One day, I'd like to buy a pedal off eBay that isn't borked....

lasermonkey

..especially when they are advertised as working!

My joy at having won a DOD 565 Chorus was scuppered when I tested it. Two fresh batteries (it runs on 18v), LED comes on and..... well, it passes audio, but no chorusing. As there's no "drainpipe: effect, there's obviously no delayed signal, which suggests the BBD chip (in this case an SAD512) is most likely fried. Oh, and the occasional thump, which isn't dependent on the LFO rate, which is a bit weird.

What really pisses me off is that this keeps happening. I've bought a lot of pedals off eBay and more than my fair share of them haven't worked as advertised and the "oh, well the light came on" or "it worked the last time I used it in 1987!" answers don't really cut it. FFS people, test the f**king thing before you sell it! Seriously, how long does it take?

Normally, I'd see if I could repair it, but the chances of finding an SAD512 are slim and even if I did, the cost would be prohibitive.
I'm beginning to get more than a little f**ked off with this.

clarkefan

Is it possible that the delayed path just isn't getting any voltage, like because something else in the signal path has gone? Could be entirely fixable if it's just a resistor or something.

With a decent refund from Kermit it could still be a win

lasermonkey

Well, it's always possible. I had a quick peek inside, just in case there was something obvious. I was slightly concerned that the BBD bias trimpot was fully at one end. I'm not sure that would be right.

As it happens, I just remembered that my Carlsbro Minifex Chorus has an SAD512 in it, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to risk damaging it in a swap test. Maybe I'll try the DOD one in the Carlsbro. That should tell me whether it works or not.

I've found the schematic and have been poring over it. *If* the '512 is ok, it's worth fixing. 

Anyway, I've messaged the guy about a return, as eBay seemed to push me down that route. I'll have to see what he says.

lasermonkey

It's going back. Just need to make sure I'm not left out of pocket for the return postage. I've just put my house on the market and really don't need the distraction of trying to fix another bloody pedal!

Again, a plea: spend the five minutes to ensure that everything does what it's supposed to before listing on eBay!

For the record, my "arrived not working" list:

Pearl PH03 Phaser (pedal wouldn't switch on-faulty switching IC-repaired)

Carlsbro Phase 2 (LFO not working at lowest speeds- faulty capacitor-repaired)

Carlsbro Flanger (LFO not working at all- faulty op-amp and faulty capacitor-repaired)

Korg FLG-1 (faulty footswitch mechanics-repaired)

HH Clockwork Concubine Flanger (burnt out resistor- still in bits as I can't find a legible schematic)

Ibanez PT-9 (LFO not working at lowest speeds- leaky capacitor and corroded PCB-repaired)

Ibanez PM-7 (can't select 6-stage in-phase mode-faulty switch-need to get a new switch)

Carlsbro Minifex Chorus (intermittent footswitch-repaired)

Symmetrix 525 compressor (mains transformer broken off PCB and rattling around loose inside, due to packaging consisting of one layer of brown paper!-returned)

DOD 565 Stereo Chorus (dry signal only-returned)

Surely I'm not the only one this happens to?

Sporky

I can assure you that each and every item in my for sale thread has been tested recently if that helps.

impmann

I've not had anything like that in my trading on eBay or here.

I think I've had one dicky pedal in all my deals...

robinbowes

Also, I see you like Carlsbro effects...

Want to buy an Echo?

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/88755

R.

lasermonkey

I'd be happy to assume that the esteemed fellowship of the Fretboard would be diligent with their pre-sale testing. :-)

 It's that lot out there who irk me.

robinbowes

Ha ha - I thought I recognised your username (I've just seen your thread on FSB about the Clockwork Concubine)

JezWynd

I've bought and sold well over a hundred pedals via eBay in the past three or four years and in all that time I've had two failures. One was a straight scam (seller evaporated), the other an honest mistake by the seller. I do like Boss and they're pretty bullet proof. Maybe the moral is stay away from Carlsbro, that would bring your failure percentage down considerably.

lasermonkey

The thing with the failures of the Carlsbro pedals is that they were all component failures, maybe commensurate with their age. I don't think there's anything inherently unreliable about them, apart from any tantalum capacitors that may have been used, and that's the same of anything made in the late 70s/early 80s that contain them. They're just prone to failure. I've had to replace so many of them! But yes, three out of three Carlsbro pedals bought as working, weren't.

The two Ibby pedals also had component failures, and they aren't exactly notorious for being unreliable. Come to think of it, two more Ibby pedals I have developed faults later on: a dodgy footswitch on a TS-7 and a leaky transistor (which bleeds distortion onto the bypassed signal) on an SD-9. That makes four out of nine Ibanez pedals with faults.

Given that many of the faults weren't immediately obvious, it either suggests that they weren't tested fully, or that the issues were known about and the seller hoped that they wouldn't be noticed in time. I'd like to think it's the former. If there is a moral, I'd say that it is to test everything fully upon receipt.

I've only encountered one faulty Boss pedal so far. That was a CE-2 that wasn't chorusing. You could hear that characteristic "drainpipe" effect, which meant the BBD chip was ok, and that the problem was with the LFO. Turns out that the 100nF Mylar cap in the LFO circuit hadn't been fitted flush to the PCB (a bugbear of mine) and had somehow been pushed towards the PCB, breaking the track. Easy to fix!

