G'day all! I've got an Akai Shred-O-Matic here with a footswitch that seems to be on the way out. I generally have to give it a few taps to get it to engage
properly. Here's a pic of the switch w/ new 3pdt.
(http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8759/012yv.jpg)
Is there a relatively easy way to do this seeing as the wires are in the pin connector style? All the connections are like that.
I've figured out the two white wires are the input and output but beyond that I get lost quickly trying to follow traces etc. I can upload more pics if it'll help.
Cheers, Thommo.
use your continuity setting on your multi meter to track out what the original switch is doing. then match that by doing the same test on the new switch.
+1
You beat me to the post, Joe, but here's what I had typed:
Unless I'm missing something here, all you have to do is transfer the wires from the old switch to the new one while keeping them in the same configuration. I recommend doing it one wire at a time to avoid making wrong connections. By "pin connector style", do you mean that there are pins on each wire and these pins are soldered to the switch? If it were me, I would just cut each wire, strip off some insulation, tin the bare wire, and solder it to the new switch.
It looks like the old switch is DPDT. If this is the case, just use two of the poles on the new switch. Make sure you know which way the poles run on the new switch. You can check this by testing the continuity between terminals as you toggle the switch. As Joe mentioned, if you don't know the terminal configuration of the old switch, use your multimeter to figure it out.
use your continuity setting on your multi meter
My multimeter doesn't seem to have this feature lol
By "pin connector style", do you mean that there are pins on each wire and these pins are soldered to the switch?
No, the wires are soldered to the switch in the normal fashion. The other end, which you can see in the pic are joined to
the white 'plug', female end, if you will, which plugs into the first PCB.
Looking at the bottom of the old switch with the side visible in the pic facing right the lugs are numbered 1, 2, 3 down the left,
and 4, 5, 6, down the right.
Ok. This should be easy. Here's your old switch:
Lugs 2 and 5 are the "common" lugs. Lug 2's connection toggles back and forth between lugs 1 and 3 each time you step on the switch. Lug 5 does the same between lugs 4 and 6.
(http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q485/jdansti/6cda6f15.jpg)
---------------------------------------
Now here's the new 3PDT switch:
(http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q485/jdansti/2c47cdc5.jpg)
Notice the direction of the lugs and position the new switch in the same manner as the drawing. Lug 2 toggles its connection between lugs 1 and 3, and lug 5 toggles its connection between lugs 4 and 6 the same as your old DPDT. This drawing shows how the lugs are connected as you toggle back and forth.
Lugs 7, 8 and 9 operate in the same fashion, but you won't be using these unless you decide to add something like an LED indicator.
So to summarize, just move the wires from the old switch to the new one while keeping them connected to the same lug numbers. Again, I advise to move one wire at a time. Alternately, you could number the wires with labels, draw a picture with the wire colors labeled, or take a photo before you disconnect the wires from the old switch.
Let us know how it turns out!
Yep, I have the new switch hooked up as per your reply. Result: sound in bypass but nothing when engaged. All LEDs working.
I actually had it done before I saw your reply but double checked it any way.
If you could post a pic of the newly wired switch, I could provide a second set of eyes to compare it to your photo of the old switch.
If all of the wires landed on the correct lugs, you might have a bad connection somewhere. You said that your meter doesn't have a continuity function, but does it measure resistance? To go much further, you'll need to check some connections for continuity (low resistance). I would check the resistance between each lug of the switch and the terminals inside the white connector first. Then I would plug it in and check the continuity between the switch lugs and the corresponding pads of the connector on the PCB.
Another possibility is a failed solder joint or a failed component.
You mentioned before that you had to hit the old switch several times to get the pedal to work. Are you seeing the same thing now?
Ok, hold on a bit. Won't be long :)
Here they are side-by-side.
(http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/620/picture0004e.jpg)
1 is top left as you look at the pic.
Meter does resistance.
For curiosity sake, I just reconnected the old switch and the result is the same ???
Sound in bypass but no sound when engaged :-\ Must be a dead component somewhere.
Argh!! Wish I had have left it alone lol I can't see any obvious deaths, though.
Yep. The wiring looks to be the same as it was before. You might want to try activating the effect and jiggle the white connector and press in on the wires while you make some noise on the guitar.
If you have no change doing the above, I would start at the beginning. If your meter reads DC volts, check for power on the PCB with the effect engaged to make sure you're getting power. Place the neg lead on an obvious ground and the pos lead on the first place that the power comes into the effect. I assume that you're using a 9V battery or PS. If so, look for approximately 9V. Follow the power throughout the circuit. Also check the voltage on any transistor and/or IC leads and let us know what you get.
