Why is my pedal not working & can I fix it?

VJIves

I have an Electro Faustus Guitar Disruptor, and while it allows sound to pass through it when the effect is not engaged, when I press the footswitch the led comes on but no sound does. The same thing happens if I power it by battery. Is this a relatively easy fix? Is something loose? Do I need to and vulture round Maplin? Thanks

aord43

Better hurry, Maplin are selling everything off cheap (for Maplin!) and will be gone real soon now.
To answer the question, we really can't say until you have opened it up and had a look.  Could be as simple as a broken wire or bad connection, could be something worse.

ICBM

If that’s its name, surely it’s working properly?




The first suspect is the switch - which is probably a 3PDT, not renowned for reliability. Just because the LED comes on, it only means the part of the switch which controls that is working - there are two others for the signal path and if either isn’t making contact in the ‘effect’ position the pedal won’t work.

You can try getting some contact cleaner/lubricant into it, but it’s not easy and doesn’t always fix it permanently. The switch body doesn’t have any access holes so you need to get it in by carefully spraying it onto the side of the switch plunger and letting it soak down into the switch.

If that doesn’t work, depending on how the switch is wired up it’s sometimes possible to re-arrange the connections so the faulty one isn’t used (as the LED ‘off’ position usually), but failing that you will probably have to replace the switch.