I've bought plenty of broken kit which was advertised as such and repaired it, but I'm happy to do so when it's made clear, as you can then bid accordingly. I wouldn't chance a bid on anything advertised as not working if it contained hard to find/expensive components, unless there was a thorough description of the fault, and I was confident that the problem lie elsewhere.

Which reminds me- anyone else noticed the price of faulty gear going up these days? Both the asking price and final bid amounts are often way more than I'd ever expect.

Sassafras

You either buy millions of pedals and there's a small percentage that don't work or else you're very unlucky.
The worst I've had have been dodgy jack sockets or crackly pots. Both easily cured with a drop of Servisol.

lasermonkey

I am starting to think that maybe I'm cursed!

Chalky

lasermonkey said:

I am starting to think that maybe I'm cursed!

Unlucky. I didn't believe in unlucky until I worked with a guy for a year back in the 90s. He just attracted bad luck. The handle suddenly detaches from a mug of hot tea - his. Someone trips and spills their coffe - over him. Lift breaks down - he is one of the occupants. Network disk failure - only his files can't be restored from backup.  The list went on and on and this was just in the workplace! No wonder he lived alone.

lasermonkey

The thing is, I've always considered myself fortunate, if not lucky. It just seems to be pedals from eBay that I have problems with! Conversely, much of the stuff I bought off eBay knowing it was broken was either very easy to fix or wasn't faulty at all.

bbill335

It's the people who - knowingly or otherwise - send you a broken pedal, then drag their feet about sorting out the return/refund process or even try to circumvent it completely!

"Relax, you can trust me. I will refund you 100% when I receive the pedal." Um, fuck off? Like, why the hell would I trust you AFTER you've failed to send a pedal that matches the "fully working" description?

And yes, I've had the "it worked when we recorded the album... 6 months ago"  plug it in and have another go before wasting my time.

impmann

bbill335 said:

It's the people who - knowingly or otherwise - send you a broken pedal, then drag their feet about sorting out the return/refund process or even try to circumvent it completely!

"Relax, you can trust me. I will refund you 100% when I receive the pedal." Um, fuck off? Like, why the hell would I trust you AFTER you've failed to send a pedal that matches the "fully working" description?

And yes, I've had the "it worked when we recorded the album... 6 months ago"  plug it in and have another go before wasting my time.

OK see it from the other side - as I had this... I wouldn't refund until the pedal was in my hand, as there is a fairly large chance it would never turn up. I don't actually think that's unreasonable, tbh. That's standard eBay practice...

lasermonkey

To be fair, the vast majority of sellers have either refunded in full if returned, or we have come to an agreement. The only real problem was the guy who sent the Symmetrix rack compressor with a single layer of brown paper for protection. It took a lot of hassle getting him to sort things and I noted that several other people who'd bought stuff from him at the same time had exactly the same issues.
It's just that in almost all cases, it could have been so easily avoided.

bbill335

impmann said:

bbill335 said:

It's the people who - knowingly or otherwise - send you a broken pedal, then drag their feet about sorting out the return/refund process or even try to circumvent it completely!

"Relax, you can trust me. I will refund you 100% when I receive the pedal." Um, fuck off? Like, why the hell would I trust you AFTER you've failed to send a pedal that matches the "fully working" description?

And yes, I've had the "it worked when we recorded the album... 6 months ago"  plug it in and have another go before wasting my time.

OK see it from the other side - as I had this... I wouldn't refund until the pedal was in my hand, as there is a fairly large chance it would never turn up. I don't actually think that's unreasonable, tbh. That's standard eBay practice...

No, these people didn't WANT to follow eBay's practice. They didn't want to go through eBays return procedure, they just wanted me to post it back to them without dealing with eBay. Which, if you follow, could have easily ended up with them having my money AND the pedal, with myself having nothing and no way to raise it with eBay/PP because it hadn't gone through the channels.

I know how returns are SUPPOSED to work, it's the eejits I talked about in my post that don't.

Gadget

That is really unlucky.
I've bought lots of pedals over the years and *holds breath whilst tempting fate* can't recall a single DOA or major fault. The usual problems are a) cosmetic condition is worse than stated, or (as someone had above) b) pedals arriving in jiffy bags or even paper envelopes, with little or no padding! I always send a polite note to the seller now when I make payment, to remind them of the basic standard of packing I expect.

Dave_Mc

Yeah that's very annoying. I bought a used pedal off Ebay a good while back, and it's not quite right. Not totally dead, but I'm pretty sure it's not quite right. I think it's got worse since I got it, but at the same time I strongly suspect it was never 100%.

I swore off buying used pedals. Or used in general, really. As @Sassafras rightly says, there's probably a (fairly) small percentage chance and if you bought a lot you'd get a more accurate idea of the odds, but at the same time if you're burnt first time it doesn't really encourage you to try again, either. Bit like one mooted reason for why some people keep gambling while others don't- they're the lucky (!) ones who won big first time, which skewed their perception of their chances overall.