DAJE
Well-known member
I don't like footswitch breakout boards and don't use them, because if something goes wrong with the footswitch, you're screwed. Like now.
I'm using them now because I bought a couple of Aion boards and they're built in, I can't just use the footswitch because there's some other circuitry on the board too. Specifically, it's an Aion Deimos, a Tonebender M2, which I like because it has internal trimpots for dialing in the transistors.
I have successfully built one for myself, but this one is for a friend, and I was in a rush to finish it last night and I'm pretty sure I killed the 3PDT with too much heat. I'm in the southern hemisphere, it's summer, and I was surprised by how hot the switch was after I finished it. And... pedal no work. It works in bypass. LED works. It passes signal when it's on, but very quietly, and not at all fuzzy. Checking continuity, everything is connected to the ground. Including everything that isn't meant to be connected to ground. So that's no good.
Anyway, pretty certain it's the footswitch, specifically the right 3 lugs, which are all connected at the same time when the pedal is on. I compared that to my working pedal and that's not what the good one does.
Getting to the point: how screwed am I? I can try desoldering the switch from the breakout board but that's not easy - I've tried it before and failed. I'm more practiced at sucking solder now but I still don't feel confident that I can get the switch off without destroying the board.
My other option is to try to figure out how to wire the main board directly to a new switch and incorporate the LED wiring (do-able) and the extra diode and capacitor (maybe). Bypass the breakout board entirely. I think I might be able to figure out how to do that, but if anyone wants to draw me a diagram that'd be very helpful indeed. I think this is actually a better option, but it may be beyond me.
I'm using them now because I bought a couple of Aion boards and they're built in, I can't just use the footswitch because there's some other circuitry on the board too. Specifically, it's an Aion Deimos, a Tonebender M2, which I like because it has internal trimpots for dialing in the transistors.
I have successfully built one for myself, but this one is for a friend, and I was in a rush to finish it last night and I'm pretty sure I killed the 3PDT with too much heat. I'm in the southern hemisphere, it's summer, and I was surprised by how hot the switch was after I finished it. And... pedal no work. It works in bypass. LED works. It passes signal when it's on, but very quietly, and not at all fuzzy. Checking continuity, everything is connected to the ground. Including everything that isn't meant to be connected to ground. So that's no good.
Anyway, pretty certain it's the footswitch, specifically the right 3 lugs, which are all connected at the same time when the pedal is on. I compared that to my working pedal and that's not what the good one does.
Getting to the point: how screwed am I? I can try desoldering the switch from the breakout board but that's not easy - I've tried it before and failed. I'm more practiced at sucking solder now but I still don't feel confident that I can get the switch off without destroying the board.
My other option is to try to figure out how to wire the main board directly to a new switch and incorporate the LED wiring (do-able) and the extra diode and capacitor (maybe). Bypass the breakout board entirely. I think I might be able to figure out how to do that, but if anyone wants to draw me a diagram that'd be very helpful indeed. I think this is actually a better option, but it may be beyond me.