I let the magic smoke out... but it's back! (actually, it's not...😞)n (actually, it is, I'm a complete 🍆)

[Jakester]

So I am a moron. 

 

I recently acquired a BassBone and, realising that it needs a pretty hefty 15v 400mA supply, and my current pedalboard PSU wasn't going to cut it, bought a CIOKs SOL, which had enough outputs and the options to deal with all the pedals I have. 

 

Spent ages carefully setting it up on my pedalboard, checked the jumpers, double checked them, triple checked them, and once everything looked good, I plugged it all in. 

 

To be met with a cloud of acrid smoke coming from the BassBone. 

 

Sob. 

 

Of course, I knew that it needed a 15v 400mA supply. But I hadn't clocked it needed a CENTRE POSITIVE supply, not a CENTRE NEGATIVE one. So by plugging the latter in, I managed to burn out my new pedal. Or so I thought!

 

Once I'd cleared out the smoke from the room and triple checked I'd disconnected everything, I plugged in the correct Radial PSU and lo and behold, it still worked! 

 

Using the correct adaptor on the CIOKs also showed it was all working, so thankfully no damage done to the PSU (phew!). 

 

From my very urgent Googling straight afterwards, I gather that *some* pedal manufacturers use a sacrificial diode which stops the rest of the pedal getting knackered if you use the wrong PSU. 

 

So, even though I had a faceful of smoke, it seemed it was okay. 

 

Nevertheless, I got on to Radial to ask - they said they couldn't give me details of the innards, but to speak to Polar Audio, who are their UK distributor. Unfortunately Polar state that they don't do out of warranty repairs, and recommended two servcing companies - Surrey Amps and the dreaded (to me at least!) Real Electronics. Having had no luck in the past with RE, I did a search for amp repairs, and came across [a repairer, the details of whom I have now deleted owing to subsequent issues]

 

I dropped [person] a line, and he said he'd take a look; his hourly rate/diagnosis fee was much less than Surrey Amps so I gave it a shot. The service was exemplary - not only was I kept informed every step of the way, [person] even sent me a video of the pedal opened up and explaining the damage and what needed to be replaced. I gave the go-ahead, and he also sent me a video afterwards showing everything working. Finally, the repair was turned around and back to me in just over a week, for less than the cost of the SA diagnostic check. He also picked up an issue with a dodgy pot and replaced that too. 

 

I can't sing his praises enough. Whilst I could have kept on trying to use it, it wouldn't have had any protection and [person] pointed out the heat had damaged a small resistor too, so who knows if that could have caused other problems in the future. 

 

So, I have been saved by my own stupidity once again. [edit - repairer details removed due to subsequent issues]

 

(I haven't wired it all up again yet, but I will not be turning anything on until I'm absolutely sure I have the correct polarity this time!)

Edited October 5, 2023 by Jakester

[doonaboon]

Aagh, I feel your pain! I did exactly that - a very brief but pedal killing polarity mistake accompanied by the unmistakable stench of fried circuitry - to a Tech21 pedal recently. I've been looking round for a good repair option seeing as the UK Tech21 distributor don't seem to reply to any attempt at communication...will definitely drop Keld a line and see if he can help, thanks for the tip 😀

 

And glad to hear your BassBone is back to life, great DI.

[Jakester]

Hmm, it may not entirely be back. I gigged it for the first time this evening and the OD circuit didn’t seem to work. It wasn’t necessary for the gig, but I will do somE further investigations...  

[Bunion]

16 minutes ago, Jakester said:

Hmm, it may not entirely be back. I gigged it for the first time this evening and the OD circuit didn’t seem to work. It wasn’t necessary for the gig, but I will do somE further investigations...  

take it back to the guy that just ‘fixed it’ 

[Jakester]

23 hours ago, Bunion said:

take it back to the guy that just ‘fixed it’ 

 

Well, yes - what exactly did you think I was going to do?

 

 

[Bunion]

4 hours ago, Jakester said:

what exactly did you think I was going to do?

 

On 05/03/2023 at 00:39, Jakester said:

I will do somE further investigations...  

start digging around inside yourself 

[Jakester]

4 hours ago, Bunion said:

 

start digging around inside yourself 

 

LOL no! By 'further investigations' I meant checking all the switches are engaged/disengaged as appropriate, checking the gain levels to make sure I'm not underdriving the distortion section etc etc. 

 

I couldn't even figure out how to get the cover off!

