Wah pedal woes...

Hey everyone, I got a Dimebag signature wah pedal about 6 months ago and already something is wrong with it. I had a Jim Dunlop crybaby before that and it also stopped woring one day...but my history with wah pedals aside i was wondering if anyone knew what was wrong with it and how to fix it? I didn't buy it in this country and Dunlop screwed me out of a warranty deal...im pretty lost.

basically when i put the battery (new, and i've tried a 9V plug) and the lead in the input jack the green LED (on) doesn't light up. However, there is a booster function on the side which also has an LED, when I press the booster it lights up fine. But no green LED. I looked inside and saw no loose connections or anything wrong like that that I could see. What should I do? do you think a music store would be able to fix it easily or would it cost an arm and a leg? is there any DIY way of doing it? apart from the fact that its not going on I have no clue what is wrong with it. Any help is very appreciated.

Thanks!

Dispy

ps - forgot to tell you, there is two input sockets...tried both of them and neither are lighting up the green LED.

Does the wah work OK? If it does, then it shouldn't be too difficult to find the problem, if you have some tech experience, a multimeter, a soldering iron, solder, desoldering materials and an LED of your choice (if it's the LED that's shot, then you can replace it with a cooler one, like glowing blue!).

Here's what I would do:[list=1]

Start a thread on GuitarTricks Forum (I'm being serious). Oh, and maybe start one in Tech Talk ot try to get Lordathestrings' attention.

Open up the wah and be [u]very[/u] careful to remember where everything went.

Figure out which points the LED is soldered to.

If I had a multimeter I would use it to test the leads of the LED. Since I don't, I'd take a battery, two wires and hook them up to the LED.

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If the LED didn't light up when I attached it directly to a battery:[list=1]

I'd crack open a cold one and get down to business by plugging in the soldering iron.

Enjoy a few sips while waiting for the iron to heat up.

Alright, time to get out the desoldering braid.

Desolder the LED.

Throw it out and curse Dunlop (although I haven't had my wah bug out on me yet, so they're still in my good books).

Insert the new LED (I'd get a cool blue one!).

Use my primitive soldering methods and affix the LED.

Close everything up.

Plug in - it's time to test this puppy out!

Open the whole thing up again when I realize I've done something wrong.

Finally fix it after multiple attempts.

Beam in utter joyfulness.

[/list=1]
If the LED lit up when I attached it directly to a battery:[list=1]

I would panic, since my tech abilities would limit me to replacing the LED, not diagnosing and repairing the actual wah circuitry.

Frantically post on GuitarTricks demanding assistance.

Cry like a little baby.

[/list=1]

haha thanks for the reply man! unfortunately i dont have any soldering gear or tech experience with those boards :(

Also, the wah doesnt work at all,its not just the LED's problem (at first i thought it was) something is bust in the wah :( not sure what to do with it, it doesnt look likeanything has come loose or anything, its just not workinganymore :( im guessing a tech at a music shop might know what to do but i dont want to have to pay the riches of eygpt to get it fixed :P think im gonna cry like a baby now :P


thanks again though!

Dispy

I now own a mid-70's Dunlop JH-1 wah because my previous unit (which shall remain nameless) quit when I was in no mood to deal with it rationally. I jumped up and down on it (hey, it's a [u]stompbox[/u] right?)!!!

This was not a successful troubleshooting technique, so unfortunately, I do not have any (helpful) personal experience to offer you.

There are reasons that there are service techs in this world - my own theory is that they evolved as nature's response to the genetic perversity that produced incompetent design engineers! :rolleyes:

LOL totally agree :)
my wah pedal is armoured like a tank as well, dunno why the boards screwed up (which im guessing is the problem) what happened? a piece of dust landed on one of the components so Jim Dunlop decides that if that happens the whole thing will shutdown...damn i dunno, but it is surrounded by steel and shouldnt break so damn easily.

second wah to crap out on me :( damn wahs, might think twice bout using them, but my band has a great song that involves some wah. daggnabbit!

thanks for the advice guys!

Dispy