If all of the above doesn't point to anything, we'll go to the next step.
Ok, I had the switch wired up correctly the first time :D Then.......I found out the actual reason for the Shred-O's silence.
It was the fact that I'm a moron sometimes :icon_redface: :icon_mrgreen:
I plugged in this morning to start jiggling the wires about, as Jdansti suggested, and realised the LED that sits under the tube was quite dull and flickering.
That made me wonder if there was something wrong with the power supply. Yep, there it was....the multi-voltage wall wart I was using was
set on 3-bloody-volts lmao. I'd been mucking about with some fuzz circuits a few days ago. Changing the voltage to see how that affected the sound. New switch is in and she seems to working be in good working order.
All's well, that ends well :)
Thank you joegagen and Jdansti for your replies. A great help.
Cheers, Thommo.
Glad you got it figured out! You've got to watch those multi-power wall warts! Sometimes the fix is the simplest thing that we overlook. I can't count the number of amps, pedals, and other electronic devices I've "fixed" by plugging in a power cord or flicking a switch! :)
Dang I really need the pictures to be not forbidden here.
this pedal has
a horrible squeel when the effect is off. is
this
pedal
normally
true bypass. if not can somebody please explain how to make it so
There's always a way. :)
We need to see a schematic.
its a bummer its not easier to find schematics. where do you suggest i look
Quote from: Nyklus on December 31, 2012, 05:42:27 AM
its a bummer its not easier to find schematics. where do you suggest i look
Did you try searching the forum and the web? I just did a simple search on Google and a link to the schematic popped up at the top of the list. I could give you the link, but I imagine that you don't want to pay my $200 web search fee (if you do, I'll gladly give you PayPal instructions). :) But since I'm a really generous and all around wonderful guy, I'll give you a one time free hint. Go to Google and do a search on "akai shred-o-matic schematic".
I'm not trying to be a d@ck about this, but you'll be better off learning to fish than relying on others to give you fish. :)
QuoteI'm not trying to be a d@ck about this, but you'll be better off learning to fish than relying on others to give you fish.
Easy there John. Deep breath, and count to Zen. :icon_mrgreen: Patience is the better part of valor here at times. Might also depend on the native tongue of the person asking the questions. Here in Quebec, many of my friends are French, with only rudimentry English. Google searches are generally not geared to languages other than English, hence they have a much tougher time finding info when using French terms on Google. They'll do a Google search using French terms, and may spend hours looking for info, whereas in English the required results can be found in seconds.
It sucks, but it is what it is. I'm asked quite often by my French friends to do Google searches for them, just because it's so much easier to find info using English terms and vocabulary.
Although, I wouldn't mind a piece of that $200 web search fee action. That's brilliant! :icon_lol:
QuoteBut since I'm a really generous and all around wonderful guy
Word. So don't piss him off!
heyy... weird i didnt see this last night,
http://www.aronnelson.com/gallery/main.php/v/KHE/AKAI_Shred_O_Matic.jpg.html
to assure you i did at least
four google
searches
with different quotation markings
last night before hand, i just couldnt see it.
im no slave drive,
i appreciate all you
do
jdansi,
now is there a simple
way to bypass switch this pedal i have a 3pdt
ps also do you use a better search engine than i, i use google
but if theres a better one id be curious, having not found a guyatone flip td-x tube echo schematic.
Sorry if I came off sounding irritated. I really wasn't. My sarcastic humor doesn't always translate well in text. Thanks for trying to find the schematic on the web. Looks like you don't need any fishing lessons. ;)
>ps also do you use a better search engine than i, i use google but if theres a better one id be curious, having not found a guyatone flip td-x tube echo schematic.
I used Google and just typed in "akai shred-o-matic schematic" without quotes. Maybe Google gives different results outside of the US.
(http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q485/jdansti/937F7F4A-3F6C-4426-BF5B-CA7C756E2FF5-8921-0000099B869EB1A3.jpg)
I'll take a look at the schematic tonight. We had a pipe leak in our attic Saturday night and a huge chunk of wet ceiling fell into our bathroom. I spent most of yesterday repairing the pipe and removing the remaining wet sheet rock. Today I have to replace the sheet rock and clean up all of the cellulose insulation the fell through. >:(
Ok. This should be fairly simple. The first image below is the schematic as-is. The second one shows the DPDT bypass switch replaced with a 3PDT switch for true bypass.