[Jakester]

Well, a sad and disappointing update to this, unfortunately. When I received the pedal back, the OD circuit didn't work. At all. The repairer said it worked when he sent it back, and there's a video of it he sent demonstrating it. He said that when he received it, the OD pot was loose, so he replaced it. Unfortunately he couldn't get the exact same pot, but replaced it with one he said would work just as well. He suggested I send it back to him to take a look at. He thought it could have taken some knocks in transit, although it was packed well in the manufacturer's packaging and additional reinforcement and no sign of damage to the packaging. 

 

So since March, I have been in sporadic communications with the repairer, and he says he's not been able to trace any fault in the OD circuit whatsoever, which is strange because he got me to do a full video for him, carrying out various tests etc and there was simply no drive whatsoever.  There seems to be the implication I'm doing something wrong, though what (beyond plugging, setting the gain etc and switching it on and off) that could be isn't really clear. 

 

It's been with him since March, with very limited updates. I've chased and got a rather huffy reply where he said he's exhausted all options so I'm going to have to shell out yet again for it to be collected. 

 

From my perspective, I sent a fully-working pedal with a blown diode, and I will have received back a pedal where one of the major functions doesn't work whatsoever, and I'm now out over £100 on various repair and postage costs. 

 

The real kicker for me, though, is that because he's had it for so long, I can't now bring any claim against Royal Mail, as it's outside the time they let you make a claim. It was sent fully insured via Special Delivery so I could have claimed at least some of the value of the pedal back. 

 

As it is, I'm left without a working pedal and no recourse whatsoever, and out quite a bit of money. 

 

I suppose it was the false hope that kills you. If I'd just have continued using it with the blown diode, all would have been fine. Instead, I've paid to have it repaired and now to all intents and purposes it's fecked. Sigh. 

[itu]

Oh dear. Something very basic come to my mind, but this is just speculating: switches should be checked with live signal. And as the pot has been changed, its soldering may be nearly faultless: if the board is two or four layer, some layer may be without tin. Hope you'll get your buzzer (fuzzer?) back.

[Jakester]

Well, this just gets worse and worse. I figured I could make do without the OD, as that was really just a handy bonus over the core functions of the Bassbone. 
 

But, went to rehearsal for the first time since getting it back today and not only does the drive not work, now the mute switch isn’t working, which means it’s impossible to quietly swap between bass and DB or tune silently. 
 

God knows what’s up now with it. I’m now faced with shelling out yet more cash for further potential repairs (sunken cost fallacy?) or just bin it and buy something I know that works. 
 

😡😡😡

[itu]

What's your PSU? Does it pump enough mAs?

[Jakester]

1 hour ago, itu said:

What's your PSU? Does it pump enough mAs?

 

CIOKS Sol - specs say it does 400mA at 15v, which is what the manufacturer says it needs:

 

https://cioks.com/power-supplies/future-power-generation/cioks-sol/

https://www.radialeng.com/product/bassbone-od/specifications

[LukeFRC]

8 hours ago, Jakester said:

Well, this just gets worse and worse. I figured I could make do without the OD, as that was really just a handy bonus over the core functions of the Bassbone. 
 

But, went to rehearsal for the first time since getting it back today and not only does the drive not work, now the mute switch isn’t working, which means it’s impossible to quietly swap between bass and DB or tune silently. 
 

God knows what’s up now with it. I’m now faced with shelling out yet more cash for further potential repairs (sunken cost fallacy?) or just bin it and buy something I know that works. 
 

😡😡😡

Oh no  this whole thread sounds makes me really sad. 
The strangest thing is a tech needing to replace a "loose" pot on a new pedal - very strange. 
I've bought/been given a few pedals that have been fried, and they are fixable - but it tends to be a long process of tracing and testing components to work out what's gone wrong and why - for me it's been investing hours to fix something rather than shell out money I don't have on something. Sometimes it works, other times not.
Having said that I doubt that's it's economically viable to pay a tech to do that  

[Jakester]

9 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Oh no  this whole thread sounds makes me really sad. 
The strangest thing is a tech needing to replace a "loose" pot on a new pedal - very strange. 
I've bought/been given a few pedals that have been fried, and they are fixable - but it tends to be a long process of tracing and testing components to work out what's gone wrong and why - for me it's been investing hours to fix something rather than shell out money I don't have on something. Sometimes it works, other times not.
Having said that I doubt that's it's economically viable to pay a tech to do that  

In fairness to him, it wasn’t new - I got it from someone on here. 
 

