TC Electronics Service - Any thoughts

Travisthedog

My spark boost footswicth has given up the ghost and now simply spraying contact cleaner into it no longer works

I think this is my oldest pedal and it looks it. It's rusty chipped, and covered in a thick layer of stage smeg. So for sentimental reasons I'd rather not bin it and replace, though I may have to. 

Anyone here used the TC service centres at all, good/bad experiences?

Ta

not_the_dj

I'm sure I've read someone on here saying it's not economical to replace the switches on them.

If you do want to replace it I've one I don't use, full size not the mini....(trying not to make this sound like a sales pitch but failing).

Travisthedog

Epic fail mate 

(How much)

ICBM

Last time I checked, TC want a minimum £65 to even look at it, plus parts, return postage and VAT, and then another £65 per hour if it's more than that (although I would expect it not to be for changing a switch). It will very rapidly become cheaper just to buy a new one and is already borderline in the first place, which I suspect is the point.

If you really like the pedal I would buy another one second hand.

Danny1969

I can replace the switch but it's not cheap at around £30 plus the shipping both ways

If it's the normal TC footswitch pushes on a spring and that pushes the microswitch on the PCB then you can normally prolong the life by stiffening up the spring ... that makes it push on the switch harder but eventually the switch will fail completely 

crunchman

ICBM said:

Last time I checked, TC want a minimum £65 to even look at it, plus parts, return postage and VAT, and then another £65 per hour if it's more than that (although I would expect it not to be for changing a switch). It will very rapidly become cheaper just to buy a new one and is already borderline in the first place, which I suspect is the point.

If you really like the pedal I would buy another one second hand.

Sounds about right.  I think you will also have to pay postage there and back, which will probably need to be recorded delivery.  That will probably add another £10 or more to the price.

TateFX

I think from memory its a tactile switch on the PCB. You might be able to replace it yourself easy enough. 

However paying someone to do it will be come not worth it as they are so cheap on the second hand market. 

jpfamps

ICBM said:

Last time I checked, TC want a minimum £65 to even look at it, plus parts, return postage and VAT, and then another £65 per hour if it's more than that (although I would expect it not to be for changing a switch). It will very rapidly become cheaper just to buy a new one and is already borderline in the first place, which I suspect is the point.

If you really like the pedal I would buy another one second hand.

And they don't give support to independent repairers either.

Mind you that's better than EH that neither repair items out of warranty, nor give support to independent repairers.

For what it's worth we at the moment charge £22 + parts for pedal repairs, and even some repairs are economically marginal.

You also need to be a aware that broken pedals can be sold on eBay for surprisingly large amounts which can offset the cost of buying a new pedal.