New (broken) pedal day!

[laurie]

So this isn't "new" ... I bought this PS-2 nearly 2 years ago when pepe found it here in Canada. Non-working. MIJ, PSA power, blue label. So a nice pedal if I could get it working.

It has taken a long time for me to get it done - I kept hitting a new issue every time I thought I was done. Probably 10 hours total repair time

Main issue was the through-hole electrolytic caps. All now replaced. Plus the mode switch needed a good flooding with Deoxit. And a lot of other little issues like broken wires and dry solder joints.

Add this one to the body of knowledge about PS-2 pedals needing a recap. The "unknown" pic is the test of one of the 10uF capacitors. Completely failed.
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[Pepe]

Phew! What an annoying job. But now it finally works again?

Which one of the sandwiched boards had the worse capacitors that needed replacement? Only the board with the through-hole components features electrolytic capacitors, am I right?

The "unknown" pic is the test of one of the 10uF capacitors. Completely failed.

Again those darn miniaturised 10µF capacitors, I assume? My KORG BX-3 organ was full of them. If you spot any of these in a faulty '80s pedal - as well as compact-sized bipolar capacitors - replace them without thinking twice! In most cases the compact long life 10µF/25V Panasonic FC capacitor is a good and fitting replacement.

[laurie]

Phew! What an annoying job. But now it finally works again?

Yes, perfectly. It is actually a really nice pedal - i can see (hear) the attraction.

Again those darn miniaturised 10µF capacitors, I assume?

Yep. Replaced with tantalums.

Which one of the sandwiched boards had the worse capacitors that needed replacement? Only the board with the through-hole components features electrolytic capacitors, am I right?

Both boards have them. The SMD board is the "analog" board, and the caps on it were fine. The digital board ("ET board") was the one with the through-hole electros.

Things are very (very) tightly packed in there. Small wires. The wire to the output jack broke off twice wile I was doing the repair, just from moving the board around.

The other idiosyncrasy is that the DC ground flows through the pedal housing - there is a wire from the boards to the screw that holds down the LED, and the circuit flows back into the boards through the sleeve of the input jack. Weird. And frustrating until you figure it out because nothing works with the pedal guts out of the housing until you jumper that connection.

The other thing I found was that the previous owner had obviously tampered with the trimpots. I had to use the scope to reset them.

[Pepe]

The other idiosyncrasy is that the DC ground flows through the pedal housing - there is a wire from the boards to the screw that holds down the LED, and the circuit flows back into the boards through the sleeve of the input jack. Weird. And frustrating until you figure it out because nothing works with the pedal guts out of the housing until you jumper that connection.

Indeed, that's a very, very bad design choice.