Source Audio AfterShock On/Off Switch

DanikDarko

DanikDarko

Jul 1, 2011
96
21
4,551
Faridabad, India
#1
Hello fellow TBers!

I recently purchased a used SA AfterShock and it worked just fine.
After the first gig, I noticed that the nut on the On/Off Switch was slightly loose. Since it wasn't an electronic issue, I simply took a driver to it and tightened it up. I tried using the switch right after that and it didn't work. Basically, it's not "clicking" anymore.

Thanks to its tweakability, I'm still being able to use it (currently I'm using a Boss LS-2 as it's engage/disengage button) but I would like to fix it soon so that I don't have to carry one extra pedal just to use it.

My question to you guys is this -

What On/Off (engage/disengage) foot-switch does the SA AfterShock (or, in general, the SA One Series pedals) use? I can purchase one online and have it installed by an expert.

I'm a complete novice when it comes to these things so please feel free to educate me about foot-switches and pedal electronics in general as I would like to make an informed decision and purchase whatever I need just the one time.

Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
#3
I contacted the seller and he told me that the pedal is only a couple of months old and that he might still have the invoice.
Will Source Audio be kind enough to send me a footswitch in case it's still under warranty and proper documentation is presented?
 
#7
DanikDarko said:
Hello fellow TBers!

I recently purchased a used SA AfterShock and it worked just fine.
After the first gig, I noticed that the nut on the On/Off Switch was slightly loose. Since it wasn't an electronic issue, I simply took a driver to it and tightened it up. I tried using the switch right after that and it didn't work. Basically, it's not "clicking" anymore.

Thanks to its tweakability, I'm still being able to use it (currently I'm using a Boss LS-2 as it's engage/disengage button) but I would like to fix it soon so that I don't have to carry one extra pedal just to use it.

My question to you guys is this -

What On/Off (engage/disengage) foot-switch does the SA AfterShock (or, in general, the SA One Series pedals) use? I can purchase one online and have it installed by an expert.

I'm a complete novice when it comes to these things so please feel free to educate me about foot-switches and pedal electronics in general as I would like to make an informed decision and purchase whatever I need just the one time.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
First key question: where did you buy the pedal? We are happy to help if need be, but the dealers make as much on the pedals (and some cases more!!) as we do and it is their primary job to support customers as the first line of help.

It is not usual that the footswitch would fail from tightening the nut.

@nathannavarro will be back from holidays on 12/27, and he knows the best approach for dealing with things like this.
 
#8
DanikDarko said:
I contacted the seller and he told me that the pedal is only a couple of months old and that he might still have the invoice.
Will Source Audio be kind enough to send me a footswitch in case it's still under warranty and proper documentation is presented?
Click to expand...
Ah. I just saw this. Pedal is used. We will try to help when Nathan is back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lvjoebass
#10
rsmith601 said:
First key question: where did you buy the pedal? We are happy to help if need be, but the dealers make as much on the pedals (and some cases more!!) as we do and it is their primary job to support customers as the first line of help.

It is not usual that the footswitch would fail from tightening the nut.

@nathannavarro will be back from holidays on 12/27, and he knows the best approach for dealing with things like this.
Click to expand...
Well, the person that I bought it off of had a friend of his purchase it in the US a couple of months back so I'm not sure how much he had to pay for it. I got what I thought was a good deal and picked it up.
I'm still trying to get a hold of the invoice.

And yes, I've never run in to such a problem before. I've had stupid people drop my pedals and drop things on my pedals and I've always been able to maintain them properly which is what made me go tighten the nut the moment I noticed it.

I guess I'll have to wait till Nathan is back. Thanks anyway!
 
#11
@rsmith601 Could you please tell me what foot-switches are used in these pedals?
I've only used it once live but I'm definitely in love with it. And now, with its problem, I realised how easy it is to change even the most minutest details with a tap on my phone screen which is why I'm still being able to use it.
 
#12
DanikDarko said:
@rsmith601 Could you please tell me what foot-switches are used in these pedals?
I've only used it once live but I'm definitely in love with it. And now, with its problem, I realised how easy it is to change even the most minutest details with a tap on my phone screen which is why I'm still being able to use it.
Click to expand...
I am not sure of the footswitch type. It is not what one finds in a typical true bypass analog pedal. This is the soft of thing that Nathan knows off the top of his head, since he does customer support.
 
#13
rsmith601 said:
I am not sure of the footswitch type. It is not what one finds in a typical true bypass analog pedal. This is the soft of thing that Nathan knows off the top of his head, since he does customer support.
Click to expand...
Ah! No problem.
I'll wait till Nathan pitches in, then.

