Digitech whammy - no sound with case but ok when case removed

[sonic66]

Hi,

I bought a Whammy 4 that supposedly wouldn't calibrate properly. When I received it wouldn't make a sound with the 1 amp ac adapter from a rp150.

On further testing it would only make a very soft sound if i had the gain and volume cranked on the little practice amp i was using.
I decided to buy a 1.5 amp AC adapter in the hope that the pedal was just not getting enough juice.

Tried it again with the 1.5 amp adapter when it arrived , only a little louder , nothing like the dry signal.
Took it apart and what do you know with the circuit board unscrewed from the supports it works well!

So put it back together and no go!!
Opened it up again and unscrewed the board it worked ,so i carefully screwed the board down testing with each to make sure it worked before the case was put back on.

Put the case back on and no sound again! Only if i shove the jacks in as hard as possible from both sides and hold them does a sound come out.
Visual inspection doesn't show any obvious problem with the sockets for the jacks.

Also the dry signal passes with out problem, just plug the leads in normally.

So i'm wondering if there is a gounding issue or dry soldier joint or something wrong with the output jack or components.

Any ideas?

Regards

sonic66

[R.G.]

So i'm wondering if there is a gounding issue or dry soldier joint or something wrong with the output jack or components.

Yes, there is.

[sonic66]

Thanks for the reply RG . Good to know I'm on the right track.  Do you have any suggestions about further troubleshooting

[timd]

I had this same issue with one of my builds recently, but in reverse. It turned out that when I put the case back together (it wasn't a standard one and it had some play to it) it started working. It turns out it was a cold solder joint to the output that "connected" when the two halves of the case connected - even though the wire did not look obviously disconnected.

I would check to see if there are any unwanted metal on metal connections being made that are shorting it out when the case is on.

[Jaicen_solo]

Funy, I just dug out my WH4 and I have almost the same problem. Mine only works if I press gently on the bottom left hand side of the case, and then it works perfectly.
Unfortunatly, I can't find my allen keys to look inside now.

[tempus]

My guess is that the input or output jack is somehow touching the case (or some wire carrying the signal) when you put the case back together. Check to see if anything is contacting the case that shouldn't be when you put it together.

[Mark Hammer]

Okay, we need an acronym here, because this comes up all too often.

It worked before I boxed it.   IWBIBI, which I guess would be pronounced something like Ew-bee-bee.

[Gurner]

The solution to this one is simple...leave the case off & bask in the warm glow of "whoah WTF is that thing?" type comments.