TC Arena stopped working HELP!

rockmonster

I don’t know what it is about TC Electronic and me but this is the 3rd dodgy pedal I’ve had of theirs! Arena reverb- bought on here used a little while back -I like it but it no longer switches on, started out making interference noises now stopped completely! Anyone on here able to fix it?

ICBM

Unlikely. I've stopped even bothering accepting for repair assessment, since it's rare that it's anything other than a waste of ten minutes to open them up and have a look - even if it's something apparently simple like the switch, it's rarely economical to fix them. (In practice even changing the switch is a pig.) TC Electronics don't really want to know either - they want something like £65 to even look at it, not counting the repair cost.

Best plan - bin it and never buy another TC product. They are probably the most unreliable brand I can think of, I think worse than Electro-Harmonix. The fact that you've had three which have failed says enough.

jpttaylor

I'm still amazed that TC have done nothing to remedy the problem with these switches or haven't addressed the issue. Pedal switches are mechanical moving parts that have a limited number of cycles before they can break, but they're easily replaceable parts for most pedal makers. I can't think of any reason or benefit to using a switch hardwired to the circuit board.

There's something quite distasteful in a company being so open about their products having a built in obsolescence. It's not as if everyone else has flawless customer services, but at least there's usually an effort to engage and help people out at a reasonable price. I'd probably have a T2 reverb and an Alter Ego otherwise because they sound brilliant, but using tactics like this to just shift more pedals is just wrong.

ICBM

jpttaylor said:

I'm still amazed that TC have done nothing to remedy the problem with these switches or haven't addressed the issue. Pedal switches are mechanical moving parts that have a limited number of cycles before they can break, but they're easily replaceable parts for most pedal makers. I can't think of any reason or benefit to using a switch hardwired to the circuit board.

It makes them cheaper to manufacture.

Actually it's not just TC - most pedal makers do put them on PCBs now, although a lot use a separate 'daughter board' which makes it marginally easier to replace the switch - although still a pain, especially with a through-plated board.

Part of the problem is the modern fashion for true bypass and mechanical click switches - regardless of whether the switch is actually used to directly switch the signal - they are simply unreliable. The problem was solved forty years ago - by using a soft switch to operate electronic switching. Why mass-manufactured pedals have returned to the older flawed technology I really don't know. (Other than it being purely fashion.)

jpttaylor said:

There's something quite distasteful in a company being so open about their products having a built in obsolescence. It's not as if everyone else has flawless customer services, but at least there's usually an effort to engage and help people out at a reasonable price. I'd probably have a T2 reverb and an Alter Ego otherwise because they sound brilliant, but using tactics like this to just shift more pedals is just wrong.

Agreed, although it may not be a deliberate policy as much as that the pedals are genuinely not economically repairable because of the way they're made, exactly because the manufacturing method makes them cheaper to make.

timbuk02

For what its worth, after seeking FB advice I brought a TC switch back to life with some Maplins contact cleaner. So its worth a shot. Maybe TC should supply a sachet as standard...

rockmonster

timbuk02 said:

For what its worth, after seeking FB advice I brought a TC switch back to life with some Maplins contact cleaner. So its worth a shot. Maybe TC should supply a sachet as standard...

Well I’ll give it a whirl! Thanks! 

crunchman

ICBM said:

Unlikely. I've stopped even bothering accepting for repair assessment, since it's rare that it's anything other than a waste of ten minutes to open them up and have a look - even if it's something apparently simple like the switch, it's rarely economical to fix them. (In practice even changing the switch is a pig.) TC Electronics don't really want to know either - they want something like £65 to even look at it, not counting the repair cost.

Best plan - bin it and never buy another TC product. They are probably the most unreliable brand I can think of, I think worse than Electro-Harmonix. The fact that you've had three which have failed says enough.

I've had all kinds of problems with them as well.

From memory £65 is probably the bottom end.  When I had my second broken Nova Delay (the first one had the decency to break before the warranty ran out) their authorised service centre was £65 per hour plus VAT i.e. £78 per hour.  You would have to pay for any parts on top of that, and you have to pay the shipping both ways as well.

What was really revealing is that there is an electronics repair place about 3 miles from me that was the previous authorised repair centre for TC.  They wouldn't touch it.

rockmonster

Crunchman: said

What was really revealing is that there is an electronics repair place about 3 miles from me that was the previous authorised repair centre for TC.  They wouldn't touch it.

That’s interesting

Jimbro66

Similar tale: A TC Hall of Fame reverb failed just after the warranty expired. Couldn't find anyone to repair it but sending it to TC wouldn't have given much change out of £100. Amazon had a £75 offer on the Polara reverb so a no-brainer. I'm not sure I'd bother with TC again.

rockmonster

Jimbro66 said:

Similar tale: A TC Hall of Fame reverb failed just after the warranty expired. Couldn't find anyone to repair it but sending it to TC wouldn't have given much change out of £100. Amazon had a £75 offer on the Polara reverb so a no-brainer. I'm not sure I'd bother with TC again.

I’m not buying anything TC again that’s for sure!