I did some research and found terms like DPDT and 3PDT and 6 pin and 9 pin and, needless to say, all of it went flying above my head. Haha. I hope someone can point me towards the right direction soon.

Thanks anyway.
 
#14
This could be easy to do yourself. Worst-case, it could be a beehutch if it is hard to get to the original switch and/or the existing leads are short. I have never been in an SA box, so I'm spitballin' a bit. I would recommend getting the exact replacement and swapping out lead by lead, one at a time. This could easy if the Mfr and a part number are on the original.

Also, a variable output (temp) soldering iron is needed. If you haven't soldered before - practice on something else first. Don't use too much solder. The goal is a nice, shiny connection. You will want to turn the heat up just enough to achieve this. I'm careful to not over heat my 'delicates'. Be careful not to drip molten solder on anything else. Again - practice. If you don't have a soldering iron, you will probably need one to switch out a scratchy pot one day... Look at the existing connections or Google for good soldering examples.

If you have the exact replacement, you won't need know about DPDT; you will need to be careful to ensure you connect the leads to the correct positions on the switch.

As for DPDT, it's a Double Pole Double Throw. There are usually 2 sets of the contacts arranged in 2 rows of 3 (NOT 3 rows of 2) - let's call 'em A, B, and C. In one switch position, B (the pole, the center contact) connects to A. In the other position, B connects to C. The same thing for the second set of contacts. So you can imagine what a 3PDT is like (there's another row). There is no connectivity between the rows. You may also see a jumper or 2 connecting some of the contacts and you will want to copy this.

Sorry if this is too long winded or you have no intention of doing it yourself. Maybe it will help somebody someday.

I see you are in India, but replacements are out there. For example, Stewmac has a replacement stomp switch (I have no idea if this will work in your application): http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_...y6uN0MBs-XFHwODBqi4x4rxgxKe4BmdRoCB7AQAvD_BwE
 
Last edited:
#15
micbass said:
This could be easy to do yourself. Worst-case, it could be a beehutch if it is hard to get to the original switch and/or the existing leads are short. I have never been in an SA box, so I'm spitballin' a bit. I would recommend getting the exact replacement and swapping out lead by lead, one at a time. There could easily if the Mfr and a part number on the original.

Also, a variable output (temp) soldering iron is needed. If you haven't soldered before - practice on something else first. Don't use too much solder. The goal is a nice, shiny connection. You will want to turn the heat up just enough to achieve this. I'm careful to not over heat my 'delicates'. Be careful not to drip molten solder on anything else. Again - practice. If you don't have a soldering iron, you will probably need one to switch out a scratchy pot one day... Look at the existing connections or Google for good soldering examples.

If you have the exact replacement, you won't need know about DPDT; you will need to be careful to ensure you connect the leads to the correct positions on the switch.

As for DPDT, it's a Double Pole Double Throw. There are usually 2 sets of the contacts arranged in 2 rows of 3 (NOT 3 rows of 2) - let's call 'em A, B, and C. In one switch position, B (the pole, the center contact) connects to A. In the other position, B connects to C. The same thing for the second set of contacts. So you can imagine what a 3PDT is like (there's another row). There is no connectivity between the rows. You may also see a jumper or 2 connecting some of the contacts and you will want to copy this.

Sorry if this is too long winded or you have no intention of doing it yourself. Maybe it will help somebody someday.

I see you are in India, but replacements are out there. For example, Stewmac has a replacement stomp switch (I have no idea if this will work in your application): http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_...y6uN0MBs-XFHwODBqi4x4rxgxKe4BmdRoCB7AQAvD_BwE
Click to expand...
Wow! Thank you so much! I do know how to solder but only the basics (haven't heard about variable temperature soldering ever, haha). Enough to have soldered a couple cables myself and some new pots on my bass. So, if my pedal requires a little more experience, I'm going to let someone else do it. Can't let my ego shag my pedal up, hehe.
As for the explanation for switches, I'm extremely grateful for the knowledge. Is there a link that you could send across where I could read up some more about all this?
As for replacement parts, thankfully most people don't hesitate to ship anything to India. I got my 1Spot from the Amazon Global Store (US Amazon). Just shipping costs. So yeah, this is not an issue.

Again, thank you so much!
 
