Effect pedal repair

[colgraff]

I've recently bought a second hand effect pedal that, to my ears, has an excessive amount of buzz and hiss coming from it. It is quite old and was a cheap buy, so I don't begrudge the seller selling it to me but I am wondering if it can be repaired.

I've opened it up and had a peek inside but there is nothing obviously wrong. Are such things repairable or would the cost be so high that I would be better off buying a new one?

Edited October 13, 2015 by colgraff

[paul_5]

Depends what it is. If it's old, and with real components (not miniscule surface mount stuff) it could be a great place to start tinkering and modding effects.

[colgraff]

Oh, sorry. I forgot to say that it is a printed circuit.

[Matt P]

as long as it's got standard through-hole construction (rather than surface mounted) then it should be repairable, most of the circuit diagrams are on the net so it should be possible to work out what the issue is.

what pedal is it?

[rmorris]

Have to 'chip' in that with a decent magnifier and basic tools / aids etc surface mount components are only a real issue if they are ultra tiny, say below 0603 case size or, in the case of ics, fine pitched.
Standard SOIC8 packages for example are easily handled with a bit of practice.
And there may be components on both sides so look out for that.
In some ways it's better with SMT stuff as ypou don't get so much wear and tear on the pcb holes for component legs.