Undulator Tremolo troubles

Feral Feline

Feral Feline

Well-known member
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This Xvive tremolo pedal was relegated to being a paperweight because of an intermittent signal problem.

Instead of getting it fixed at the pro-shop, my friend gave it to me. Well, what good is it to me if it doesn't work?
So...

I've tasked myself with fixing it.

JOB 1
Pull it all apart.

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Easier said than done.

The PCBs are thin and super-flexy. If there wasn't a crack in a solder-joint there are sure to be dozens now after trying to separate the main board from the jacks-daughterboard.

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The gap between the pin-header and the board grew as I tried to pry the boards apart, NOT the anticipated female/male pin-headers.
Is this thing crazy-glued together? Trying to pry it apart, I realised maybe the header-pins have no female counterpart, and I'm trying to take apart something that needs heat and a solder-sucker.

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Note how the gap between pin-header plastic and PCB has widened, while the "Crack" between the "male/female" pin-headers has not?

Any Xvive-xperienced people out there. Have any of you ever been Xvive-xperienced?

I don't want to make this a scavenger parts-pedal (though free vactrols are tempting));
supposedly the only thing wrong is the intermittent jack problem.


Looks like I've got to desolder. *sigh*



Advice?
 
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That's above my paygrade.

If someone handed that to me and said have at it, no schematic, I would take the boards apart. Two double sided smd boards? Turn it into a project to work on between projects! Trace out a rough schematic, figure out the circuit blocks, try to get it running.

But that's just me, I love puzzles. YMMV

If you can't get it fixed send the separated boards to the pro shop.

I'm sure there are ppl here more knowledgeable than I that could chime in.
 
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A little lemon juice from a dropper will dissolve super glue.
I'd continuity test the header before disassembling it.
The common fail items on those inexpensive Amazon pedals are:
- Jacks and stomp switches from casual use
- Pots from getting dropped and the shaft breaking the internal resistive trace
- Using with more than 9VDC supplied, on modulation type effects knocks out the VFO
 
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Thanks andrewsrea.

I've communicated with its owner and it is apparently the input-jack that is running afoul if one so much as looks at it the wrong way — the only way to access that jack is to desolder the two boards, IIRC. I'll take a closer look at it later today and do some more testing before any invasive surgery.
 
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@Robert What brand of tip/iron are you using for the shovel/spatula tip?

Last time I checked, there were no T18 shovel-tips for my 888D... hmm, checking.

All I can find now are T12, T15 tips for Hakko. Also C245...

I've got an old Goot, I think 60w, which I couldn't find replacement tips for it when I needed one — Goot replacement tips for every other Goot except the one I have.

Also have a couple generic-I-don't-know-what solder-pencils I got for ... field repairs, remote locations...
 
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I think you want/need an iron where the heating element is integrated into the tip itself, rather than in the handle.

The tip I use is the Pace 1130-0501-P1, I use it with a Pace ADS200.

I think the Hakko equivalent would be something like the FX-971.
 
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Apologies for the derailment here...please don't mind me.

What a coincidence!!

A friend of mine picked up a vintage Stencil amp (The logo fell off, but it looks like a 'Vagabond' possibly Sears/Eatons) Classic 60's 70's Made in Canada, like a Garnet combo with a Tremolo.

He doesn't play guitar so he gave it to me today, and was thinking about starting up a thread for it.

I've never built one, and have been Thinking about doing an EA Tremolo build for awhile now to get my head into the game.

Unfortunately the Tremolo isn't working at all on this little combo amp, the amp runs ok. The cool thing is the Tremolo knob/pot is actually an on/off switch style. That's it, just a Tremolo knob, no input for a footswitch, nothing, no intensity or rate controls...??

It's got a couple IC's and Tropical fish caps, I am gonna post about it soon, no idea how to troubleshoot it but my head is currently in Tremolo land.

Sending good vibes your way!!

Hope you can get yours running!!! I've had a hard time repairing those micro pedals, especailyl broken mini toggles, you gotta bust them apart to de-solder the pins individually.

That is all, ok, over and out.
 
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I thought the Vagabonds were sold at Eatons (RIP), didn't know they might be sold at Sears, too (I would think Sears would want a different "Brand" to sell from its rival).

I've been looking for a deal on a Garnet for some time, stencils included. A friend has some cabs and a Session Man; his cousin was a friend of the Gillies, apparently. I've managed to get a Traynor, bought it off a friend who decided to move it on after he stopped gigging... (SO!? I don't gig, I don't even play guitar!). Anyway... if you come across a Garnet SLAVE, I'll be your slave to get it. Gotsta get me a SLAVE some day that I can run my bass-preamps into...
 
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Feral Feline said:
I thought the Vagabonds were sold at Eatons (RIP), didn't know they might be sold at Sears, too (I would think Sears would want a different "Brand" to sell from its rival).

I've been looking for a deal on a Garnet for some time, stencils included. A friend has some cabs and a Session Man; his cousin was a friend of the Gillies, apparently. I've managed to get a Traynor, bought it off a friend who decided to move it on after he stopped gigging... (SO!? I don't gig, I don't even play guitar!). Anyway... if you come across a Garnet SLAVE, I'll be your slave to get it. Gotsta get me a SLAVE some day that I can run my bass-preamps into...
Click to expand...

It would take serious hustle to get on the heels of a Garnet amp, maybe someone downtown knows a guy who knows a guy kind of thing. I'll put it on my radar for you.

A buddy of mine was asking me about building him a Garnet H-ZOG. I told him I'm not sure if I could build one from scratch, never built an amp, know enough to know I shouldn't, not at my level. Though it looks relatively simple. Clean wiring job to avoid any hum. We all know Fender amps can be the noiseiest amps you've ever heard.

Thought maybe I could build a Fender Champ 'Kit' and mod it into an H-ZOG. He wound up ordering himself an H-ZOG Reissue from the company in Winnipeg currently producing them, it wasn't too expensive and they're apparenlty building it for him on demand currenty. Their website looks like it's defunct format from the mid 1990's, and he was a bit unsure about it, but when you want something badly, you'll do what you gotta do.

He had given me some JBL's from the early 70's that he found in the box on the side of the road, and I had in my Traynor cab, recently pulled those out of the cab, because I didn't feel right keeping them, and told him to look up their value online. We both agree he's gotta take them back and we're going to build a cab for his new H-ZOG when it arrived.

All I got is a little practice 'RAM' amp but it's very tired.

I don't come across Garnet stuff, 20 years ago my friend inherited a little 2X12 Tube combo with a tremolo but I only ever heard it running once upon a time. The tremolo sounded beautiful.

Turns out I'm a real Traynor freak. The secret has been out of the bag for decades now, still not quite in the ballpark for Sunn amp kool aid prices just yet thankfully. Pretty sure there's a modern Sunn Beta Lead clone PCB build for a large Stomp box enclosure floating around in a few different forms out there.

Again, apoligies for digressing.
 
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