Bogner pedals - useful info

Longtallronnie

For anyone who's  bought one of the Bogner Ecstasy pedals and had problems with the footswitches not working as they should, there's a simple fix. 

I bought one used earlier in the year and loved it but the inconsistent switching made it unusable. Before I got in touch with the seller I thought I'd email Bogner to see if they would help. I knew the warranty was non transferable but as it was a known issue I thought it was worth a go. I had a prompt reply explaining the problem and how to fix it. 

The switches are single pole momentary types and when pressed they send a pulse to a logic circuit that either engages or disengages the effect. As the switch contacts separate, if any current arcs across it could be seen as another press by the logic. 

 To stop this happening, all you need to do is solder a capacitor across each switch, around 0.01uf 20V. The switches can be easily removed from the pedal housing as they connect to the main PCB via plug and sockets. I used a pair of 0.15uf caps on mine as that's all I had lying around. 

I did this several months ago and have gigged it regularly without any issues since. 

Sporky

You'd hope that a company like Bogner would know about debouncing - that's pretty shoddy design.

Good to have the info - ta.

monquixote

Indeed it's pretty much button design 101.

Longtallronnie

Agreed, I wonder if they've changed the design since? There wasn't much noise about it on MR but I know some members had similar problems and sold theirs. TGP was a different story obviously! 

It's a shame as the pedal does sound great and the various toggles actually make a useable difference, especially when switching between different guitars etc.

Bellycaster

@Longtallronnie.

Hi Ronnie, thanks for this info, have another Wisdom. Thankfully I have not encountered switching problems on either my Red or Blue.

I did wonder what the problems were though when you said the switching on some doesn't work properly. I take it you meant the Variac, Mode, Pre Eq and Structure switches rather than the stomp buttons? Is it that there is no noticable change in tone/sound when toggling through these switches or a noise issue when toggling through?

The only thing I can note about the red is the "White Noise" issue at higher amp volume, like,when not playing the guitar and even with guitar Vol at 0. There was a massive disscussion/Bickering thread about it on TGP which I addressed some points to.

This issue is not imaginary as quoted by some on TGP many of the guys had it on there, it's just dependant on a hell of a lot of Variables. I have the White Noise, but I don't think it's that bad really and can be kept to a minimum with the Amps settings or by stomping the damn thing OFF. Some may have it worse and there was some good points made about how it hindered convenient use of the pedal.

I have absolutely no Electronic expertise though, so if I had spent £500 and had all these switching problems, I wouldn't be too chuffed. It's good of Bogner to give out this info, but the fact remains that some poor sod who doesn't know a Soldering Iron from his elbow and does not come on this thread will be in the shit and be paying someone to try and fix it.

Bogner have the Guy on the demo vids registered on TGP and he stayed well clear of that discussion, I even tried to get a response out of him, not a sausage, Bogner will no doubt know about these issues being disscussed and it seems they have swept it under the rug, I stopped looking for announcements long ago.

I love their gear, but they have gone done in my estimations. A company with their reputation, even if they were new to making Pedals, you think would get it right first time.

 

:-?

Longtallronnie

@Bellycaster

The issues I'm talking about are to do with the actual footswitches, sometimes when you stomped on them they wouldn't work. The toggles make a little noise when switching but this is mentioned in the manual and demos as being the result of internal bias' being altered iirc. 

I only have the blue and can't say I've noticed any noise as such, well no more than usual with my setup - multiple pedals, non isolated psu, P90s etc.

I've not taken much interest in it since I fixed mine so I don't know what Bogner are (or aren't) doing about these problems now. I'd hope they'd offer to fix them regardless of warranty as it seems to be a design flaw. If they did I'd think fair enough, they wouldn't be the first company to put out an imperfect product and I find it's how a company deals with these sort of issues that shows their true worth. 

Anyhoo, hopefully this thread (sorry, discussion!) might help someone.

Longtallronnie

Oh, and thanks for the wisdoms.  

 I'm feeling very widomness. :-bd

Bellycaster

@longtallronnie

Ahhh, I see. No probs as such here with that. I'm happy with them. The Blue does not have any White noise issue, that was solely an issue that cropped up with the Red pedal.

I saw some guys vids on TGP of the red pedal white noise and some of them were pretty bad. But mine is not so serious.

It's good that the info is here, I agree.

Cheers

photek

I got rid of my Bogner Blue for this reason. If Joyo can get a footswitch working for £25 then Bogner should for £300! It is outrageous for one of the most expensive pedals to not function properly. Vowed never to buy another Bogner product after that (can you tell I was annoyed )

Drew_TNBD

It is really annoying when a product has such an obvious flaw that you cannot work out how it left the workshop bench. *Looking at you, original JVM!!*

Longtallronnie

But there's nothing wrong with the JVM! )

Drew_TNBD

>:)

JMP220478

im considering a Blue or a La Grange atm - is this footswitch issue still unresolved ?

Corvus

Can't speak for the Blue but I've had a La Grange for a fair while, there's been no untoward behaviour from mine.

johnhe

I have a La Grange. Before that I had a Blue which I had to solder the caps onto to solve the footswitch problem. It was a ridiculously easy thing to do, and Bogner sent me the caps fee of charge.

My La Grange footswitches work flawlessly - no fix needed with mine,

Edit: the footswitch on my Wessex has just crapped out. Thankfully it’s not pcb mounted so it was possible to replace it myself. But it does underline that Bogner still have major issues with their choice of footswitches imo.

DrBob

Right dead thread resurrection ! Thanks to both @Bellycaster and @Kebabkid Ive been put on to this thread in response to the switch on the drive channel of my La Grange pedal 

@longtallronnie , quick question, does retro fitting the capacitors after the fault has occurred rectify it or do you have to do it before they break ? 

WiresDreamDisasters

Sporky said:

You'd hope that a company like Bogner would know about debouncing - that's pretty shoddy design.

Good to have the info - ta.

Oi punk. Where did you disappear to?!

Kebabkid

All the best with it @DrBob ;

DrBob

Kebabkid said:

All the best with it @DrBob ;

Thanks man ! You know what’s doubly annoying ?
Immediately before it broke I was commenting to @Bellycaster (I think) about how much I preferred the action of the switches on the La Grange to those on say a TC or an MXR pedal !

DrBob

Just to clarify, these are definitely momentary switches ? 

So not off/on in the traditional sense ? 

Longtallronnie

Hi,
The switches on mine didn’t break so to speak, it was more an issue of the logic circuit seeing one tap as multiple taps therefore switching on and off in one press (google debouncing), once I fitted the caps to both switches, the problem stopped. 

I’m not sure what problem you’re having so I don’t know if that’s helps or not. 

Yes they’re momentary switches. 

I’ve since sold mine as I’m no longer gigging - would definitely get another though if I ever join a new band, maybe the red too.