(http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q485/jdansti/3C01F81E-6E14-46E6-9F48-7674DB1836C6-9427-000009ED9D5AF5CA.jpg)
(http://i1160.photobucket.com/albums/q485/jdansti/55260873-9A0C-4727-83AD-C6AF79967BAA-9427-000009EDCE24439E.jpg)
wow this is finally happening no more terrible squeel from the pedal qith the cool tube distorion an pedal that controls it.
one other question. where does that center lead of the 3pst go? the schematic has it going to nowhere.
It's not used. Two of the three center terminals are used to switch the LEDs on and off.
i am now taking a look at these schematics and realizing i am way too confused about this.
ill post a picture of what the curren switch looks like tomorrow, but i am pretty padly lost.
before
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/602903_10151196868190753_2072669122_n.jpg
after
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/150677_10151196867985753_1000963065_n.jpg
not sure why this isnt working.
maybe posting this will help.
your switch looks to be 90deg out, in my experience you should be looking at the switch with the notch at the top or bottom contacts should look like " - " not " I " but as stated higher up always best to test the switch.
good luck
oh really!! it should be - not l ?
indeed, have a closer look at the switch diagram one page back.
Yep it's rotated 90 deg. If you'll look at the drawing I provided above, you'll notice that the switch lugs are rectangular. Line the switch up the same way as the drawing.
ok, i wired it up horizontal, even tried a new switch and its still wrong. earlier i tried it out with the wrong wiring, i hope i didnt ruin it.
what to do to get this thing right
I don't think you could have damaged anything just by rotating the switch. You might have grounded out the in/out jacks or in/out board connections, but that wouldn't cause any damage. .
What are the symptoms?
well as far as i can tell i have it wired up exactly like your diagram
i have tried switching the wires from the input in since i cant tell which one is the wire going to the resistors and which is the dirct from input wire.
pretty frustrated.
symptoms are, the tube powers up but no sound and no led
heres a way i can explain whats going on and maybe you can refer back to my tpst pic for reference
the white wire is the one going to r202
the black is the input lead
orange goes to the center post of tge led
yellow is going to r217
red is the output lead
I think there's still a wiring error.
First confirm which wires are connected to what in the original schematic and write that down in the schematic
Looking at the original switch, I'd say:
red-output jack
white(partly coax)-input jack AND somehow EFF input (see schematic!) I can't see that connection on the picture, but it's there, maybe from the input jack or a sub-pcb.
yellow - EFF output
Orange - LED
black - GROUND (for switching the LEDs with)
Please verify this, don't take my word for it.
After having done so, transfer your color codes to the new TB schematic. You will need to somehow remove the extra "unseen" connection mentioned above between input/switch/EFF in, as can be seen if you compare the old schem (with connection) and new schem (without said connection).
Any connection in the new schematic that doesn't have it's color code from the old one isn't there yet and should be made with a new piece of wire. If you write everything down at every stage,work methodically, and use both schematics you should be able to get it working and get e good understanding of the wiring in the same go.
I am a bit worried by it whining in bypass though, that shouldn't happen, but let's see how this works first. Quite possible that it will be more than stable enough with the new wiring.
A photo of the new wiring would help too.
BTW. Where did you connect the center lug (#5) of the 3PDT bypass switch?
oh i didnt wire lug 5 to anything since the schem you had showed it going nowhere.
It's going to ground - that little horizontal bar is also used as "ground". confusing, but there are several different symbols meaning more or less the same thing around....
so theoretically if black was the wire for the ground, i would attach that to lug 5?
Right. I used the same symbol for ground that is used everywhere else on the drawing.
I don't know where the black wire went, but lug 5 needs to go to ground. This is why you should always photograph or draw pictures and take notes before changing wiring or components, especially when you have a perfectly good pedal that you don't want to become a doorstop. :( Are you familiar with the concept of "grounding" in circuits and on schematics? All of the little horizontal bars are electrically connected to each other as a ground, or the point of zero voltage. You could wire lug 5 to the ground lug on your input or output jack.
If you get lug 5 grounded, the LEDs should work, but the pedal still might not work. That brings up another question. Do you know which lugs on your input and output jacks are signal and ground? You might have one or both jacks wired backwards.
Maybe wire it direct input/output without a switch to see if it works? That takes wrong switch wiring out of the equation... Then after you figure out the wiring add the switch back in.. Just a thought
+1 Good idea.
+100
great idea(s)
yaya! it works now.
the bypass is sucha nice touch.
now i can reintroduce this pedal back into my chain.
you guys rock so much!