  • Like
Reactions: micbass
#16
I was a repair tech decades ago - back when they still had a lot of them and there were bunches of old women stuffing parts into boards...back in the stone age before automatic insertion machines. I actually remember taking apart a DPDT to see what made it tick. Some pots too. There are many kinds of pots, but these had a very thin carbon film inside - why I became very cautious about excessive heat. I also have encountered trouble soldering to metal cases - very much like the metal case of a pot. So I learned to scratch up the metal to get the solder to stick better. In fact, a month or so ago, I replaced the volume pot on my bass. I took one look at the pot and the (to me) odd, black residue circling the old solder joints, as well as the overly healthy glob of solder and figured I better scratch up the back a tad. Also, a lot of the solder available bytes these days and is nowhere near as good as it once was. Something about lead. I try to use a thin, rosin core, 60/40 solder.

You probably have the soldering chops to do this. I'm sure by now, you have experienced the wayward and dreaded glob of molten solder dripping somewhere it wasn't intended, and learned a few other things. I think you could pull this off with the right solder and iron. It just depends on how tight it is in there and if there is ample lead length. These days Mfrs are thinking if we can cut out 8-in of 24ga wire we can save 0.005 bitcoins per unit times 500K units. I'm not saying SA is like this, in fact, I have an eyeball on the Manta, this is just the typical mindset. The switch may even solder right into the board, which would be cool as far as replacement goes. I do agree, if you are hesitant, get some help.

I found a video that describes what I was trying to explain. It is simplistic and, no doubt, you will be feeling like you will not be getting back some of the 7.5 minutes of your life anytime soon, but there is about 2 to 3 minutes that could be worthwhile.

 
  • Like
Reactions: DanikDarko
#18
micbass said:
I was a repair tech decades ago - back when they still had a lot of them and there were bunches of old women stuffing parts into boards...back in the stone age before automatic insertion machines. I actually remember taking apart a DPDT to see what made it tick. Some pots too. There are many kinds of pots, but these had a very thin carbon film inside - why I became very cautious about excessive heat. I also have encountered trouble soldering to metal cases - very much like the metal case of a pot. So I learned to scratch up the metal to get the solder to stick better. In fact, a month or so ago, I replaced the volume pot on my bass. I took one look at the pot and the (to me) odd, black residue circling the old solder joints, as well as the overly healthy glob of solder and figured I better scratch up the back a tad. Also, a lot of the solder available bytes these days and is nowhere near as good as it once was. Something about lead. I try to use a thin, rosin core, 60/40 solder.

You probably have the soldering chops to do this. I'm sure by now, you have experienced the wayward and dreaded glob of molten solder dripping somewhere it wasn't intended, and learned a few other things. I think you could pull this off with the right solder and iron. It just depends on how tight it is in there and if there is ample lead length. These days Mfrs are thinking if we can cut out 8-in of 24ga wire we can save 0.005 bitcoins per unit times 500K units. I'm not saying SA is like this, in fact, I have an eyeball on the Manta, this is just the typical mindset. The switch may even solder right into the board, which would be cool as far as replacement goes. I do agree, if you are hesitant, get some help.

I found a video that describes what I was trying to explain. It is simplistic and, no doubt, you will be feeling like you will not be getting back some of the 7.5 minutes of your life anytime soon, but there is about 2 to 3 minutes that could be worthwhile.

Click to expand...

This is great. I know that there are a lot of good techs out there but I'm sure none of them would've cared to tell me about a carbon film that they found way back because of which they solder something just that much differently. Thank you so much for this! And I'm definitely scratching the metal plate on my pots whenever I solder next, hah!
Yes, globs and burns and the usual. That's the price one has to pay for these hallowed arts, I guess.
I probably could do it on my own but I still find myself in the dark about which exact switch I would need to replace the current one.
The video definitely helped me understand switches a whole lot better but I still don't know what my pedal really needs as I haven't got a clue about the components inside and how they're connected to each other. Besides, the AfterShock has a hold-for-preset function that I would like to use as well. As cool as the function sounds, I'm pretty sure this complicates the situation a whole lot more in terms of soldering but, at the same time, it should help narrow down on the specific foot-switch I would require to fix it.
Also, I did open the pedal just to check if, magically, the switch would start working again. It didn't, obviously, but I now know that the switch is not soldered to the board.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: micbass
#19
SunnBass said:
Simple question: When tightening the nut, did you open the pedal, in order to hold the switch in place while tightening?
If not, this could be the main source of dysfunction.
Click to expand...
You guessed right, I did not open the pedal and hold the switch from the inside when tightening the nut. But, having said that, there's a gap on the nut shaft/ring. I don't know how to explain this any better but I'm sure it's an indicator of sorts as it is mounted on the switch itself(?). Basically, this marker/indicator was not moving when I tightened the nut. I was holding this shaft marker in place while I tightened the nut.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back