Flip-in-the-Works: Maxon OD808, the Pre-Tubescreamer

So, Maxon pedals aren't new to me...I've owned a couple through the years and am impressed at the build quality, the ability to put a big circuit in a small package, and somehow...the fact that people sell "non-working" pedals when a few minutes' maintenance would have solved the problem quite quickly.

So I didn't hesitate when someone was selling a "kinda working" OD808 for $45 shipped online. Their description was that the sound sometimes cuts out and the knobs sound scratchy. Seems to me like the potentiometers need a little cleaning out...the same issue with the AD80 I fixed not too long ago! And flipped!

The pedal came in just yesterday and I had a chance to open it on 4/17. Actually ended up being a more complicated fix, but stupidly, I didn't photograph the journey. But here's what I did:

1. Started by lubricating the pots to eliminate scratchiness. I noticed after playing through the pedal that there was definite potentiometer scratching in there. So I went to work lubing the pots.
2. I noticed there was some "play" when I pulled on the potentiometer shaft, more than normal, which led me to believe that the potentiometers were actually PCB-mounted. Makes sense in such a complicated but compact pedal (picture below of the inside of an OD808 and a PCB-mounted potentiometer).
3. Inspected the potentiometers. Sure enough, a couple of them were not fully tightened down. On some potentiometers, the shaft and threads are held on by some bent metal, which had loosened and allowed the whole metal piece to separate slightly from the rest of the potentiometer, resulting in sometimes the pot would spin without changing anything. It took about 15 minutes to solve the problem and have the pots clamped down properly and with the correct rotation movement, but I got there!
4. Reassembled the pedal, spun the potentiometers a few dozen times to loosen any oxidation, and tested it out.

Perfect! The fix worked like a charm. Now, for the low-low cost of $45, I have a pedal that's fully working perfectly, that usually costs $150 new. Woo!

And this will be my next flip. I simply cannot resist selling things that can likely double my investment!

~C

Fixing the Maxon AD-80, and an Important Lesson About Upkeep

So, a few days ago the Maxon AD-80 showed up in my mailbox, along with the DOD 280 pedal. Here are the real pictures:


Both in pretty good condition, and not too shabby at $65 shipped.

Unfortunately, the Maxon didn't work correctly out of the box. There are 2 output jacks, see here:

(ignore the chunky fingers.)

See how one jack has the word "amplifier" and the word "dry" by it? Yeah, that's messed up. Truth be told, what it is trying to say is that the right jack is fully dry, and if you use both jacks into separate amps, it'll put the dry signal in one jack and the wet signal in the other, but if you just plug in to the left jack, you'll get the wet and dry signal. Get it? Got it. I made that mistake and thought it wasn't working at all. Moving on...

Plugged into the right jack, I could see what the seller was saying about it being out of whack. After all, I would turn the blend knob and barely get any delayed signal. But here's the big giveaway:

It crackled when I turned the knob.

Any experienced pedal tech knows what the crackle means. And it comes down to the mechanics of the potentiometer that the knob turns.

A potentiometer is basically a variable resistor that is controlled by a small metallic sweeper that moves with the potentiometer's shaft (which is then connected to the knob), which increases the distance from a static metallic sweeper to the mobile sweeper, hence increasing the distance and therefore the resistance. Ok, with me so far? Good.

Over time, especially when the knobs are not regularly turned, the inside of the potentiometer oxidizes, gets dirty, and whatever else, causing the connection between the mobile sweeper and the pad controlling the amount of resistance to go bad. In most cases, it just kills the connection entirely, effectively "turning off a switch" between the 2 lugs of the potentiometer (or 3, but that'll be covered later). Sometimes, the connection is so weak that it has its own resistance or doesn't send the signal well, causing discrepancies in the audio. Any time a pedal tech turns a knob and hears a crackle, their first thought is "dirty pot." Seriously!

There are a number of products with their own cheering (or booing) sections on how to resolve the issue, but the main issue is to clean and lubricate the connection so that it will continue to operate properly. Since most pots are fully enclosed, oil-based lubricants/cleaners are best, because they will pick up the particles as they are cleaned off and won't rust/oxidize the insides. My go-to is typically either Liquid Wrench or WD-40. I know there are a lot of techs who are against using WD-40 as it causes some chemical reactions and may (emphasis on may) wear out the pots more quickly. However, I'm not dealing with a Klon Centaur or any multi-thousand dollar digital effects pedal, and potentiometers are cheap and replaceable, so I go with an easy fix that works and has never failed me.

UPDATE: I was doing some research to support that WD40 is an effective contact cleaner, and while I believe it is, and folks seemed to support that, products like DeOxIt tend to have less corrosive and more lubricative ingredients, lessening wear and improving life (see here here and here). I'll probably get it eventually if I do more pedal tech, but I won't hesitate to use WD40.

A short application of the WD40 (which was also a great adhesive residue remover, I'll have to write that down...) and the pot was moving smoothly. Plugged it back in and it worked perfectly, no issues at all. Really great sounding pedal. Very warm and organic. Provides a bit of lushness similar to analog choruses at the right setting.

Consequently, I've fallen in love with the pedal, but the chance for quick profit is tempting. I've put it up for sale on Reverb and Craigslist and I'll leave it there for a couple weeks and see if there are any bites. If yes, great, if not, I'll keep it. The DOD is up there too. I definitely bought that to flip it, but I've always wanted to own one for a brief time just to see how the opticals work.

Other Features Coming Soon

All,

I wanted to share some additional thoughts regarding how this blog will eventually end up. Obviously, if I only focused on flips, I probably would have some dry spells...and with my family about to grow, it's likely that would really happen! So, to augment that content with other valuable information, I'll also be making some posts regarding pedals I used to own, my current loadout, and other gear-related posts. So, for example, I'll talk about what my current pedals are, what I've done to them, and what I think about how they work. I might include some video reviews, but I don't consider myself the greatest electric guitar player, so the jury is still out on that one.

I can also talk about the tech work I do on guitars and pedals on occasion. Sometimes a flip involves buying a pedal that isn't up to par, for a good price, and fixing it back up and selling it. Sometimes I'll buy a guitar that needs solder work, or new hardware. I'll post more about what I'm actually doing to the gear, to help those of you who are interested in learning more about the tech side of gear ownership. Finally, I do build pedals and guitars from time-to-time, so expect some build threads and commentary as I go through with that. I'm making new categories now to reflect all of that, so stay tuned for new content. I plan to post at least 1-2 posts per week. Keep me to that!

~C