It could have been loose, but pretty sure I would have noticed it before I sent it off. 
 

I get it’s a slog to identify intermittent issues - I’m sure we’ve all had some rattle in a car that doesn’t manifest for the dealer.
 

But over 3 months and it come back worse than went it was sent? I can only think it was more damaged initially than either of us thought (though I would have thought he’d have picked it up at the outset when he sent the video, and the mute switch is at the other end of the board to the PSU), or he didn’t in fact know what he was doing and took a punt, which failed. 
 

I’ve now dropped Surrey Amps a line (what I should have done in the first place!) to see if they can give an estimate for repairing the identified issues, to see whether it’s economically viable to repair.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jakester

[LukeFRC]

Are they Radial’s service engineers? Maybe see if radial have someone they recomend- mainly because they will be able to get the schematic and or service manual 

[Jakester]

2 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Are they Radial’s service engineers? Maybe see if radial have someone they recomend- mainly because they will be able to get the schematic and or service manual 

Them and Real Electronics - with whom I’ve had a poor experience in past too when “servicing” my Mark Bass amp. 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Jakester

[LukeFRC]

I’ve seen gut shots of the bassbone v2  is that the one you’ve got? it’s through hole parts so fixable 

[Jakester]

2 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I’ve seen gut shots of the bassbone v2  is that the one you’ve got? it’s through hole parts so fixable 

 

It's the Bassbone OD - same chassis, but instead of a boost, it has the drive switch. I presume it's largely the same with the addition of an overdrive circuit and controls!

[LukeFRC]

There’s a fun fixing project for someone here @Jakester - if they take a punt … ild be interested but unsure  I would use it!

[Jakester]

Well, I'm looking to get shot of it now, so drop me a line...

[LukeFRC]

3 hours ago, Jakester said:

Well, I'm looking to get shot of it now, so drop me a line...

I saw (but didn't want to pollute your sale thread).  

[Jakester]

Oh my blimmin' god. I can't believe it. I am actually, demonstrably, the world's most incompetent man. 

 

And I think owe the repairer a fairly profuse apology. 

 

So, what happens, when you have a power-hungry pedal, and don't supply it with the correct power needed? It won't work properly. 

 

In the course of zip-tying and finalising the replacement Bassbone on my pedalboard, I looked at the PSU. "Hang on", I thought. "Are those jumpers upside down?"

 

Yes.

 

Yes, they were.

 

Which meant the PSU was sending 12v to the pedal, instead of 15v. 

 

Which means that when it was tested using the original PSU, it would work fine. But when run off my board PSU (set incorrectly) it would struggle. 

 

I've just tested it again with the original PSU, and it worked perfectly. 

 

And the replacement on the board with the PSU set correctly now works fine too. 

 

I cannot believe just what a humungous todger I am. A full-on, weapons-grade 🔔🔚.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!

[LukeFRC]

4 minutes ago, Jakester said:

Oh my blimmin' god. I can't believe it. I am actually, demonstrably, the world's most incompetent man. 

 

And I think owe the repairer a fairly profuse apology. 

 

So, what happens, when you have a power-hungry pedal, and don't supply it with the correct power needed? It won't work properly. 

 

In the course of zip-tying and finalising the replacement Bassbone on my pedalboard, I looked at the PSU. "Hang on", I thought. "Are those jumpers upside down?"

 

Yes.

 

Yes, they were.

 

Which meant the PSU was sending 12v to the pedal, instead of 15v. 

 

Which means that when it was tested using the original PSU, it would work fine. But when run off my board PSU (set incorrectly) it would struggle. 

 

I've just tested it again with the original PSU, and it worked perfectly. 

 

And the replacement on the board with the PSU set correctly now works fine too. 

 

I cannot believe just what a humungous todger I am. A full-on, weapons-grade 🔔🔚.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!

Are you saying that if I had given into my temptation to try and fix it … it wouldn’t have been the fun rewarding project I thought it would have been?!

[Jakester]

Just now, LukeFRC said:

Are you saying that if I had given into my temptation to try and fix it … it wouldn’t have been the fun rewarding project I thought it would have been?!

 

I am saying I am a complete moron!

[LukeFRC]

Just now, Jakester said:

 

I am saying I am a complete moron!

But 

the good thing is - in discovering you are a moron you have gained a nice preamp pedal! 
 

some people are morons the other way and feed too much power into things or middle up centre negative and positive… which to be fair…

they cancel out?