so you can link to them in the thread.

[Belanger]

Thanks so much for the help and advice. Once I have the pedal in hand I'll snap some pictures as well

[Mark Hammer]

Should we assume all the controls operate as intended in all the modes, and the issue is simply the tone?

Or are there any other accompanying problems?

[Belanger]

He's dropping it off to me tonight guys so I can take some pictures and load them up after 7
If any of your guys will be around. If not then you'll get back to me when you have time I'm sure.  Thanks again

[Vitrolin]

Did he buy it from new or used
if its used and he is convinced that its faulty he should take it back to the store...

is the ice pick present at both outputs?

[Belanger]

-I just got the pedal now.  It's a really old dd3, I've taken it apart and tried to take some pictures of everything for you guys.  I'm going to put it back together after and try it out for myself and see if I can present any more details. Before I do that though is there anything you guys recommend me checking with the multimeter first.  The pics didn turn out to be very easy with all the birds best wiring they did lol

[Scruffie]

IIRC the DD-3 included Pre & De-Emphasis, if the De-Emphasis wasn't working for some reason, that'd certainly cause an ice picky tone.

Just an idea though, could very easily be something else.

[Belanger]

Any tips one how to check and see if that's the issue?  Sorry to bug, I'm trying to read as much about it as I can as we speak but if you have any tips I would greatly appreciate it

[robthequiet]

Ok, in the next-to-last photo, one of the connector jacks appears to have only one white wire attached to it -- it may be the camera angle. You don't by any chance see any wires that seem to be dangling, do you?

Thanks for the extensive collection of photos. I think we could narrow down the symptoms a bit. So, when the guitar is played, is there any sound at all from the guitar? Also, does the pedal pass through clean uneffected guitar if the pedal is switched off?

One of the things that really helps here is to use meters and audio probes to try to troubleshoot, which we may find a bit challenging by remote control, especially if we have to trace the signals going through the circuit board to find out where the problem starts.

The last question I have is whether the device came with an official Boss power adapter that is compatible with the device?

[Belanger]

[Belanger]

I don't see a lose wire and that one is the output jack as well.   I was looking at the other jacks which both have 3 wires soldered to them

[Belanger]

He bought it used so I doubt it came with a charger.  However I do have one, so it's going to be put back together and I'll play it and get some first hand information for you guys instead of repeating what he told me lol.  Thanks for the help so far

[robthequiet]

Yes, looking at the schematic, if it's the right schematic, the output jack with the single wire is the mono output and the one next to it would be the stereo/direct, I believe. Let us know when you find out more.

[Ice-9]

If you use a PSU you need to make sure it is the correct one for the Boss, some require ACA newer pedals use PSA, check the sticker on the pedal for the correct psu.
Are you testing the pedal at present with a battery rather than PSU?

What is your description of the fault now you have the pedals to try?

[Vitrolin]

heres a schematic with some additional service info, thought it might be usefull..
http://www.synfo.nl/servicemanuals/Boss/DD-3A_SERVICE_NOTES.pdf

[Belanger]

Thanks so much that schematic is really helpful.