DigiTech Circuit Boards?

Hi guys.

So, I was going through all of my miscellaneous gear that I've tucked away and left to rot, or get better with age... Anyway, I came across two of my DigiTech pedals, the DigiDelay and the DigiVerb, both of which crapped out long ago. Having just had a phenominal experience with Peterson tech support on my Strobostomp, I decided to give DigiTech a jingle to see if there was some advice they could give me to try and fix the pedals. Their terse reply was, "call a service center."

In contrast, Petersen sent me an email in less than 12 hours with some suggestions and then plopped a new circuit board in the mail for me to try. Free.

Anyway, I wanted to find out if y'all might know if there's a way to just get the finished circuit board for these DigiTech pedals? I don't want to send it to the service center and pay a $60 minimum on a pedal that costs $90 new.

Secondarily, if any smart guys have any suggestions on how to test to see what is wrong with the pedals would be cool. I love to tinker and these things are already toast, so, what's the harm? :)

Thanks!

UPDATE:

So, I started tinkering with the delay. I broke out the multimeter and just started randomly testing solder points. Everything was getting 9 volts. Next I plugged in a 1/4" cable and the led blinked. As I recall, this is what it's supposed to do when it gets power. So, I knew that at least power was getting to the led.

Anyway, I figured out that it's the switch. DigiTech has put these little tactile switches on their boards that are bumped by a rubber post attached to the actual pedal. Seems wonky. This little guy feels kinda loose. It occasionally activates the led if I press real hard and wiggle a bit. I assume this means it's bad or in need of replacement.

The challenge now is figuring out what kind of switch to use to replace this one. I can't seem to find any schematics. In addition, the tactile switches that I've found so far all have 4 posts on them, whereas this one only has two. Does anyone know what the heck to use?

How about putting that pedal board in a new box so you can put a regular stompbutton and just solder two cables to the switch and to the board or mess around with the 4 pin and eliminate 2 pins.good luck!

UPDATE:
Anyway, I figured out that it's the switch. DigiTech has put these little tactile switches on their boards that are bumped by a rubber post attached to the actual pedal. Seems wonky. This little guy feels kinda loose. It occasionally activates the led if I press real hard and wiggle a bit. I assume this means it's bad or in need of replacement.

The challenge now is figuring out what kind of switch to use to replace this one. I can't seem to find any schematics. In addition, the tactile switches that I've found so far all have 4 posts on them, whereas this one only has two. Does anyone know what the heck to use?

Yeah, that sure sounds like the switch has broken on the inside. I've replaced several of these switches, though not in a Digitech product. Good news is they are easy to replace, assuming it's not too tight to get in there with soldering tools. Also they only cost about twenty cents. You're right...the trick is finding the right fit and function out of thousands of parts. I measured the dimensions of mine and filtered the search on Digikey accordingly. It wasn't too bad.

Yeah, that sure sounds like the switch has broken on the inside. I've replaced several of these switches, though not in a Digitech product. Good news is they are easy to replace, assuming it's not too tight to get in there with soldering tools. Also they only cost about twenty cents. You're right...the trick is finding the right fit and function out of thousands of parts. I measured the dimensions of mine and filtered the search on Digikey accordingly. It wasn't too bad.

Yikes. I just looked on DigiKey. That's quite an assortment. I just popped off an email to DigiTech to see if they can give me some idea of what to get and where.

If you do identify the part or a suitable replacement would you mind reporting back? I've got a few Digitech stompers, and although they are all working fine now, I'll throw a couple of these switches in on my next parts order from Digi-Key just to have on hand.

Will do Big John Studd. I'm going to call the factory on Monday morning to order the parts, or at least get some more info.

I ordered a bunch of these switches very cheaply directly from the Digitech website.

Looks like the link was http://outlet.digitech.com but its not working for me today so I'm not sure if it is still available. They had a lot of parts including input jacks. A while ago, I ordered quite a few parts just to have them.

Cool! If that fails and you can get a good close up photo of the switch, I'll help you wade through 4000 tactile switches on Digi-Key if I can.

Hey Big John,

Here's a pic. This is the switch from the verb pedal. They look the same and are both two pin. It's hard to tell from the vantage point, but it measures 6mm across.

Oh man, looks like it's a surface mount part. They can be tricky to get off. We used to use two people and two irons to remove a part like that...one guy would hit each solder point with an iron while the other guy lifted it off. Certainly doable though. I'll take a look through the catalog and see if there's a match.

Not to resurrect an old thread, but I just wanted to give an update and ask another question. After having little luck finding the surface mount switches that I wanted, I came up with the brilliant idea (harked from someone else) of wiring up a tougher switch. So, I went to Radio Shack and wired up a rather robust switch. Not being a very knowledgeable tinkerer, I can say that it's reminiscent of the type of switch in an Ernie Ball wah. It clicks when you press it. It has two (rather robust) wires attached...

So, long story short, it works in activating the reverb pedal. However, now I have a faint, high-pitched tone that comes through whether the pedal is on or not. Is this an issue caused by the type of switch? Maybe rigging up the enormous wires from the switch to the tiny little holes in the circuit board?

In my experience, the Digitech pedals are power hogs. Mine make that high pitched noise when on a daisy chain power supply with other pedals. Connecting it to its own power supply usually fixes it.

Good advice HoneyCreek. They were on a Gator G Bus power supply. Maybe I'll try them with batteries first to eliminate the possibility.