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Potter V8
Bronze Member
Brazil
106 Posts |
 Posted - 10/08/2007 : 18:28:40
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Hi guys !
I just bought a FZ-2 from brazilian eBay, but when it was sent to me I tested and it doesn't work right. When I play with soft picking, simply there's no sound, and when I play with hard picking the pedal sounds for less than a second and "die", and the fuzz comes with a hard noise, like interference, a really awful sound, and no matter I turn the gain knob the sound is the same (using a power supply). When I use batteries the pedal sounds complete, I mean, don't "die" like using a P.S., but the fuzz still comes with a hudge noise, like interference. Is this a serious problem, can I fix it by myself?
The authorized Boss service centers near here are too expensive... and I have some electronics knowledge... so I opened it, and there's nothing anormal at the first look...
Thank you guys for helping !! |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 10/09/2007 : 09:05:34
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Hi Potter V8
Please post up some pics of your unit.
1- Closeups of the component & solder sides
2 - Some pics of the internal wiring, in case something was modded.
3 - Closeups of where the wires attach to the board.
4 - Anything that you might think isn't right.
We'll try to help you.
Any other info about it would be good as well, like did it get the wrong polarity of voltage plug pack connected to it?
Does do the same on Battery & adapter, which adapter does it actually use ACA or PSA, & which adapter are you using with it?
Was the pedals sold as faulty or working, you might have a claim through Ebay.
Just for our interest, how much did you get it for?
Regards Dr. Bob 
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Edited by - Dr. Bob on 10/09/2007 09:06:22 |
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StratoSphere
Double Platinum Member
Canada
2232 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2007 : 00:03:15
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just out of curiosity, are you playing it straight from guitar to amp, or in a big line of pedals. sometimes other pedals can affect the sound another. compression for instance can make distortion pedals sound very flat and can even make the volume cut in and out if placed after distortion.
but i doubt its this since judging by your explanation it sounds like you either have a mechanical problem or a power supply problem.
good luck, hopefully Dr Bob can walk you through this |
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FRANZONI
Double Platinum Member
Ireland
3543 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2007 : 01:37:35
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yep Dr Bob is the man.... ...but stratosphere has a point about pedal placement and power supplies...i have the FZ3 which i used for many years and i could never get it to sound as good as i wanted...i was surfing around on a few forums lately and an article about fuzz pedals came up...one poster swore that his FZ3 sounded best as the first pedal in the chain before everything including wahs and volume pedals and run off a battery rather than a power supply, he said he was sure it made the pedal a bit louder and clearer...on what i've read about fuzz pedals they can be temperamental especially the early germaniun fuzz faces if placed after other effects...i don't want to start second guessing too soon but could it be a classic case of the wrong polarity adaptor used on the pedal sometime in the past and the thing that protects the pedal from power surges got fried...??..i've seen this on the forum a few times in the past..... |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2007 : 02:28:16
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quote:
Originally posted by FRANZONI
yep Dr Bob is the man.......but stratosphere has a point about pedal placement and power supplies...i have the FZ3 which i used for many years and i could never get it to sound as good as i wanted...i was surfing around on a few forums lately and an article about fuzz pedals came up...one poster swore that his FZ3 sounded best as the first pedal in the chain before everything including wahs and volume pedals and run off a battery rather than a power supply, he said he was sure it made the pedal a bit louder and clearer...on what i've read about fuzz pedals they can be temperamental especially the early germaniun fuzz faces if placed after other effects...i don't want to start second guessing too soon but could it be a classic case of the wrong polarity adaptor used on the pedal sometime in the past and the thing that protects the pedal from power surges got fried...??..i've seen this on the forum a few times in the past.....
Blasphemy! Franzoni
Say 3 Hail Mary's and put $10 in the poor box..... 
In seriousness though, there is a problem with the early PNP germanium Fuzz faces & such, because there were very few in fact almost no, NPN transistor of that era/time,
The circuits have a positive earth, they don't integrate-interface very well with more modern NPN - Negative earth circuits.
Hench the NPN FuzzFace circuits that crop up on the net.
There can also be a mismatch in impedances between the early & new designs. (Input/Output buffers in the Crybaby)
I have also seen some older pedals that don't have capacitors in their inputs - outputs, which could mean they are not AC (Audio) coupled - and can feed some small DC offset voltages into the next stage or next bit of gear.
A lot of the older op-amps have a DC offset - sometimes called a Null pin/s that you can connect a small trim pot to, & this allows you to trim out or null the DC offset.
I think I just gave myself a headache.. 
Regards Dr. Bob |
Edited by - Dr. Bob on 10/10/2007 02:29:27 |
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StratoSphere
Double Platinum Member
Canada
2232 Posts |
Posted - 10/10/2007 : 13:39:46
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^^^i always think i know a little bit about soldering/repairing pedals/pedals electronics until i read a Dr Bob post
flip flop circuit? |
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Dr. Bob
Moderator
Australia
6593 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2007 : 02:06:12
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quote:
Originally posted by StratoSphere
^^^i always think i know a little bit about soldering/repairing pedals/pedals electronics until i read a Dr Bob post
flip flop circuit?
Hi StratoSphere & Guys
I hope you believe me when I tell you,
that my premise is to enlighten you into the inner working & some theory of electronics.
But I also know, that sometimes all the theory, can seem to be a bit of a burden.
And your right Strato, when it comes to modding & doing simple repairs to pedals & stuff, you basically just need a good eye, some soldering (or Sodering) skills, & a steady hand.
Solder-wick is always handy.
Confidence comes with experience, if you can remember back to modding your first pedal, and how it seemed to take forever, but when you modded the next one, it seem so much easier.
Not to mention the satisfaction, of competing it, & now having different to the original.
Just remember that making mistakes, is also a good thing, and debugging it, can be rewarding & help you build new observation & technical skills.
As far as the Flip-Flop Circuit goes, there is on in almost every compact pedal, it's just a circuit that has two outputs that can be toggled from one state to the other.
It's typically used control the effects on-off-bypass mode, foot switch.
Bossarea posted a really good expiation of it some time ago, back in march 2006,here is the link:
http://www.bossarea.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1036&SearchTerms=flop
Don't forget, if you get stuck, there are lots of members here that can try to help you figure it out. 
Regards Dr. Bob
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StratoSphere
Double Platinum Member
Canada
2232 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2007 : 03:10:16
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Confidence comes with experience, if you can remember back to modding your first pedal, and how it seemed to take forever, but when you modded the next one, it seem so much easier.
-haha actually when i think of modding my first pedal, i seem to recall me soldering the entire PCB back on upside down.
p.s. there doesnt seem to be an emoticon for extreme embarrasment..
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pedals 4 pv
Platinum Member
Canada
1351 Posts |
Posted - 10/11/2007 : 03:21:08
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 This would do. |
Edited by - pedals 4 pv on 10/11/2007 03:22:57 |
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Just got a FZ-2, but it's broken! Somebody help me
