Boss FV-300H gutshots

Started by Mark Hammer, December 03, 2012, 09:41:05 PM

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Mark Hammer

Not a lot of "guts" to this one, but there is an interesting use of slider pot for this dual-channel passive volume pedal.  You can see from the photos that the mechanism is pretty simple, really.  Move the foot treadle up and down and an L-shaped bracket moves a slider pot up and down.  The middle picture shows you that the slider knob has a little gap cut into it, into which the moving bracket fits.  Some grease in the area makes sure that the bracket does not catch on the slider knob.

And that's the key, really.  You need to make sure the slider is firmly held and that whatever moves the slider up and down has enough play in it, and enough viscosity, to follow the slider knob as much as push it.

I didn't really have an urgent need for a dual volume pedal, but it was $15.  I figured I could adapt it to some sort of filter pedal.  There's already space and holes for 4 pots beyond the in and out jacks, and a sweet little battery compartment cast into the chassis.  Seems promising.




HAVPT

Hi Mark,
Maybe you or someone who knows this pedal can help me.
I will post my question here too:

Some friend gave me this pedal a few days ago but some part is missing, I opened it and found that bigger screw with the blue glue in it, it was loose inside the pedal.
I just need to know what I'm missing at the other side of the screw just under the pedal part. On the red arrow on my picture.


Thanks in advance

HAVPT

I wish you all a happy new year! And if someone has this pedal please help!
Cheers

Mark Hammer

Here is a photo of the mechanism in question:


What the screw does on the *other* side of the chassis is to pull a piece of spring steel (or release it) to vary the amount of tension on the treadle.  The piece held and adjusted by the screw sits on a pivot that you show in your picture.  Adjusting the screw to pull that piece towards the screw means the other end, sitting on the other side of the pivot, will now push up against the underside of the axle.  The harder it pushes against the axle, the stiffer the pedal becomes.

Why does it need to do this?

Easy.  Because the axle is so much closer to one end of the treadle than the other, if there was no tension, the front would always go down the moment you took your foot off of it.  So, if you think of the pedal as a kind of see-saw, the front of the treadle is the 250lb cousin sitting on one end, and the pack of the pedal is the 50lb six year-old.  The tension bar is the parent pulling down on the side where the six year-old is sitting, just to make things a little more even.

Make sense?

HAVPT

Well, first i need To thank you very much for the reply.
i know something is missing here but I still can't understand what's in that picture or where will I find it.

Mark Hammer

You can probably make or adapt the missing piece yourself.  The important thing is that it be stiff and able to have some spring-like properties.  That is, it shouldn't snap or bend.  The important thing is that when you pull one end closer to the chassis with the screw, that the other end push up a bit so the treadle doesn't move around freely.  It shold be able to stay put where you leave it.

HAVPT

if not asking too much could you please take a closer picture on the pedal rear and front so I can observe and understand how that steel is installed on the pedal.
Thanks

Mark Hammer

From the first two pictures, you can see that the piece of spring steel does not stick out very far in the back, and that the pressure created by the adjustment screw pulling the front down bends it a little.  The last picture shows that  there is a little bracket fitted over the end of the steel bar that the screw threads grab onto.  You can also see in the last two pictures that the steel bar simply sits on top of the pivot point.




HAVPT

Thanks Mark, I think I understand now. I need to find that steel and the little bracket.
You helped me alot.
Thanks

HAVPT

Job done Mark, it's working well!



Thanks again!

Yazoo

I have just got one of these off eBay. I have the same problem. On mine there is black tape on the end which goes under the treadle pivot and there was a lot of grease on it. Should it be like that? I'm guessing you don't really want grease on it if it is friction-based.

On the plus side it is very well built and well worth what I paid for it. It was clearly advertised as faulty so I have no complaints.

HAVPT

Hi
I think I don't understand where's the problem on your pedal.

Let me tell you that the pedal is a bit a "tone sucker" (sorry Boss)... it's not on my pedalboard anymore, but works very well.

Yazoo

It's the steel tensioning bar held by the screw. The one on mine is wrapped in black tape and had been well lubricated with grease. It does not tension the pivot properly and appears to be too soft as it bends permanently.

HAVPT

Maybe you can try a new steel bar and short, like the one in the previous picture .

Yazoo

I am going to try making a strip from a steel ruler, the only kind of metal I thought would be suitable. Did you lubricate this or is it better to put nothing on it?

HAVPT


Yazoo

#16
I managed to get this working. At first I tried a new metal strip but I had the same problem. I tightened it as much as I could but the pedal would not stay in position. The metal strip just bent again. I then noticed the 2 blobs of blue glue beside 2 holes on either side of the axle near the back heel position of the pedal - this is with the bottom cover taken off. I saw what looked like worm screws so I tried using an Allen key and managed to tighten them, then put the tensioning strip back in. The pedal now works. The worm screws lock the axle to the moving foot pedal section and because they were loose, the tensioning bar would not work. The pedal section was just rotating around the axle.