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.
Comments
Good to have the info - ta.
@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
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
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.
@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 ?
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 !
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.