CryBaby Broken - any clues?

colourofsound

Sold it to a bloke and it was DOA, was fine when I tested it last.

as soon as you engage it it cuts the sound totally dead. Both on battery and power.

is this a common fault? Its a GCB95 bog standard affair.

any electric wizards that can give me any pointers, would be much appreciated. No obvious signs of failure when its cracked open.

lasermonkey

If it's a new one, it might be worth looking at the jack sockets. I repaired one that has a similar symptom and the fault was a broken PCB track, caused by one of the jack sockets taking some kind of shock.
I thought it was a bit of a poor design, to be honest.

ICBM

Could be the switch. Check it with a multimeter, it should be making contact from the output (purple wire) to the circuit (blue wire).

Also check the multi-pin connector hasn't come loose on the PCB, which it can if it's been dropped.

thermionic

You have it plugged in the right way round, right?

steamabacus

lasermonkey said:

If it's a new one, it might be worth looking at the jack sockets. I repaired one that has a similar symptom and the fault was a broken PCB track, caused by one of the jack sockets taking some kind of shock.
I thought it was a bit of a poor design, to be honest.

A friend of mine had this happen to his as well. I had a look at it for him and traced it to (if I remember) an intermittent contact where the power socket joins the board (I seem to remember it cut the connection for battery power too). I'm no electronics engineer but I managed to bodge it with some wiggling and then setting it in hot glue, which got it through a gig but it was always a bit dodgy thereafter.

The old ones with the separate sockets wired to the board were a lot more robust.

colourofsound

It all looks pretty okay to me, but I have no idea what I'm doing. The multipin plug was actually slightly disconnected but re-securing it made no difference.

Yes, I have it plugged in properly.

FelineGuitars

Battery ok? Battery clip ok? No wires snagged or caught? No loose wires? Do you have a pic?

colourofsound

colourofsound

colourofsound

lasermonkey

If you could show us the other (track) side of the circuit board, it would be a big help. You'll need to undo the jack socket nuts to remove it.

colourofsound

sure, will take it apart tonight.

steamabacus

Try giving the power input socket a bit of a gentle wiggle whilst putting a signal through the pedal (someone else playing, looper pedal or even propping the guitar up and strumming it gently with your other hand) and see if you can get the signal to return, even if momentarily).

thermionic

I would try, in order:

1) Check that power gets to the circuit

2) Check the switch is working

3) Plug into an amp, and follow the signal path backwards by tapping points with a small screwdriver until you don't hear a pop or click.

colourofsound

I've done all the wiggling and all that stuff. Took the board out last night and flipped it over; it looks pristine to me.

I have a multimeter but am unsure how to use it to check the things you're asking. Sorry for being a total numbnuts about these things!

ICBM

Do what thermionic said -

Plug in into the amp and a cable into the guitar side (doesn't need to have a guitar connected). Put the pedal where you don't have to touch it and you can get at the insides.

Make sure the pedal is turned on. (Check by touching the loose end of the guitar cable - you should get silence if the pedal is not working.)

With either your finger or a small screwdriver which you're holding with one finger on the shaft, touch the purple wire terminal on the switch - it should buzz through the amp since the pedal works when bypassed, so it can't be the output jack or the connections to it.

Touch the blue wire terminal - if it buzzes, the switch is OK. If it doesn't then the switch is broken.

If it's not the switch then it gets a bit more complicated… report back .

colourofsound

Both terminals buzz! So it's not the switch. The search continues! Thanks for all this boys. What a forum.