Imagine DD-1 overdrive repair (HELP!)

[nickjburke]

Hi all,
thanks for having me! I've joined to seek some advice.
My absolute favourite pedal has been murdered by a friend who plugged in a centre-negative power supply. It's a no longer available Imagine DD-1. It still powers up the LED and switches to bypass (these are separate to the board obviously). However, when switched to overdrive, the signal is incredibly quiet. The pots all still do the same jobs but to get any signal I have to max the volume and the signal/noise ratio is awful.
Currently it's useless to me, I can't buy a replacement, and no-one near me can repair it. So, I'll have a crack myself. But it's been gooped all over with epoxy.
I'd love some tips on removing the goop and any guidance as to which components to start looking at first, given how it was damaged and is now behaving.
See pics attached.
Any advice would be much appreaciated!

 

[BuddytheReow]

Once you get the goop off more of us can help. I personally have no goop experience so hopefully others will chime in

 

[Robert]

If all else fails I'll degoop it / trace it / (possibly) repair it for you....

 

[nickjburke]

Thanks Buddy and Robert!
More than happy for anyone to trace/play with it, but I'm in Australia and imagine most of the members are US based?

 

[Laundryroom David]

Thanks Buddy and Robert!
More than happy for anyone to trace/play with it, but I'm in Australia and imagine most of the members are US based?

we have a few fine folks from Australia rattling around here eh, @music6000?

 

[nickjburke]

So I've been having a bit of a go. Managed to identify the goop as JB weld... Hard as nails and melts at 600 degrees! It's basically mission impossible as both sides of the boards are totally covered. I'm thinking its only good to hang on the wall, even though probably 1 diode needs replacing

 

[Feral Feline]

Surely it's better to send it to Robert than hang it on a wall?

 

[nickjburke]

Yeah, you're right right. I'll get in touch and mail the board stateside.

 

[Robert]

When a problem comes along
You must goop it
Before the cream sits out too long
You must goop it
When something's going wrong
You must goop it

 

[Robert]

I'd like to point out that goop didn't prevent this pedal from being traced.... in fact, it caused it.

Had there been no goop @nickjburke would have most likely opened up the pedal, replaced the damaged component, then tossed it back on his board and been back in action without incident.

But, because the board was intentionally sabotaged by it's maker, here we are. Traced.

 

[music6000]

I'd like to point out that goop didn't prevent this pedal from being traced.... in fact, it caused it.

Had there been no goop @nickjburke would have most likely opened up the pedal, replaced the damaged component, then tossed it back on his board and been back in action without incident.

But, because the board was intentionally sabotaged by it's maker, here we are. Traced.

This is the first time I have seen this discussion.
I have owned mine new since 2011, It's a great sounding pedal but it's huge like a BK Butler tube driver.

 

[Robert]

This is the first time I have seen this discussion.
I have owned mine new since 2011, It's a great sounding pedal but it's huge like a BK Butler tube driver.

Does it sound like this, or is there more in the chain than we're seeing here?

Because if it sounds like this I absolutely want one.

 

[nickjburke]

That's it, sounds just like the demo. Though there's a longer one where he goes through the low gain sounds too.
The tone is fairly unique, though you can make it imitate versions of lots of sounds due to all the knobs. I find it hard to say 'it sounds like XXX', because it doesn't. I have a Nobels, TS9 and RC booster as well, but the Imagine is definitely it's own thing. Gets really rude if you crank the gain, but is quite sweet sounding when the gain is low.

I can't say enough how impressed I am that Robert actually managed to get the stuff off! It was rock hard and wouldn't melt. Guy is a wizard.
Also, I 100% agree that the goop caused the trace. I normally patch things back together with tape and zip ties forever, but the goop meant I had to give it to an absolute specialist - who, by virtue of said specialty, builds pedals!

 

[PJS]

I just love that he is playing some Kings X riffs. It does sound very good

 

[mkstewartesq]

I just love that he is playing some Kings X riffs. It does sound very good

Pretty interesting that he’s playing a lot of Queen riffs and solos as well. At first, the cocked wah sounds made me think of the Rockman Ultimatum Distortion but then once he got into those Brian May licks, it revealed itself as a very credible facsimile of a treble booster running into a Deacy amp.

Mike

 

[music6000]

Pretty interesting that he’s playing a lot of Queen riffs and solos as well. At first, the cocked wah sounds made me think of the Rockman Ultimatum Distortion but then once he got into those Brian May licks, it revealed itself as a very credible facsimile of a treble booster running into a Deacy amp.

Mike

I own one, it has Level, Bass, Treble, Cut, & Gain
It has been labelled by users as being in the DMBL camp but the Cut control doesn't Cut as you would expect, it cuts when you turn CCW & increases CW. It has a fair amount of Gain on Tap but I like to keep it in the lower half of the Gain pot.
The description given for this control is to Brighten Dark Amps or Darken Bright Amps but between the three EQ controls you can turn it into a Treble Booster if that's what you want, It doesn't appear to be a clone of any other Circuit out there!

 

[nickjburke]

Agreed. The cut control has a really big range but only on the absolute highs. Fully CW it's super sharp and 'icepickey' through my fender amp. There's some weird sounds you can create by sweeping the cut with the treble up, bass down.

 

[Feral Feline]

Thank you, Nick, for sending the pedal to Robert.

There are so many bands Down Under that I like as well as so many great Australian pedal-builders I just love.

Must be something in the water…

 

[LuvDemEffects]

Hi all,
thanks for having me! I've joined to seek some advice.
My absolute favourite pedal has been murdered by a friend who plugged in a centre-negative power supply. It's a no longer available Imagine DD-1. It still powers up the LED and switches to bypass (these are separate to the board obviously). However, when switched to overdrive, the signal is incredibly quiet. The pots all still do the same jobs but to get any signal I have to max the volume and the signal/noise ratio is awful.
Currently it's useless to me, I can't buy a replacement, and no-one near me can repair it. So, I'll have a crack myself. But it's been gooped all over with epoxy.
I'd love some tips on removing the goop and any guidance as to which components to start looking at first, given how it was damaged and is now behaving.
See pics attached.
Any advice would be much appreaciated!

Having nearly the exact issue with mine, sounds like there is some weak conductivity between the signal path and ground, comes through as white noise even when bypassed (footswitch), which is strange to me if this is a true bypass configuration. Was thinking about replacing the footswitch to see if that cleans it up at all, also noticing the low volume effect you refer to unless everything is cranked. Did you ever find out what the problem was with the original circuit? It looks like @Robert was able to trace the circuit, did that lead to a successful recreation to restore your pedal to original functionality?

 

[LuvDemEffects]

This is the first time I have seen this discussion.
I have owned mine new since 2011, It's a great sounding pedal but it's huge like a BK Butler tube driver.

View attachment 62073

@music6000 I recently picked this pedal up out of curiosity, and frankly because it looks really cool. I am a big fan of the basic black/white/primary(&secondary) color palate on musical equipment like this. It seems like there is very limited information on this pedal since South Wave Audio stopped supporting it and shut down their Imagine Overdrive Website. I am trying to solve what appears to be the same problem as @nickjburke with low volume and high (white) noise ratio. That said i have been boosting the signal going in with a Tube Screamer to get a useable audio signal at the output, and really like the way it colours the sound (pun intended!). I also found that a slight analog delay on the output accentuates the crunch on higher "cut" settings. Would love to hear more about how you get the most out of your pedals capabilities.