What do we have here? This pedal is completely custom inside and out. Who made it? And why does it not work? Can the Unbrokenstring Crew decipher this jewel and get it working again?
Matt received this as a gift after a live show, from an appreciative fan. It has an honored place on his pedal board.
Google is of absolutely NO help deciphering any of this text.
Very nice circuit board! This is a Tube Screamer circuit, with several types of LEDs and diodes selectable in the clipping circuit. Nearly every aspect of the circuit topology is ‘bend-able’ in this pedal. Very cool!
This unit uses a very nice, high-quality Burr Brown operational amplifier chip and precision components throughout.
Our principle problem is immediately apparent. See the broken wire on the output jack?
We have another broken wire on the switch. Solid (unstranded) wire is easy to work with, but is prone to cracking and breaking more quickly than stranded wire. But solid wire is widely used in the pedal building world.
Stratus is a supplier of ‘build your own clone’ pedal kits. Their catalog confirms that this is a Tube Screamer clone. Oh, and we found more broken wires.
The common ground circuit at the output jack relies on the conductivity of the enclosure. When the enclosure is painted, as this one is, one can have an intermittent electrical connection. Here, I’ve removed the jack to scrape some paint and add a toothed lock washer for better connection to the pedal enclosure.
This tool is handy to keep jacks from turning while the nut is tightened. These are designed for hollow-body guitars, but work almost anywhere a quarter-inch jack is found… for instance, here.
I wonder whose cat this is?
Thanks for reading all the way to the end!
CONTACT – David Latchaw EE
281-636-8626