Back in ’97, a friend gave me an old Ross distortion pedal (black taiwanese version). A couple of years later I lent it to a friend. During that period, he told me it stopped working and tried to make it work, without any success.
Now, ever since that day (around 2000), once or twice a year I try to fix it and still to no avail… this is getting (*&%?%$% frustrating.![](https://forum.seymourduncan.com/core/images/smilies/banghead.gif)
So far I’ve:
Changed the footswitch 3 times
Changed the pots
Changed all components that don’t look brand new (so almost everything since the pedal’s quite old) to new and identical value components
Changed the battery clip
Changed the OP amp
Checked the solder joints
Checked the tracings on the PCB
I know the jacks aren’t faulty ‘cause when the pedal’s off I get the clean tone.
It’s not like it’s a complicated pedal for pete’s sake… there are like 10 components.![](https://forum.seymourduncan.com/core/images/smilies/angryfire.gif)
I spent 2 hours yesterday night working on it. Changed the switch to a dpdt one (and rewired for it), changed the OPamp, changed a pot again... Still yielded a freakin’ lot of buzzing and no sound when the unit’s switched on.![](https://forum.seymourduncan.com/core/images/smilies/zx11pissed.gif)
Until: For whatever reason I laid the pedal on it’s side (I kept it open to be able to probe inside and see/feel if anything’s touching) for no good reason and there, for 1 second, I got the full distortion tone. Of course then it cut and I was never able to make it work again…
I’ve checked all the solder joints, connections and so on… about 15 times…
This is so ridiculously frustrating it’s not even funny… I just wanna gut the pedal, turn it upside down and start smoking so I can use it as an ashtray.
See, I’m not the kind of guy who can just have something not working around and I’m definitely not the kind of guy who gives up but that cycle has to end. I work for a day or two, get uber-frustrated, put the pedal back on the shelf for 6 months and then the cycle starts again.
This is frustrating but almost insulting too…
Now, ever since that day (around 2000), once or twice a year I try to fix it and still to no avail… this is getting (*&%?%$% frustrating.
![](https://forum.seymourduncan.com/core/images/smilies/banghead.gif)
So far I’ve:
Changed the footswitch 3 times
Changed the pots
Changed all components that don’t look brand new (so almost everything since the pedal’s quite old) to new and identical value components
Changed the battery clip
Changed the OP amp
Checked the solder joints
Checked the tracings on the PCB
I know the jacks aren’t faulty ‘cause when the pedal’s off I get the clean tone.
It’s not like it’s a complicated pedal for pete’s sake… there are like 10 components.
![](https://forum.seymourduncan.com/core/images/smilies/angryfire.gif)
I spent 2 hours yesterday night working on it. Changed the switch to a dpdt one (and rewired for it), changed the OPamp, changed a pot again... Still yielded a freakin’ lot of buzzing and no sound when the unit’s switched on.
![](https://forum.seymourduncan.com/core/images/smilies/zx11pissed.gif)
Until: For whatever reason I laid the pedal on it’s side (I kept it open to be able to probe inside and see/feel if anything’s touching) for no good reason and there, for 1 second, I got the full distortion tone. Of course then it cut and I was never able to make it work again…
I’ve checked all the solder joints, connections and so on… about 15 times…
This is so ridiculously frustrating it’s not even funny… I just wanna gut the pedal, turn it upside down and start smoking so I can use it as an ashtray.
See, I’m not the kind of guy who can just have something not working around and I’m definitely not the kind of guy who gives up but that cycle has to end. I work for a day or two, get uber-frustrated, put the pedal back on the shelf for 6 months and then the cycle starts again.
This is frustrating but almost insulting too…
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