HELP from pedal builders / modders please - FV-500L

Gadget

Hoping for a little help here, please, from those in the know...

Yesterday I undertook what should have been (!) a simple Vertex mod to my Boss FV-500L Volume Pedal, as detailed here https://www.vertexeffects.com/blog/DIY-Volume-Pedal-Mod-FV500L

I cleanly removed the ribbon cable, as shown in my first picture (below).

As instructed, I then soldered a shunt across the right-hand four wires on the reverse of the board, as shown in my second pic. I'm pretty sure I was careful enough not to solder to the left pin, yet when I tested for continuity between the supposedly (?) isolated left pin and the shunt, I got continuity not isolation.

As you can see, I have tried further isolating the two with a neddle file, but still it reads continuity.

What did I do wrong?

ICBM

What you did wrong was to do a bullshit ‘mod’ which doesn’t actually improve anything.

Put it back to stock.

sweepy

What’s actually wrong with the Boss FV500 anyway ? 

ICBM

sweepy said:

What’s actually wrong with the Boss FV500 anyway ? 

Nothing. But the guy at Vertex believes that having an extra pot in series with the main one (which when set to zero is a dead short and so doesn’t change anything) and an extra jack (which also doesn’t change anything when nothing is connected to it), somehow alters the tone, and that removing these makes the pedal more ‘transparent’.

It makes no difference to the sound whatever.

sweepy

ICBM said:

sweepy said:

What’s actually wrong with the Boss FV500 anyway ? 

Nothing. But the guy at Vertex believes that having an extra pot in series with the main one (which when set to zero is a dead short and so doesn’t change anything) and an extra jack (which also doesn’t change anything when nothing is connected to it), somehow alters the tone, and that removing these makes the pedal more ‘transparent’.

It makes no difference to the sound whatever.

Ahhhh, more Snake Oil then

ICBM

Yes, and unfortunately Gadget has been hoodwinked into damaging a perfectly good pedal.

Sorry, reading it back now my first reply comes across as a bit too dismissive...

If fact, I think the reason for the continuity reading is that the input jack has a grounding switch in it. Try testing it with a patch cable plugged into the input.

Putting it back to stock won’t be that easy - without the right tool, stripping that ribbon cable so you can get it back into the holes is very fiddly. It can be done with a sharp knife and a steady hand though.

If you never used the range knob or the tuner output the pedal will actually work just as well with them removed... but it won’t sound any different from simply setting the knob to zero.

What's truly ridiculous about this "mod" is that if you really don't want to use the range control or the tuner output, you can disable them in exactly the same way *without* damaging the pedal by cutting the ribbon cable off. All you need to do is bridge those four contacts, and snip the J1 link wire in the middle so you could easily re-solder it.

Gadget

reply not working...

Gadget

Thanks for the replies and concern for my mental state

I am was aware of the debate surrounding the benefits (or otherwise) of doing this mod before I did it.

I have done it for a few reasons, whether you agree with them or not.

Firstly, I don’t need the min/max pot or tuner out, so am not losing functionality.

Secondly, I can see some value in the principal that having less unnecessary circuitry in the path is a good thing.

Thirdly, it’s a second-hand pedal I got for £40, so it’s not like I’m tinkering around inside a Timeline.

Fourthly and most importantly, endorsee Scott Henderson (not that I am a fan, but he’s a pro who knows his stuff tone-wise) and many others on various other forums I’ve read, swear they can tell a positive difference after the mod, hearing an improvement in clarity depending on where in the chain it goes. In most post-buffer positions it won't make any difference, but at the front of the board, following a passive guitar, it might. Like any mod, YMMV.

-

@ICBM Thank you for the info re. the input jack. I inserted a lead into ‘Input 1’ and indeed, continuity across the shunt / left pin ceased, so it seems my soldering was okay after all.

ICBM

You can’t put a FV-500L at the start of the chain, it's a low-impedance pedal and would suck tone enormously. You need a FV500H for that.

There is *no* difference with this "mod". None. Trust me on this... it's simple electrics/physics.

All that you're doing is shorting the range pot connections to ground (which eliminates any possible effect of the ribbon cable capacitance anyway, even if you left it in place) and disconnecting the tuner output, which is not connected to anything anyway.

If there is the slightest possibility that the tuner pedal connection could add the most microscopic amount of stray capacitance, snipping J1 would fix that, without removing the ribbon cable.

But... this pedal is only suitable for use after a buffer anyway and hence stray capacitance does not make any difference.

The "improvement" is total bullshit, like almost everything related to Vertex.

impmann

Who to believe - Mason from Vertex who's fairly well known for lying about stuff and not really knowing what he's talking about or ICBM, who isn't and knows his stuff.

Your choice, chap - good luck with that. :-)

joeyowen

I did the mod to mine out of curiosity.

Naff all different really!

Original thread with pics:

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/24315/

TateFX

Looks like it should still work? Have you actually plugged in and tried it? 

aord43

The only true way to test is a blind test between a modded and an unmodded, with everything else identical including guitar, amp and what you play, and preferably double-blind where you have someone running the test and someone judging, and neither of them know which has the mod and which doesn't.

Sassafras

Controversy surrounding Vertex?
I can't believe it.

He's all hype.