Annoyed Rant....

I got called at the last minute for a fill-in New Years Eve gig, 5 minutes from my house. I'm all fired up because the stage is big, and even though I've never really played with the band, between us, we all know a ton of classic rock standards. So I pulled out my favorite Strat, and my big pedalboard and my Mesa. The last few gigs have been in closets and I have used my Strat with mini-hums to deal with noisy electrical systems, and a smaller pedalboard, and my smallest amp. So I plugin and the tone is right, and I tuneup and test/setup my effects and then I get to the Voodoo Labs Microvibe..... Nothing but silence!!! I turn it back off and perfect sound, check all cables and all is good. I ignored that pedal all night and had a good time but damn if that isn't the 2nd Voodoo Labs pedal to do that to me. I looked on youtube and a Phillip McKnight video talking about boutique pedals and lo and behold, one of his faulty pedals is a Microvibe. There was also a Phasor or Flanger or something from Voodoo Labs that had quit on him. I bought an Ibanez TS-9, used and beat to hell in 1982, and it has been underwater (major storm during an outside and it STILL works with no issues. I have a Voodoo Labs Sparkledrive that died within a year. As stated in McKnight's video, I bought the pedals because there are supposedly American made with quality parts. In the video, he looks at the inside of the Voodoo Labs pedal and finds a cheap Chinese made circuit board. I have nothing against Chinese made stuff, but I felt like I paid extra for better..... Anyway, I will save $50. or so from now on and just buy the standard BOSS pedals. Consistent performance from one pedal to the next, built like tanks, and they fit uniformly on my boards. ...and back to my TS-9's while I am at it. I'm probably jinxing myself, but I have never had an Ibanez or BOSS pedal fail.

I have never had a pedal fail in the last 20 years! That sucks! I use their power blocks...should I rethink that?

I've owned a handful of Voodoo Lab pedals (still own a Sparkle Drive). They've all had switch problems, which i rectified with replacing with a higher quality switches (Switchcraft, I believe). Yes, frustrating. But a simple and cheap fix.

I've got two ISO5 power supplies. they work fine.

Same here. I have an old Voodoo Lab Tremolo pedal. I love the thing but had to replace the switch years ago.

Check the DC filter cap, right off the DC jack. BOSS uses 10V caps... which I always replace with a 16-25V. And check the switch, I’ve had a lot of them fail on me. But those were all EHX, MXR and Dunlop pedals. I’m not rough on my gear but a lot of companies use cheap parts

Sucks about your pedal dying on you, but I give you props for handling it like a professional. To play a gig with folks you never have played with before and having an equipment malfunction would be a major stresser for me. You just took it in stride, played the gig, and had fun at the same time. I'm proud of/for you!

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Originally Posted by OldStrummer

Sucks about your pedal dying on you, but I give you props for handling it like a professional. To play a gig with folks you never have played with before and having an equipment malfunction would be a major stresser for me. You just took it in stride, played the gig, and had fun at the same time. I'm proud of/for you!

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I try to be a pro.....albeit a poor pro. I am going to fix the pedal, but I will debate with myself a little longer when buying any other pedals. I just hate when things don't work and I see a pattern. I paid a little more thinking it would get me something pretty much bulletproof and 2 out of the 2 Voodoo Labs pedals have failed on me. It really pissed me off when I saw that video and someone else had the same problems. ..and he opened the unit and complained about the cheap circuit board. That is what really sent me over the edge. I will be fair and say that the sound (when the pedals are working) is fantastic.

Last night, I plugged my Fender American Standard Strats straight into a clean amp and played. I am over my tantrum.

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Originally Posted by concert410

Last night, I plugged my Fender American Standard Strats straight into a clean amp and played. I am over my tantrum.

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That’s a cure all for sure.

Okay......so I come home and pull out the pedalboard and plugin....and proceed to stomp on the pedal HARD about 15-20 times and it now works like a charm. The switch must have been corroded. So I'm happy as a clam. I plugged into another amp because my Mesa has been noisy as hell. I turn on the other amp and that same noise is there. So I start swapping out pedals to find out who is the culprit...... Needless to say it was the two Voodoo Labs pedals. I went back to my old TS-9. I will have to find a new "vibe" or Flanger or something. I thought I had a microphonic tube. The noise was that bad.

It's real easy to swap the switch. I replaced mine years ago and the pedal has been great since then.

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Originally Posted by concert410

I'm probably jinxing myself, but I have never had an Ibanez or BOSS pedal fail.

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Back in '83 or so, I bought a very slightly used TS-9 for $15. It worked great for a few years then the switch became flaky. I put the pedal aside- I didn't really like it anyway. After a few more years, I took a closer look at the pedal and realized that the spring that activated the switch needed to be stretched out a little bit.

(Actually, if I recall, it was the AD-9 that I bought new back then for over $100 that became flaky. I took the spring out of the TS-9 and put it in that, then, years later, I stretched the spring in the TS-9 to make it work. Or something like that.)

I let a few days go by to rethink this whole thing..... The pedal seems to switch on and off just fine. I guess it was dirty. I sprayed it out and no problems. I will have to deal with a ground loop. The power supply is that big heavy one in the SKB. I power 5 pedals from that. In order.....BOSS Tuner - Sparkledrive (yeah I know, but I will give it another chance) - Vox Wah - Microvibe - BOSS DD5. Maybe one of the patch cords is spotty. My amp is a Mesa F-30. Not the quietest of amps but I love it.

This whole adventure took a weird turn last night. I discovered a milk crate full of effects that I have collected over the years. I thought I had sold off that stuff long ago.
One night of noise and it led to a whole new tone chase....